Associate Director, Facilities - DPF

Associate Director, Facilities (DPF)

United Therapeutics seeks to travel down the corridors of indifference to develop treatments for rare, deadly diseases. We were founded in 1996 by a family seeking a cure for their daughter's pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Today, we have six FDA-approved therapies that treat PAH, pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD) and neuroblastoma, a rare pediatric cancer. Our near-term pipeline seeks to develop additional therapies for PAH and pulmonary fibrosis (PF). The cure for end-stage life-threatening diseases like PAH, PH-ILD, PF, and many others is an organ transplant, but only a small percentage of donated organs are available to address the vast need. For this reason, we are working to create manufactured organs to address the shortage of kidneys, hearts, lungs, and livers available for transplant.

The Associate Director, Facilities (DPF) owns end-to-end operational leadership and execution for the entire Designated Pathogen Free (DPF) Facilities Maintenance network. This is a network-level role responsible for driving performance across the DPF sites. The Associate Director directly leads the Site Facilities Managers and runs the DPF Facilities Maintenance organization as one unified, high-performance operation with consistent standards, real staffing flexibility, and rapid cross-site support to deliver exceptional reliability and compliance in uptime-critical environments. Reporting to the Director, Maintenance, this position maintains deep operational engagement across all sites, works in close alignment with Site Directors and site leadership, and takes direct ownership of day-to-day results while partnering with Facilities Programs & Operations on enterprise standards and programs. This is not a site-level role. It carries full network accountability for execution outcomes.

Success is defined by network reliability, audit readiness, rapid recovery, execution consistency, successful facility startups and expansions, and sustained high performance in a lean multi-site model.

Drive overall operational performance, reliability, and execution across the full DPF network, including buildings, infrastructure, utilities, GMP systems, and critical environmental controls.

Contribute to functional strategic planning and multi-year operational roadmaps for the DPF Facilities Maintenance network in alignment with broader organizational goals.

Directly lead, develop, coach, and support Site Facilities Managers while maintaining strong alignment and coordination with Site Directors and site leadership at each location.

Establish, enforce, and continuously improve consistent operational standards, escalation protocols, and staffing models across the DPF network.

Drive workforce planning, cross-site staffing flexibility, and rapid deployment of resources to support outages, startups, expansions, vacancies, and peak demand.

Ensure rapid incident response, effective recovery, and permanent corrective actions for critical facilities and GMP systems.

Lead operational readiness, commissioning, startup, expansion, transition, and renovation activities to the highest standards.

Oversee vendor and contractor performance with rigorous accountability to quality, SLAs, and operational delivery.

Support development and management of the DPF network operating budget, including forecasting, expense tracking, and cost optimization initiatives.

Deliver full GMP/GxP, safety, and regulatory compliance with outstanding audit readiness across the network.

Maintain regular, extended on-site presence across all DPF sites each month and provide direct operational leadership and hands-on field support during prolonged absences, vacancies, critical incidents, or periods of elevated demand.

Minimum Requirements:

15+ years progressive leadership experience in facilities, maintenance, engineering, or operations within pharmaceutical, biotech, biologics, or other complex FDA-regulated research and product development environments with a H.S. Diploma/GED or 14+ years progressive leadership experience in facilities, maintenance, engineering, or operations within pharmaceutical, biotech, biologics, or other complex FDA-regulated research and product development environments with an Associate Degree or 12+ years progressive leadership experience in facilities, maintenance, engineering, or operations within pharmaceutical, biotech, biologics, or other complex FDA-regulated research and product development environments with a Bachelor's Degree.

Proven operational leadership and ability to drive high execution across distributed teams under pressure.

Strong technical troubleshooting and decisive judgment in regulated GMP environments.

Track record building staffing flexibility and cross-site collaboration.

Solid understanding of facilities infrastructure, GMP utilities, maintenance execution, and vendor management.

Ability to move seamlessly between strategy and hands-on field leadership.

Ability to interpret, apply, and enforce GMP/GxP regulations and compliance requirements.

Valid driver's license and willingness to travel extensively (a minimum of 30-40% under normal conditions and will increase during start ups, major outages, or peak periods).

Preferred Qualifications:

Associate Degree in engineering, facilities/operations management, or related field OR a Bachelor's Degree in engineering, facilities/operations management, or related field.

5+ years of demonstrated success operating in lean, flexible, or cross-site operational models within regulated research or product development environments.

Job Location:

United Therapeutics is open to candidates located within the Eastern or Central Time Zones of the United States, with a strong preference for candidates located near, or willing to relocate near, one of the DPF facilities in Christiansburg, VA; Houston, TX; or Stewartville, MN. This is a travel-intensive hybrid role that requires monthly on-site leadership presence at all DPF sites. The successful candidate will maintain a primary operating location while providing regular, extended leadership support across the full DPF network. Time spent at each site will vary based on operational priorities, staffing conditions, startup activities, outages, and business needs.

The salary range for this position is $149,000 - $200,000 per year and reflects our good-faith estimate of the compensation for this role at the time of posting. An employee's position within the salary range will be based on factors such as education, qualifications, experience, skills, geographic location, and business needs, as well as other factors permitted by law at the time of posting. This range may be modified in the future based on company and market factors.

At United Therapeutics, our mission and vision are one. We use our enthusiasm, creativity, and persistence to innovate for the unmet medical needs of our patients and to benefit our other stakeholders. We are bold and unconventional. We have fun, we do good.