Biogen Posted August 11, 2026

Associate Director, Medical Strategy & Operations Lead - Rare Disease (US Medical Affairs)

Cambridge, United States Full time
Medical Affairs Rare Disease Associate Director

Biogen is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

About This Role

The Associate Director, Medical Strategy & Operations (S&O) Lead is a strategic operations leader within North America (NA) Medical Affairs and a core member of Rare Disease LT.   The role drives strategy-to-execution integration, enterprise alignment, and coordination of governance processes and operating rhythm across Biogen North America.

The role partners closely with the Head of Rare Disease and Medical leadership team to help advance strategic integration across Medical leadership, Field teams, Medical Excellence, Operations, Global Medical, and Biogen North America stakeholders (including Commercial and Market Access). The role identifies opportunities and supports alignment between BNA enterprise priorities and NA Medical strategy and helps ensure clarity, coordinated execution, and effective flow of information and decisions across functions.

The S&O Lead supports the design and maintenance of governance, alignment, and operating structures that pull through strategy to enable coordinated execution across functions. This includes clarifying decision rights, ensuring appropriate ownership, and maintaining visibility of priorities and performance across the Therapeutic Area.

The role plays an important part in advancing the Medical S&O function’s strategic integrator model, helping connect strategy, governance, and execution across the Therapeutic Area while building toward broader enterprise leadership responsibilities.

What You’ll Do

Serve as a strategic thought partner to the Head of Rare Disease and Medical leadership team, supporting the identification of execution risks, operational challenges, and opportunities for alignment.

Drive and facilitate the integration of strategy-to-execution planning across planning cycles (AOP, ICP, long-range planning), helping translate strategic priorities into coordinated execution plans and measurable milestones.

Drive and coordinate the operating rhythm for the Rare Disease Medical team, including milestone tracking, governance forums, KPI integration, and preparation for leadership reviews.

Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to ensure Medical priorities and activities are appropriately represented within the broader BNA operating cadence.

Facilitate effective information flow and strategic communication across Medical leadership, enterprise partners, and key governance forums.

Develop and support preparation of executive materials and strategic narratives that communicate Medical priorities, progress, risks, and key decisions for leadership audiences.

Partner with Finance and medical Rare Disease LT to lead budget planning, monitoring, and performance tracking for the Therapeutic Area.

Help identify execution risks, structural barriers, and cross-functional dependencies, facilitating alignment and resolution with appropriate stakeholders.

Support coordination between NA Medical and Global Medical teams to ensure alignment across strategic initiatives and key workstreams.

Contribute to continuous improvement initiatives that enhance operating clarity, governance effectiveness, and enterprise collaboration.

Promote a culture of accountability, transparency, and cross-functional partnership within the Therapeutic Area and broader Medical organization.

Who You Are

You are a strategic leader who operates effectively at the intersection of strategy, governance, and execution in a complex matrixed organization. You are comfortable navigating ambiguity, influencing stakeholders without formal authority, and helping drive alignment across cross-functional teams. You combine strong business acumen, financial discipline, and operational rigor with clear communication and structured problem-solving. You balance enterprise perspective with Medical integrity and scientific rigor.

Required Skills

BA/BS required; advanced degree (MBA, MS, PhD) preferred.

7+ years of pharmaceutical/biotech industry experience required.

7+ years of relevant experience in biopharma strategy, operations, consulting, Medical Affairs, or related enterprise-facing roles required.

Experience supporting cross-functional planning, governance processes, or program management required.

Demonstrated business and financial acumen.

Strong organizational and problem-solving skills.

Strong communication and presentation skills.

Ability to influence across a matrixed organization without direct authority.

Strong command of core business tools (Excel, PowerPoint, etc.).

Preferred Skills

Experience working in alliance or cross-enterprise environments.

Global Medical or affiliate experience.

Experience in financial planning.

Change management experience.

Job Level: Management

Additional Information

The base compensation range for this role is: $162,000.00-$223,000.00

Base salary offered is determined through an analytical approach utilizing a combination of factors including, but not limited to, relevant skills & experience, job location, and internal equity.

Regular employees are eligible to receive both short term and long-term incentives, including cash bonus and equity incentive opportunities, designed to reward recent achievements and recognize your future potential based on individual, business unit and company performance.

In addition to compensation, Biogen offers a full and highly competitive range of benefits designed to support our employees’ and their families physical, financial, emotional, and social well-being ; including, but not limited to:

Medical, Dental, Vision, & Life insurances

Fitness & Wellness programs including a fitness reimbursement

Short- and Long-Term Disability insurance

A minimum of 15 days of paid vacation and an additional end-of-year shutdown time off (Dec 26-Dec 31)

Up to 12 company paid holidays + 3 paid days off for Personal Significance

80 hours of sick time per calendar year

Paid Maternity and Parental Leave benefit

401(k) program participation with company matched contributions

Employee stock purchase plan

Tuition reimbursement of up to $10,000 per calendar year

Employee Resource Groups participation

Why Biogen?

We are a global team with a commitment to excellence, and a pioneering spirit. As a mid-sized biotechnology company, we provide the stability and resources of a well-established business while fostering an environment where individual contributions make a significant impact. Our team encompasses some of the most talented and passionate achievers who have unparalleled opportunities for learning, growth, and expanding their skills. Above all, we work together to deliver life-changing medicines, with every role playing a vital part in our mission. Caring Deeply. Achieving Excellence. Changing Lives.

At Biogen, we are committed to building on our culture of inclusion and belonging that reflects the communities where we operate and the patients we serve. We know that diverse backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives make us a stronger and more innovative company, and we are focused on building teams where every employee feels empowered and inspired.  Read on  to learn more about Biogen.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, race, color, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, religion, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law. Biogen is an E-Verify Employer in the United States.

Job details

Seniority
Associate Director
Function
Medical Affairs
Therapeutic area
Rare Disease
Location
Cambridge, United States
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Medical Affairs role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 260 comparable Associate Director Medical Affairs roles across 75 biopharma companies.

260Comparable roles tracked
216Currently active
75Companies hiring similar roles
33Countries represented

Salary context

50 of 260 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Lowest disclosed · Senior Medical Writer - Vaccine · Sanofi Vaccines US Inc. $122,250/yr – $176,583/yr
Peer group range $149,417 – $258,000 (median $180,500)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 260 comparable roles

United States88
Japan25
Germany24
India22
China20
Taiwan13

+ 27 more countries

Seniority mix

260 of 260 peers have a known seniority level

Manager125
Senior97
Associate Director38

Therapeutic area mix

100 of 260 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology43
Immunology14
Vaccines & Infectious Disease9
Cardiovascular / CVRM8
Dermatology & Aesthetics8
Rare Disease7
Neuroscience7
Respiratory2
Ophthalmology1
Gastroenterology1

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

90%similar
Horizon Therapeutics Services LLC New Orleans, United States Senior
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
90%similar
Amgen Inc. Baltimore, United States Senior
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
90%similar
Biogen Baltimore, United States Senior
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
90%similar
Amgen Inc. San Francisco, United States Senior
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Same country
75%similar
Amgen Limited Cambridge, United Kingdom Senior
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority
75%similar
Sanofi KK (Japan) Tokyo, Japan Manager
Same function Same therapeutic area Adjacent seniority

How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

90%
Sr. Medical Science Liaison - Uncontrolled Gout - Rare Disease - AR, LA, MS
Horizon Therapeutics Services LLC · New Orleans, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
90%
Senior Medical Science Liaison, Rare Disease - Northern California
Amgen Inc. · San Francisco, United States · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
75%
Senior MSL Rare Disease
AstraZeneca · Jeddah, Saudi Arabia · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
60%
Associate Director US Medical Affairs, Patient Access and Quality of Care (PAQ) – Oncology
Gilead Sciences, Inc. · Foster City, United States · Associate Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.