Strategic Program Manager

Transversal Translational Medicine (TTM), led by Prof. Rejko Krüger, builds a strong translational bridge between fundamental research and clinical practice, ensuring that advances in prevention, diagnosis, and therapy ultimately benefit patients in Luxembourg and beyond.

Within this framework, the Strategic Program Manager plays a key role in supporting Principal Investigators in the implementation and development of strategic research programs, with a particular emphasis on initiatives at the intersection of neurodegeneration and COVID-related research.

Key Accountabilities

• Be involved in program development: together with the principal investigator and governance body of the program anticipate, identify, respond to, and shape internal and external collaborative opportunities. Focus on interdisciplinary and translational research; leverage local, national, and international contacts to projects and initiatives with major strategic impact,
• Be involved in the establishment, writing, and coordination of large projects and stakeholder management within consortium,
• Identify and explore funding opportunities in collaboration with the SO and TTM staff.
• Stimulating strategic project development within the departments (act as a multiplier).  
• Assist the consortium leader in developing written and oral presentations, leading organizational meetings, managing administrative follow-up,
• Connect the activities of the research projects and initiatives within a given program with the different units and departments at Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) as well as with other relevant partners in Luxembourg and abroad.
• Be a key link across LIH activities connecting the internal and external stakeholders to progress with the implementation of the program at LIH and in Luxembourg,
• Support the principal investigator or consortium leader in coordinating the scientific development, execution, and monitoring of the projects (by enacting the roles of a project manager - see Project Manager Role) belonging to the program.
• Liaise between PIs, administrative services, clinical project managers, and departmental project coordinators.
• Organise coordination meetings with key national and international stakeholders for the elaboration of strategic projects.
• Contribute to the organization of program-specific events (e.g. workshops, conferences, lectures, summer parties for cohort participants)
• Participate in the societal dimension: dissemination of simplified research results to the general public (through articles, etc.),
• Preparing research proposals and supportive documents for decision-making and pitching strategic projects to key stakeholders and funders.
• Partakes in exchange forums to share know-how and experiences with other program managers and other LIH staff.

Key Skills, Experience and Qualifications

Required

• PhD in the field of Medical/Health, Biomedical, or Life Sciences or pharmacy or Biology/Biotechnology related sciences.
• At least 4 years relevant job-related experience in project management in research or industrial settings (including academia).
• Ability to lead and support a wide array of projects.
• Independent and multidisciplinary team working abilities, with excellent interpersonal skills.
• Excellent communication skills (both written and verbal), with demonstrated ability to adapt tone and style for broad and diverse audiences.
• Ability to quickly adapt and effectively organize, prioritize and execute tasks in a dynamic environment with attention to detail and accuracy.
• Good negotiation skills and diplomatic skills to push projects firmly but diplomatically to get results.
• Ability to work in a multinational environment and interact positively with advisors and regulatory authorities.
• Language skills: Excellent oral and written skills in English. Additional good knowledge of German and French would be an added advantage.
• Excellent knowledge of MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and communication tools.

Desirable

• Experience in the domain of biomedical/clinical research.
• Experience working in teams with diverse cultural and professional backgrounds.
• Experience in multi-center international research projects.
• Knowledge of the clinical research working rules in Luxembourg and Europe (legal context, patient rights, data protection, etc.) and the international directives (International Conference on Harmonization - Good Clinical Practice: ICH-GCP) as well as the Clinical trials - Directive 2001/20/EC replaced by the Clinical Trials Regulation and biobanking recommendations and guidelines (ISBER; etc.) is desirable.
• PRINCE2 or equivalent; experience in a PM tool (MS project or equivalent) is desirable.

Gender Equality

The LIH is an equal opportunities employer. We are fully committed to removing any discriminatory barrier related to gender, and not only, in recruitment and career progression of our staff. The LIH is attentive to gender representation among its leadership staff and aims to eliminate obstacles to the recruitment and promotion of female leaders and their career development.