[Hiring] Associate Director, Innovation @Thermo Fisher Scientific

Role Description

At Thermo Fisher’s PPD clinical research business, we’re using digital innovation, data science, and AI to reimagine how life-changing therapies reach patients. Our teams combine deep scientific expertise with advanced analytics, automation, and digital platforms to make research smarter, faster, and more connected.

You’ll join a culture that values experimentation, learning, and collaboration — where your ideas can help shape how we deliver life-saving solutions and improve global health outcomes.

The Clinical Development Strategy and Innovation (CDSI) team is part of Thermo Fisher’s Clinical Research Group (CRG). This team leads and integrates strategy, operational excellence, and disruptive innovation to accelerate drug development for customers and patients.

The Associate Director, Innovation is accountable for shaping and advancing a defined innovation landscape or portfolio segment, translating strategic priorities into a coherent set of discovery themes, validated opportunities, and evidence-based decisions.

This role owns the quality, focus, and progression of a portfolio of potential opportunities through discovery and concept validation.

Key Responsibilities

• Innovation Landscape & Discovery Portfolio Leadership
  • Accountable for shaping and advancing an assigned innovation landscape or focus area.
  • Own a portfolio of discovery and validation activities within the assigned remit.
  • Lead the identification, framing, prioritization, and validation of potential opportunities.
  • Guide trade-off decisions across the portfolio.
  • Translate portfolio evidence and learning into recommendations.
  • Support broader innovation planning by identifying patterns, unmet needs, and emerging opportunities.
• Opportunity Discovery, Experimentation & Validation
  • Maintain continuity of opportunity framing and value propositions.
  • Ensure opportunities are supported by clear problem statements and relevant evidence.
  • Oversee the quality of discovery, opportunity shaping, experimentation, and evidence synthesis.
  • Determine whether opportunities should progress, pivot, stop, or undergo further validation.
  • Define clear validation outcomes and decision criteria.
• Strategic Alignment, Governance & Stakeholder Leadership
  • Partner closely with business, digital, data, science, technology, and subject-matter stakeholders.
  • Act as the point of contact for assigned innovation landscapes.
  • Contribute to governance and portfolio reviews.
  • Represent the team in leadership forums.
  • Apply broad innovation knowledge in a global business context.
• Team Leadership & Capability Development
  • Lead, develop, and coach team members.
  • Set direction across multiple opportunities and team members.
  • Allocate resources and leadership attention across the portfolio.
  • Build capability across the team.
  • Support succession, development, and workforce planning within the team.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, science, technology, engineering, or a related field. Advanced degree (MBA, MS) preferred.
• Previous experience leading innovation, strategy, discovery, research, or consulting roles (8-10 years’ experience).
• Demonstrated experience owning and prioritizing a portfolio of discovery activities.
• Proven ability to translate strategic priorities into focused opportunity spaces.
• Experience leading teams and developing capability across multiple levels.
• Strong analytical, strategic, and systems-thinking capabilities.
• Executive-level stakeholder engagement skills.
• Experience progressing opportunities from early exploration through structured concept validation.

Requirements

• Clinical Research or pharmaceutical industry experience preferred.
• Familiarity with experimentation, hypothesis-driven innovation, and evidence-based portfolio decisions.
• Experience working across multiple markets, business units, or geographies.
• Awareness of emerging technologies, industry trends, and new business models.

Skills

• Portfolio leadership: Ability to create coherence across a broad discovery landscape.
• Strategic translation: Ability to convert strategic priorities into clear opportunity spaces.
• Opportunity discovery: Strong capability in identifying and validating high-potential opportunities.
• Experimentation leadership: Ability to guide proportionate experiments that reduce uncertainty.
• Evidence-based decision-making: Confidence making recommendations under uncertainty.
• People leadership: Ability to set direction, coach performance, and build capability.
• Stakeholder influence: Effective engagement with senior and executive stakeholders.
• Systems thinking: Ability to identify patterns and connections across a complex global landscape.

Benefits

• Able to communicate, receive, and understand information with diverse groups.
• Able to work upright and stationary for typical working hours.
• Ability to use and learn standard office equipment and technology with proficiency.
• Able to perform successfully under pressure while prioritizing multiple projects.
• May require as-needed travel (0-20%) domestic and international.