Description
**What You Will Do**
The **Strategic Projects & Operations Excellence (SPO) Lead** is a key member of the **China Leadership Committee (CLC)** and reports directly to the **China General Manager** , leads a team of three direct reports – Senior New Product Planning Manager, Marketing Excellence and Innovation Senior Manager, and Sr Associate SPO.
This role leads China’s **strategic projects and operations excellence agenda** , overseeing key areas including **strategic projects, business operations, marketing excellence, and sales excellence** . The role plays a critical leadership role in shaping and executing China’s commercial excellence agenda, driving enterprise-level strategic initiatives, strengthening business planning and execution discipline, and enabling sustainable business growth across the affiliate.
The successful candidate will serve as a strategic enterprise leader, partnering closely with commercial, medical, value, access & policy, legal, compliance, finance, HR, regional, global, and cross-functional teams to advance Amgen’s mission and support China’s business priorities.
In this role, you will:
+ Lead the development and execution of China’s integrated **strategic projects and operations excellence agenda** .
+ Shape and execute commercial excellence priorities, including **marketing excellence and sales excellence** , to strengthen planning quality, execution discipline, field effectiveness, and business impact.
+ Drive enterprise-level strategic projects and operational initiatives that support China’s business priorities, organizational effectiveness, and long-term growth.
+ Partner with commercial, medical, value & access, legal, compliance, finance, HR, regional, and global teams to ensure alignment across markets, functions, and governance requirements.
+ Strengthen business planning, performance tracking, operating rhythm, process improvement, and cross-functional execution across the China affiliate.
+ Provide business insights, operational discipline, and project governance to support senior leadership decision-making.
+ Represent the China affiliate in relevant regional/global strategic projects, commercial excellence, operations excellence, and business planning discussions.
+ Lead, develop, and empower a high-performing Strategic Projects & Operations Excellence team with strong business impact, enterprise leadership, operational discipline, and continuous improvement mindset.
**Key Deliverables:**
**Strategic Projects & Operations**
+ Lead enterprise-level strategic projects that support China’s business priorities, organizational effectiveness, and long-term growth.
+ Translate strategic priorities into clear execution plans, governance mechanisms, timelines, ownership, milestones, and tracking processes.
+ Coordinate short- and long-term business planning assumptions to support successful business execution, resource prioritization, and lifecycle strategies.
+ Partner with the CLC and relevant functional leaders to drive alignment on project objectives, decision points, risks, and expected outcomes.
+ Support cross-functional execution of key initiatives, including commercial transformation, operating model evolution, business process optimization, capability-building programs, and affiliate-level strategic priorities.
+ Establish effective operating rhythms for strategic projects, including progress reviews, issue escalation, decision-making forums, and stakeholder updates.
+ Identify operational risks, interdependencies, and resource constraints, and work with relevant leaders to resolve them in a timely manner.
+ Drive continuous improvement in business planning, operations review, governance, and execution management.
+ Collaborate with regional and global teams to ensure China’s priorities, insights, and market dynamics are appropriately reflected in broader strategic projects and operating plans.
**Marketing Excellence**
+ Strengthen marketing planning discipline to ensure business strategies are translated into clear, executable, and measurable action plans.
+ Support high-quality brand planning, campaign planning, customer engagement planning, and performance tracking across relevant therapeutic areas.
+ Partner with marketing, medical, value & access, finance, legal, compliance, and commercial teams to ensure marketing strategies are aligned with business priorities, customer needs, patient impact, and governance expectations.
+ Enable marketing teams with relevant tools, processes, insights, and operating mechanisms to improve execution effectiveness.
+ Support cross-brand and cross-functional sharing of best practices, lessons learned, and capability-building opportunities.
+ Drive continuous improvement in marketing operations, including planning cadence, execution tracking, resource allocation, business review preparation, and documentation quality.
+ Help ensure marketing initiatives are designed and executed with strong strategic rationale, operational discipline, and appropriate governance.
**Sales Excellence**
+ Strengthen sales execution discipline by supporting effective sales planning, field execution models, performance management, and business review processes.
+ Partner with commercial leaders to improve sales force effectiveness, field productivity, execution quality, and business impact.
+ Support the development and implementation of operating mechanisms that enable sales teams to translate strategy into clear action plans.
+ Provide business insights, operational tracking, and cross-functional coordination to support sales execution priorities.
+ Partner with commercial, finance, compliance, legal, HR, and other stakeholders to ensure sales excellence initiatives are aligned with business objectives and governance requirements.
+ Support capability-building initiatives for field teams, including operating model clarity, execution standards, business review discipline, and process adherence.
+ Identify execution barriers, operational inefficiencies, and process improvement opportunities, and work with relevant teams to address them.
**Operations Excellence**
+ Lead China’s operations excellence agenda to strengthen process clarity, execution discipline, operational efficiency, and cross-functional alignment.
+ Establish and continuously improve operating mechanisms that enable business teams to execute with clarity, consistency, and accountability.
+ Support the affiliate in building stronger business governance capabilities, including documentation quality, process adherence, issue escalation, and decision tracking.
+ Provide business insights, operational tracking, and project management support to enable timely and effective decision-making.
+ Identify process gaps and operational inefficiencies, and partner with relevant stakeholders to develop practical solutions.
+ Drive simplification and continuous improvement across key business processes, while maintaining appropriate governance and compliance awareness.
+ Ensure operations excellence initiatives are aligned with enterprise priorities, business needs, and Amgen’s mission to serve patients.
**Portfolio Management & New Product Planning**
+ Frame and evaluate product development strategies (cost, risk, and value) to support portfolio prioritization and stage‑gate decisions
+ Act as the commercial lead for new products (typically 18–24 months pre‑launch), including overall development strategy, business potential assessment, and pre‑launch planning
+ Lead cross‑functional teams to develop and execute comprehensive pre‑launch plans, including governance, milestones, investments, KPIs, and timelines
+ Ensure disciplined execution, progress tracking, and cross‑functional alignment across pre‑launch activities
**Cross-functional Collaboration**
+ Partner effectively with commercial, medical, value, access & policy, regulatory, legal, compliance, finance, HR, and other functional colleagues to support Amgen’s business and mission.
+ Collaborate with global and regional teams to ensure China’s priorities, insights, and market dynamics are appropriately reflected in broader strategies.
+ Drive enterprise alignment across internal stakeholders to support strategic, operational, commercial, and governance objectives.
+ Facilitate effective communication between business teams and enabling functions to ensure clarity of ownership, timely decision-making, and appropriate escalation.
+ Promote strong partnership between business teams and enabling functions while preserving clear accountability and execution discipline.
+ Ensure business initiatives are assessed with a balanced view of strategic objectives, operational feasibility, patient impact, and governance considerations.
**Enterprise Coordination & Governance**
+ Serve as the central coordination hub for business planning, review, and follow‑up, including leadership of key governance forums such as the Operating Committee
+ Represent China’s business strategy and guide enterprise‑wide alignment across functions including HR, Finance, and Corporate Communications
+ Support senior‑level interactions with external partners and vendors as needed
+ Enable effective engagement and preparation for senior‑level internal and external forums
**Team Leadership**
+ Develop, empower, and lead a talented, results-oriented Strategic Projects & Operations Excellence team.
+ Build organizational capabilities across strategic projects, business operations, marketing excellence, sales excellence, operations excellence, project governance, and execution management.
+ Foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, innovation, continuous improvement, business ownership, and operational discipline.
+ Coach team members to balance business impact, operational feasibility, stakeholder needs, and enterprise priorities.
+ Ensure the team operates with clear roles, effective stakeholder engagement, disciplined execution, and high standards of documentation and governance.
+ Build a team culture that supports Amgen’s mission, values, and commitment to serving patients.
**What We Expect of You**
We are all different, yet we all use our unique contributions to serve patients. The professional we seek is a strategic, collaborative, and solutions-oriented leader with strong enterprise leadership, commercial understanding, business acumen, operational discipline, governance mindset, and stakeholder management capability.
**Qualifications:**
+ Advanced degree in Business Administration, Health Care Management, Health Policy, Commercial Excellence, Marketing, Finance, Operations, Risk Management, Compliance, or a related discipline.
+ Strong experience in strategic planning, commercial operations, marketing excellence, sales excellence, operations excellence, business planning, or cross-functional program management.
+ Demonstrated ability to lead complex, enterprise-level initiatives in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare, or life sciences sector.
+ Strong understanding of commercial strategy, marketing planning, field execution, business review processes, and operating model effectiveness.
+ Strong business acumen and experience navigating commercial, policy, access, compliance, and operational dynamics in China.
+ Experience working with senior leadership teams and facilitating enterprise-level decision-making forums.
+ Ability to assess business opportunities and execution risks with a balanced view of strategic objectives, operational feasibility, patient impact, and governance considerations.
+ Proven ability to lead teams, build capabilities, and foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
+ Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence effectively across functions and levels.
+ Mature, credible, and enterprise-oriented leadership style, with the ability to operate effectively in a complex and evolving external environment.
+ Experience in commercial excellence, business operations, data analytics, project governance, performance tracking, or business process improvement is preferred.
+ Strong ability to work with commercial, medical, value & access, legal, compliance, finance, HR, and regional/global stakeholders in a matrixed organization.
+ Ability to manage ambiguity, drive alignment, and support timely decision-making in a complex and evolving external and internal environment.
