Associate Director, Operations Network and Strategy

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq ARWR) is a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company that develops medicines that treat intractable diseases by silencing the genes that cause them. Using a broad portfolio of RNA chemistries and efficient modes of delivery, Arrowhead therapies trigger the RNA interference mechanism to induce rapid, deep, and durable knockdown of target genes. RNA interference, or RNAi, is a mechanism present in living cells that inhibits the expression of a specific gene, thereby affecting the production of a specific protein. Arrowhead’s RNAi-based therapeutics leverage this natural pathway of gene silencing.

Arrowhead is focused on developing innovative drugs for diseases with a genetic basis, typically characterized by the overproduction of one or more proteins that are involved with disease. The depth and versatility of our RNAi technologies enables us to potentially address conditions in virtually any therapeutic area and pursue disease targets that are not otherwise addressable by small molecules and biologics. Arrowhead is leading the field in bringing the promise of RNAi to address diseases outside of the liver, and our clinical pipeline includes disease targets in the liver and lung with a promising pipeline of preclinical candidates.

Arrowhead’s corporate headquarters is in Pasadena, CA with research and development teams in Madison, WI & San Diego, CA, and a state of the art manufacturing facility in Verona, WI. Our employees are nimble, science-driven innovators who are collaborating to bring new therapies to patients in need.

The Position

The Associate Director, Operations Network and Strategy is a member of a team charged with ownership of end-to-end supply chain for Arrowhead products. This individual develops and implements strategies for Arrowhead’s operational network, focusing on areas like supply chain, distribution, or pathways to support a growing clinical pipeline and commercial market portfolio. This role may lead cross-functional teams to ensure operational efficiency, analyze performance data, set goals, and manage budgets to align with the overall business strategy. This position works closely with other departments to mitigate risks within global operations, identify process improvements, and facilitate network expansion opportunities.

This role is based in onsite with an expectation to be in the office five days a week.

Responsibilities

Network Strategy & Design

• Lead development of end-to-end operations network strategy aligned with enterprise growth objectives.
• Design and optimize manufacturing, distribution, and supply network footprint (internal and external).
• Conduct scenario modeling to evaluate capacity expansion, site selection, outsourcing, nearshoring, and risk mitigation strategies.
• Develop long-term capacity and capital investment roadmaps.

Strategic Planning & Analytics

• Build and maintain advanced network models to support demand growth, product lifecycle changes, and geographic expansion.
• Evaluate trade-offs across cost, service, resilience, sustainability, and risk.
• Lead cross-functional S&OP/S&OE inputs related to network capacity and constraints.
• Establish KPIs and dashboards to monitor network performance.

Operational Excellence & Transformation

• Identify and lead high-impact cost, productivity, and service improvement initiatives.
• Support make-vs-buy decisions and strategic supplier partnerships.
• Drive network resilience planning, including dual sourcing, inventory strategy, and contingency planning.
• Partner with Digital/IT teams to enhance data, modeling tools, and planning systems.

Financial & Capital Planning

• Develop business cases for capital investments, site expansions, and strategic initiatives.
• Quantify financial impact of network decisions (NPV, IRR, cost-to-serve analysis).
• Partner with Finance to align operational strategy with financial targets.

Stakeholder Leadership

• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leadership on operations strategy.
• Present recommendations to executive leadership and Board-level stakeholders (as applicable).
• Lead and develop a team (Director level may include people leadership; Associate Director may lead through influence).

Requirements

• BS in Business Administration, Supply Chain/Logistics, Engineering, or other field related to the essential duties of this role.
• 8+ years of relevant industry experience (7+ years in fast paced cGMP environments; 5+ years in a supply chain leadership role within the pharmaceutical industry.)
• Exhibits excellent interpersonal communication, project management, collaboration, and analytical skills.
• Strong MS Excel, PowerPoint, and Word skills.
• Experience using Smartsheet or other work management software.
• Proficient generating and presenting operational and financial metrics/KPI’s.
• Thorough understanding of and experience with some aspect of technical operations or CMC.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively lead and influence cross-functional teams not under direct organizational reporting lines to communicate challenging goals and achieve objectives.
• Quick learner with the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, maintain focus, and adapt to a variety of challenges.
• Exhibits creativity in adapting to changing situations, development of contingency plans and comfortable with making decisions.

Preferred

• Able to lead and coordinate large, complex strategy projects, with minimal direction
• Experience developing operations network strategies for a growing global market

Wisconsin pay range

$150,000—$170,000 USD

California pay range

$160,000—$180,000 USD

Arrowhead provides competitive salaries and an excellent benefit package.

Candidates must have current, valid authorization to work in the country where this role is located.

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