Strategic Projects & Operations Excellence Lead, China

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.