Associate Director, Project Management

Crinetics is a pharmaceutical company based in San Diego, California, developing much-needed therapies for people with endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors. We were founded by a dedicated team of scientists with the simple belief that better therapies developed from rigorous innovation can lead to better lives. Our work continues to make a real difference in the lives of patients. We have a prolific discovery engine and a robust preclinical and clinical development pipeline. We are driven by science with a patient-centric and team-oriented culture. Crinetics is known for its inclusive workplace culture. We are also a dog-friendly workplace. This is an exciting time to join Crinetics as we shape our organization into the world’s premier fully-integrated endocrine company from discovery to patients. Join our team as we transform the lives of others.

Position Summary:

The Associate Director, Project Management (Oncology Programs) is responsible for driving cross-functional execution and providing strategic operational leadership for Crinetics’ oncology portfolio, with an initial focus on oncology indications. This role serves as a key partner to the Program Global Product Leader (GPL), helping translate program strategy into an integrated, executable plan and enabling timely, high-quality decision-making across the matrix.

The Associate Director will create and maintain integrated cross-functional development plans aligned with governance expectations, stage-gate and change control processes, and portfolio reporting requirements. The role will also lead program operating rhythms and governance forums, proactively anticipate risks and interdependencies, and provide clear, executive-ready visibility into critical path, decisions, and resourcing implications to support efficient delivery of program milestones.

Essential Job Functions and Responsibilities:

These may include but are not limited to:

• Lead project management efforts associated with oncology development activities to support successful execution across multiple indications and program workstreams.
• Provide PM leadership, operational and strategic support to cross-functional oncology program teams, enabling coordinated planning, readiness, execution, and optimization of development milestones.
• Partner with the Program Global Product Leader (GPL) to provide strategic thought leadership, proactively anticipate program needs, and design scalable, efficient team processes and operating rhythms.
• Organize and facilitate Global Product Team and key sub-team/working group meetings, including agendas, attendee management, minutes, decisions, and action items.
• Accurately and efficiently maintain and track detailed integrated timelines, milestones, and deliverables across all components of oncology program plans (e.g., clinical, regulatory, CMC, nonclinical, clinical operations, biometrics, safety, medical writing, clinical pharmacology, quality, translational/biomarkers).
• Facilitate identification of key dependencies, risks, and issues; drive mitigation strategies, decision support, escalation, and contingency planning.
• Maintain dashboards and reporting mechanisms for program status, risks, decisions, and critical path updates for team and senior/executive leadership.
• Facilitate cross-functional communications to gather inputs, align priorities, resolve conflicts, and share project updates; ensure clarity of owners, deliverables, and deadlines.
• Manage an integrated program calendar identifying critical decision points, governance reviews, team events, and key milestones.
• Partner with Product/Program Project Management to ensure appropriate integration with overall product strategy, timelines, and reporting, including alignment between development activities and portfolio-level planning as needed.
• Support preparation for governance reviews and executive program presentations, ensuring materials are accurate, aligned, decision-oriented, and delivered on schedule.
• Drive disciplined change control and documentation of scope/timeline changes, ensuring impacts are understood and communicated to stakeholders.
• Ensure consistency of PM practices, tools, and reporting within Project and Portfolio Management broader team.
• Assist in creation and continuous improvement of PM tools, templates, and best practices; contribute to PMO initiatives and operating rhythms that improve efficiency and consistency.
• Lead or support additional PPM or enterprise projects from initiation through closeout, including stakeholder alignment, risk/issue management, and status reporting.
• Focus on immediate and short-term (less than 2 years) execution horizon while building scalable mechanisms that can extend to future oncology portfolio needs.
• Other duties as assigned.

Education and Experience:

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in a science-related field required.
• 10+ years of relevant biotechnology/pharmaceutical experience with 5+ years of direct project management experience in drug development (clinical-stage experience required).
• 7 years of supervisory experience.
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional teams in a matrix organization, driving integrated planning, milestone execution, and delivery across multiple functions.
• Strong PM fundamentals (meeting management, timeline/critical path management, risk and issue management, decision tracking, action management, governance preparation).
• Proactive, forward-thinking, and able to anticipate needs in dynamic environments with competing priorities.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to collaborate across functions; proven ability to influence without authority.
• Strong facilitation and communication skills (including executive-ready written and presentation skills) with success influencing at all levels cross-functionally.
• Highly collaborative with outstanding relationship-building skills; ability to lead teams, navigate ambiguity, and resolve conflict effectively.
• Experience with project/portfolio management tools and systems (e.g., Planisware) and strong working knowledge of common collaboration tools (e.g., MS Office, Smartsheet, SharePoint).

Preferred:

• Advanced degree.
• Oncology development experience (e.g., early-phase dose escalation/expansion and/or later-stage oncology development) and familiarity with oncology program execution complexities.
• Formal project management training and/or certification (e.g., PMP).

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

Physical Activities: On a continuous basis, sit at desk for a long period of time; intermittently answer telephone and write or use a keyboard to communicate through written means. Some walking and lifting up to 25 lbs. may be required. The noise level in the work environment is typically low to moderate. The physical demands described above are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions and responsibilities of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions and responsibilities.

Laboratory Activities (if applicable): Biology and chemical laboratory environment experience needed. Environmental health and safety requirements also apply.

Travel:

You may be required to travel for up to 5% of your time.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Crinetics is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to unlawful considerations of sex, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity and/or expression), pregnancy, race, color, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, religion or similar philosophical beliefs, disability, marital and civil union status, age, genetic information, veteran status or any personal attribute or characteristic that is protected by applicable local, state or federal laws.

Salary Range

In addition to your base pay, our total rewards program consists of a discretionary annual target bonus, stock options, ESPP, and 401k match. We also provide top-notch health insurance plans for employees (and their families) to include medical, dental, vision and basic life insurance, 20 days of PTO, 10 paid holidays, and a winter company shutdown.