Executive Director, Global Program Manager

The posting, as Kardigan wrote it

About Us

Kardigan is a heart health company working to make cardiovascular disease preventable, curable and no longer the leading cause of death in the world.

It is Kardigan’s mission to develop multiple targeted treatments in parallel that bring people with cardiovascular diseases to the cures they deserve.

Led by Tassos Gianakakos, Jay Edelberg, M.D., Ph.D., and Bob McDowell, Ph.D., Kardigan’s co-founders have reunited after leading MyoKardia to discover and develop mavacamten, the first cardiac myosin inhibitor, resulting in an acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2020.

We have a cutting-edge discovery and translational research platform, a pipeline of late-stage candidates, and an industry-leading team that is driven to improve the lives of patients.

At Kardigan, we are motivated by our values which guide how we work, interact, and achieve our goals. Driven by patients and their families , we are deeply committed to improving the lives of patients and prioritizing their needs above all else. We believe in being authentic —leading with truth to bring out the best in others by creating an environment where every person knows they will be fully accepted. With an eagerness to learn , we encourage the highest levels of curiosity and are open to changing our minds. We are committed to winning as a team with urgency, excellence, and intention, and support each other no matter what role we play or where we sit. Lastly, we strive to enable the impossible because patients are counting on us. We are not afraid to take risks to unlock innovation and advance scientific discoveries.

These values are the foundation of our work, empowering us to make a real difference, every day.

Executive Director, Global Program Manager

About the Team

Kardigan’s Program Management team is the operational engine of our Global Program Teams — connecting strategy to execution, functions to outcomes, and teams to purpose. Global Program Managers (GPMs) hold the integrated view of each program at all times — scientific, operational, financial, and interpersonal — owning the Integrated Development & Commercialization Plan (IDCP) as the plan of record, integrated timelines and critical path, program risk governance, governance packages and executive communication, and the meeting design and team practices that keep cross-functional teams healthy and decisive.

How programs are governed at Kardigan

Every program runs two governance bodies. The Global Program Team (GPT) owns the whole asset — the integrated strategy and the plan of record, which we call the Integrated Development & Commercialization Plan. The Global Clinical Team (GCT) owns the clinical program and the Clinical Development Plan that rolls up into it. Above them, the Executive Committee approves asset strategy and Monthly Portfolio Strategy (MPS) approves the plan of record and material changes to it. Below them, five function-led sub-teams do the delivery work. The Global Program Manager is one of
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roven ability to lead through influence in a matrixed environment, and to run workstreams and cross-functional teams while personally delivering the work.

• Experience in a smaller or high-growth biotech environment, or a demonstrated ability to transition from large-company infrastructure to a resource-conscious, fast-moving setting.

Core Competencies

• Program leadership. Thinks and acts as the GPH’s operational counterpart; holds the integrated view and drives the program to decisions, not just to milestones.
• Development judgment. Understands the content of the work well enough to challenge functional plans, spot critical-path risk early and frame real trade-offs.
• Executive communication. Translates program complexity into clear, executive-ready insight for the Executive Committee, Board and alliance partners.
• Facilitation and team health. Builds psychological safety and shared accountability; designs the forums and norms that keep a cross-functional team decisive.
• Rigor and urgency. Disciplined documentation, risk governance and version control; operates with a start-up sense of pace and resilience.
• Patient-centric orientation. Ensure program execution ultimately serves patients and their families.

Strongly Preferred

• Has taken an asset through regulatory submission (a New Drug Application or Biologics License Application) and U.S. launch as the Global Program Manager or a core program team member — owning or directly contributing to submission planning and launch-readiness workstreams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Beneficial but not required: experience with small-molecule or oligonucleotide/RNA-targeted programs, or with cardiovascular/cardiometabolic programs — the ability to learn the science quickly is what matters.
• Experience leading or building a program management function and developing program managers.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) or equivalent certification; experience with program and portfolio planning platforms.