Senior Director, Program Leadership

Deciphera is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing important new medicines to improve the lives of people with cancer. We are leveraging our proprietary switch-control kinase inhibitor platform and deep expertise in kinase biology to develop a broad portfolio of innovative medicines.

Enabled by our proprietary drug discovery platform, Deciphera has developed a diverse pipeline of wholly-owned drug candidates. QINLOCK® (ripretinib) is Deciphera’s switch control inhibitor developed for the treatment of fourth-line GIST. QINLOCK is approved in Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United States, and the United Kingdom.  We wholly own QINLOCK and all of our drug candidates with the exception of a development and commercialization out-license agreement for QINLOCK in Greater China. In addition to QINLOCK, we have identified and advanced multiple product candidates from our platform into clinical studies, including vimseltinib and DCC-3116.   

See here for more details on our portfolio.

The Role:

Deciphera’s cross-functional program teams drive the strategy and operations of our late preclinical, clinical, and commercial assets. We are seeking a dynamic Senior Director, Program Leadership who will have responsibility for leading one or more of these program teams. The successful candidate will be a strategic leader who can leverage their strong oncology drug development expertise, EQ, and organizational skills to drive and execute the integrated program strategy. The Senior Director, Program Leadership will work closely with functional representatives to deeply understand and communicate program activities / interdependencies, risks, and potential mitigations. This role will partner closely with the broader program leadership and management group to ensure consistency across programs, establish best practices, and communicate cross-program priorities. The Senior Director, Program Leadership will facilitate communication between the program team and the Portfolio Strategy Committee / executive team to ensure adequate visibility into program strategy and operations.

What You’ll Do:

• Lead one or more cross-functional program teams to define program strategy, goals, decision points, investments and areas of risk and associated mitigations and contingencies.
• Cultivate healthy, effective, and highly functioning program teams, partnering closely with program managers to ensure operational excellence
• Develop and maintain a fully integrated project plans (Gantt), incorporating activities, responsibilities and interdependencies
• Drive the development and execution of the strategic plan plan, appropriately balancing the “need for speed” with potential risks
• Holistic and confident communication: ensure PT clearly understands expectations from leadership, ensure leadership clearly understands program status, timelines, milestones, risks and mitigations
• Focus team efforts on most critical tasks; identify and resolve communication bottlenecks
• Lead data-driven decision-making processes to enable timely and objective development decisions
• Liaise with peers within the program management function to maintain consistent cross-project standards, ensure aligned strategies, and to determine overlap of competing priorities.
• Participate in Portfolio Strategy Steering Committee meetings as the key representative of the program team
• Mentor junior PLs and program managers

• A minimum of 10 years drug development experience in the biopharmaceutical industry including a minimum of 5 years development program leadership experience
• Solid understanding of oncology drug development process (steps, functions and their roles, key interdependencies)
• Strategic, efficient, organized, and empathetic leader who can zoom both in and out
• See the big picture as well as the critical details
• Strong interpersonal skills, with a proven track record of influencing without authority across a matrixed organization
• Outstanding written and oral communicator, able to clearly and accurately express complex ideas
• Builds consensus, but identifies a final decision maker / escalates when required
• Highly effective influencer without authority at all levels
• Performs well in a fast-paced, rapidly evolving environment
• Always planning and thinking two steps ahead, but able to flex in response to changing variables
• Highly motivated with a "hands on" leadership style - no task is too big or small
• Experience with MS office suite (Powerpoint, Excel, MS Teams) required, project management tools (Smartsheet, ThinkCell, MS Project) a plus

We are proud to be Great Place to Work Certified 2023 and rank #25 on Fortune’s Best Places to Work Small and Midsized Biotech Companies in 2023. Find more details about our award-winning culture here.

We offer an outstanding culture and opportunity for personal and professional growth based on our “PATHS” Core Values:

• Patients – We are committed to improving the lives of patients living with cancer. They are the driving force behind everything we do.
• Accountability – We demand accountability for our actions, behaviors, and performance. We recognize our duty to maintain a culture that embraces the uniqueness of our people and finds strength in our differences.
• Transparency – We strive to provide full visibility to internal and external stakeholders for a complete picture of what we are doing and why.
• Honesty and Integrity – Trust and mutual respect are essential aspects of our culture. We act with honesty and integrity in all facets of our business, and this serves as the foundation of our work and interactions with others.
• Stewardship – We are respectful of the resources entrusted to us by the investment community. We act thoughtfully and allocate resources responsibly in seeking to create value for our shareholders.  

“How” we work together and the behaviors that we show up with each day are critical to maintaining our positive culture. Our behavioral expectations align with our values to elevate and drive individual and team performance:  

• Lead from where you are – regardless of role or level, we motivate each other to achieve common goals.
• Drive business results – we navigate forward with our eye on the highest priorities.
• Partner and collaborate – we cultivate relationships and value ideas, regardless of where they are coming from, to achieve more together.
• Continuously evolve and improve – we try, we learn, we revise and try again.

Deciphera offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes but is not limited to the following:

• Non-accrual paid time off
• Summer vacation bonus
• Global, company-wide summer and winter shutdowns
• An annual lifestyle allowance
• Monthly cell phone stipend
• Internal rewards and recognition program
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match
• Life and Supplemental life insurance for family
• Short and Long Term Disability insurance
• ESPP offering
• Health savings account with company contribution
• Flexible spending account for either health care and/or dependent care.
• Family planning benefit
• Generous parental leave
• [if applicable] Car allowance

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY INFORMATION

Deciphera is committed to equal employment opportunity and values diversity. To ensure that we comply with reporting requirements and to learn more about how we can increase diversity in our candidate pool, we invite you to voluntarily provide demographic information in a confidential survey at the end of this application. Providing this information is optional. It will not be accessible or used in the hiring process, and has no effect on your opportunity for employment. This information will also be treated confidentially.  Our commitment to increasing diversity in our candidate pool does not affect our commitment to equal employment opportunity, including our ongoing commitment to make all hiring and other employment decisions solely on a nondiscriminatory basis.