Vendor Relationship Management Lead

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, with offices in Boston, Massachusetts, and Dublin, Ireland. For more than 30 years, Ionis has been the leader in RNA-targeted therapy, pioneering new markets and changing standards of care with our novel antisense technology. Ionis currently has three marketed medicines and a premier late-stage pipeline highlighted by industry-leading cardiovascular and neurological franchises. Our scientific innovation began and continues with the knowledge that sick people depend on us, which fuels our vision to become the undisputed leader in genetic medicine, utilizing a multi-platform approach to discover, develop and deliver life-transforming therapies.
As the first company to fully harness the power of RNA technology for human therapeutics, Ionis’ platform continues to revolutionize drug discovery and transform lives for patients with unmet needs. We are building upon our innovative research and drug development excellence to provide greater value to patients, and we are well positioned financially to deliver on our strategic goals.
Ionis is a challenging, motivating and rewarding environment designed to foster innovation and scientific excellence. Our success is a direct result of our outstanding employees. We are interested in bringing together a diverse group of individuals with different skill sets and perspectives into this creative environment to be part of a productive and inclusive team. While acknowledging people are actively engaged in hybrid/remote work, we continue to invest time, money, and energy into making our workplace locations a place where our culture and employees can thrive. We believe engaging on a day-to-day basis, in person, builds solid and lasting relationships, and contributes positively to our culture and innovation. From the heart of our stunning Carlsbad campus, we aim to provide a central connection point for all our employees. These facilities give us the opportunity to connect cross-functionally, collaborate and to build on the success of our business as we continue to grow. Join us and experience our unique culture while you develop and expand your career.
VENDOR RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT LEAD
Summary
The Vendor Relationship Management Lead is responsible for oversight and management of assigned vendor(s). Including the planning and execution of vendor governance meetings, serve as primary contact, and point of escalation at the relationship level, responsible for monitoring and managing key performance indicators (KPIs), monitoring vendor performance and working with functional areas to implement ongoing vendor process improvement initiatives.
Collaborates with Functional Area(s) and Strategic Sourcing to identify and qualify vendor candidates
Core Responsibilities

• Oversight and management of a number of vendor(s)/partner(s) within the assigned outsourcing space (e.g. CRO, Functional, or Category).
• Maintains the filing of vendor governance material and provides input on Clinical Assignment Tracker to indicate which vendor and services are assigned to each study.
• Serves as the primary contact for the assigned external vendor(s)/partner(s) and internal stakeholder organization. Also serves as initial point of escalation for internal and external stakeholders; knows when to escalate to senior management; works with functional areas to monitor vendor performance in accordance with contracts utilizing metrics.
• Conducts activities in compliance with all relevant regulations, ICH, PhRMA, and CFR guidelines, as well as all policies and procedures.
• In collaboration with the Functional Area Heads or designee(s), develops relationships with vendors to enable mutual understanding of expectations, deliverables, and issue resolution.
• Interprets internal/external business challenges and recommends process improvements to address those challenges across vendor set.
• Collaborates with Research & Development Procurement to identify vendor/partner candidates who can deliver the required services/resources for an assigned service/functional area.
• Identifies and leads process improvement initiatives and/or strategic sourcing initiatives, as necessary; identifies and leverages best practices as pertains to tracking of agreement status to ensure a high-level of transparency across multiple functional areas
• Establishes applicable procedures, business practices and documentations to ensure compliance with applicable regulatory requirements.
• Ensures issues are identified and managed through to resolution in a timely manner and deliverables are met as required.
• Actively participates in the Sourcing Management Process.
• Works with the Functional areas to resolve and mitigate vendor performance issues. Perform lessons learned as part of the continuous process improvement activities.
• Responsible for monitoring and managing key performance metrics for the assigned vendor(s)/partner(s) to continuously evaluate performance.
• Develops and facilitates the collection and analysis of relevant performance metrics (e.g. KPIs/KQIs).
• Assists with translating the business technical needs into the RFP specifications and KPIs and/or Service Level Agreements and associated consequences.
• Follow and applies risk-based vendor tiering governance model.
• Performs risk assessment of current and future contracted services as inputs to the vendor oversight strategy.
• Understands the business priorities and requirements from various Development Functional Heads and areas processes and systems as the criteria in developing a risk based and holistic vendor oversight strategy.
• Oversees and ensures Ionis Development compliance to the vendor oversight related procedures and processes.
• Planning and execution of governance meetings for assigned vendors. Participates in other various governance meetings as needed. Ensures timely follow up from those meetings.
• Interprets internal stakeholder needs then collaborates with and provides guidance to vendor(s)/partner(s) to assure new capabilities and services are developed to meet identified internal needs.
• Responsible for compliance with applicable vendor selection and oversight policies and procedures

Competencies Identified For Success

• Experience in Phase I-IV complex, global studies in the areas of clinical operations, vendor and relationship management and category management.
• Ability to problem-solve issues in high pressure situations with excellent communication and strong influencing skills.
• Experience writing and reviewing SOPs or tools which support Development activities
• Good understanding of Development Process
• Good understanding of FDA GCP and ICH regulatory requirements, Pharmacovigilance and GLP regulations and implementations
• 7-10 years’ experience and or cumulative experience in the areas of Project Management, Clinical Operations, Procurement, and Quality Assurance in a pharmaceuticals or biotechnology industry
• Affinity to build strong relationships and partnerships for collaboration and achievement of shared goals.
• Flexible without compromising quality
• Ability to work independently with tight timelines and competing priorities
• Strong negotiation and interpersonal skills, team player
• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in a healthcare or scientific-related discipline
• Excellent organizational skills with attention to details, advanced computer skills

Requirements

• Good understanding of FDA GXP and ICH regulatory requirements
• Strong partner/supplier management experience
• Minimum B.S. degree
• Ability to travel
• 5 + years’ experience in a pharmaceuticals, biotechnology industry or vendor management
• Excellent collaboration and organizational skills with attention to details
• Strong negotiation and interpersonal skills, team player
• Good understanding of Development Process
• Ability to work independently with tight timelines and competing priorities

Please visit our website, www.ionispharma.com for more information about Ionis and to apply for this position; reference requisition # IONIS003079
Ionis offers an excellent benefits package! Follow this link for more details: Ionis Benefits
Full Benefits Link: https://www.ionispharma.com/careers/working-at-ionis/#:~:text=our%20employee%20spotlight-,Benefits,-Employees%20are%20rewarded
The pay scale for this position is $78,608 to $164,000
NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE. PRINCIPALS ONLY.
Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and all its subsidiaries are proud to be EEO employers.