Associate Director, Medical Grants and Sponsorship

Takeda seeks an Associate Director to lead global governance for medical grants and sponsorships in Zürich. The role ensures transparent, compliant funding decisions aligned with scientific priorities and patient-centric outcomes.

This position provides enterprise-level governance and operational leadership for medical grants, medical education grants, and sponsorships within the Global Medical organization. The role operates within a complex, multi-country matrix, ensuring that all funding decisions are transparent, objective, and aligned with therapeutic area strategies, unmet scientific needs, and applicable industry regulations.

Responsibilities

• Establish and evolve global governance standards for all medical grant and sponsorship activities.
• Translate enterprise medical priorities into practical funding frameworks that address scientific and educational interests.
• Drive portfolio-level prioritization across therapeutic areas, geographies, and strategic initiatives.
• Define and refine decision criteria, review pathways, and governance standards.
• Chair or facilitate Grant Review Committee meetings with appropriate cross-functional representation.
• Oversee the full lifecycle of external funding requests, from intake and eligibility review through to close-out and archiving.
• Maintain governance visibility using grant-management systems, dashboards, and standardized documentation.
• Partner with Finance, Legal, and Ethics & Compliance to ensure proper agreements, transparency, and risk mitigation.
• Provide clear process guidance to internal stakeholders and grant requestors.
• Develop operating materials such as SOPs, checklists, training resources, and decision logs.
• Support audit readiness, quality checks, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Provide strategic guidance to senior medical leadership and represent the Medical Governance Office in cross-functional discussions.

Requirements

• Degree in life sciences, pharmacy, medicine, public health, healthcare management, business, or a related field.
• At least 8 years of experience in Medical Affairs, Medical Education, Grants Management, Sponsorships, or Compliance within the biopharma or healthcare sector.

Nice to have

• Advanced degree such as MD, PharmD, PhD, MPH, MSc, or MBA.
• 10+ years of experience for broader global scope.
• Experience with grant-management systems, data quality, repository management, and budget tracking.
• Background working across multiple countries with varying regulatory environments and industry-code expectations.

About the company

Takeda fosters a patient-first, science-led, and ethically grounded culture. The company is committed to strengthening an accountable governance environment across all external funding activities, ensuring that medical decisions align with its core values and global medical standards.

• Patient-first approach in all medical initiatives.
• Science-led decision making.
• Ethically grounded and accountable governance.
• Commitment to global medical culture standards.