About this role

Position Description

Director, AI Program Management & Development Transformation

Location Remote

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Position Overview

Nektar Therapeutics is seeking a highly strategic and operationally focused leader with deep pharmaceutical development knowledge and strong AI expertise to drive AI-enabled transformation across Development functions.

Director, AI Program Management & Development Transformation

Function: Development / Program Management / Scientific Operations

Location: Remote

Position Summary

The Director, AI Program Management & Development Transformation delivers measurable impact through process optimization, intelligent automation, dashboards, reporting solutions, and agent-based workflows. This role will help advance Nektar’s current Microsoft 365 Copilot implementation by identifying practical Development use cases, supporting responsible adoption, and ensuring AI-enabled solutions are implemented in alignment with company governance expectations.

Role Purpose

✓Serve as the Program Management lead for AI-enabled transformation initiatives across Development.
✓Partner with Clinical Development, Clinical Operations, Biometrics, Regulatory Affairs, Drug Safety, Medical Writing, Medical Affairs, and other Development functions to identify, prioritize, and implement high-impact AI use cases.
✓Translate complex development workflows into scalable AI-enabled solutions that improve efficiency, quality, visibility, and decision-making.
✓Drive adoption of AI tools, Microsoft 365 Copilot capabilities, dashboards, reporting solutions, and intelligent agents while ensuring alignment with business objectives, responsible AI expectations, and applicable company governance processes.
✓Support intake, prioritization, and implementation of approved AI use cases across Development in partnership with IT, Quality/GCP QA, Legal/Privacy, and functional business owners.
✓Act as the interface between business stakeholders, functional subject matter experts, external vendors, and technical resources.

Key Responsibilities

AI Strategy & Portfolio Management

✓Lead a portfolio of AI initiatives across Development, ensuring alignment with corporate and functional priorities.
✓Evaluate and prioritize AI use cases based on operational impact, feasibility, resource requirements, organizational readiness, and alignment with Nektar’s responsible AI governance expectations.
✓Partner with Nektar’s AI governance stakeholders, IT, Quality/GCP QA, and functional SMEs to ensure AI use cases are appropriately assessed before implementation, particularly where use cases may affect regulated Development processes.
✓Develop implementation roadmaps, business cases, success metrics, and adoption strategies for AI initiatives.
✓In collaboration with IT, establish governance processes for AI project intake, prioritization, monitoring, and reporting.

Development Process Optimization

✓Analyze current Development workflows and identify opportunities to improve efficiency through AI-enabled automation and decision support.
✓Redesign processes to leverage AI while maintaining appropriate quality, compliance, and oversight.
✓Drive standardization of processes, reporting structures, and operational metrics across Development.

AI Solutions, Dashboards, and Agents

✓Partner with functional stakeholders to design and deploy operational dashboards, reporting solutions, and AI-enabled tools.
✓Lead development of executive and operational reporting capabilities that integrate data across Development functions.
✓Identify opportunities for Microsoft 365 Copilot, AI agents, and other AI-enabled tools that streamline routine Development activities such as document review, status reporting, risk assessment support, knowledge retrieval, workflow execution, and operational follow-up.
✓Translate business requirements into technical specifications for internal or external developers.

Change Management & Adoption

✓Drive adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot and other approved AI tools across Development through training, communication, coaching, stakeholder engagement, and practical use case enablement.
✓Establish practical best practices, reusable prompts, workflow examples, and adoption playbooks for responsible AI use across Development.
✓Monitor adoption, user feedback, and business impact of deployed AI solutions to inform continuous improvement and future use case prioritization.
✓Monitor utilization, effectiveness, and business impact of deployed solutions.
✓Foster a culture of responsible experimentation and continuous improvement.

Cross-Functional Leadership

✓Facilitate alignment among Development functions, IT, Data & Analytics, Quality/GCP QA, Legal/Privacy, Information Security, and external partners, as appropriate for the AI use case.
✓Lead cross-functional working groups focused on AI enablement and process improvement.
✓Present recommendations and progress updates to senior leadership.

Desired Experience

Essential

✓8+ years of experience within pharmaceutical, biotechnology, CRO, or life sciences organizations.
✓Strong understanding of clinical development and at least several Development functions (Clinical Operations, Clinical Development, Biometrics, Regulatory, Safety, Medical Writing, etc.).
✓Experience supporting enterprise technology adoption, AI-enabled process improvement, or digital transformation initiatives in a cross-functional life sciences environment.
✓Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional programs and complex organizational initiatives.
✓Hands-on experience using AI technologies to improve business processes and productivity.
✓Experience developing business requirements, workflows, dashboards, reports, or automation solutions.
✓Strong executive communication and stakeholder management skills.

Highly Preferred

✓Experience implementing or enabling adoption of Microsoft 365 Copilot, generative AI tools, AI agents, workflow automation platforms, or knowledge-management systems.
✓Familiarity with responsible AI governance, privacy/security considerations, and use case assessment processes in a regulated life sciences environment.
✓Keep but slightly revise current GxP bullet
✓Experience with Power BI, Tableau, Smartsheet, Microsoft Power Platform, Copilot, or similar tools.
✓Experience supporting regulated GxP environments, preferably including clinical development or GCP-relevant processes.
✓Familiarity with clinical systems such as CTMS, eTMF, EDC, safety databases, or regulatory information management systems.
✓Experience managing organizational change and technology adoption programs.

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate

✓Understands drug development well enough to speak the language of Development leaders and recognize operational bottlenecks.
✓Balances innovation with practical governance, recognizing when AI can be used for routine productivity support versus when additional review is needed for regulated or business-critical use cases.
✓Understands AI well enough to identify practical applications rather than pursuing technology for its own sake.
✓Can help Development teams translate real workflow pain points into responsible, usable AI solutions that improve efficiency without creating unnecessary process burden.
✓Thinks like a program manager, process architect, and business strategist.
✓Can move seamlessly between executive strategy discussions and detailed workflow design sessions.
✓Is capable of independently building prototypes, dashboards, prompts, agents, or automation solutions when appropriate.

Additional Information

Nektar currently anticipates the base salary for the Director, AI Program Management & Development Transformation to range from $240,000 to $275,000 for candidates in the Bay Area and will depend, in part, on successful candidate's location and qualifications for the role, including education and experience. This position will also be eligible for an annual performance bonus in accordance with the terms of the applicable plan (depending, in part, on company and individual performance and at the Company's discretion on an individual basis.) The compensation described above is subject to change and could be higher or lower than the range described based on the market survey data.

Qualifying employees are eligible to participate in benefit programs such as:

✓Health Insurance (Medical/Dental/Vision)
✓Disability Insurance
✓Holiday Pay
✓Paid Time Off (PTO)
✓401(k) Match
✓Employee Stock Purchase Plan
✓Wellness Programs
✓Parental Leave Benefits (in accordance with the terms of applicable plans)

For general information on company benefits, please go to https://www.nektar.com/careers.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against applicants due to race, ethnicity, gender, veteran status, or on the basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class. Nektar Therapeutics will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in the manner proscribed by the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

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