Specialist, Business Operations - Clinical Oncology

By clicking the “Apply” button, I understand that my employment application process with Takeda will commence and that the information I provide in my application will be processed in line with Takeda’s Privacy Notice and Terms of Use .  I further attest that all information I submit in my employment application is true to the best of my knowledge. Job Description Are you looking for a patient-focused, innovation-driven company that will inspire you and empower you to shine? Join us as a Specialist, Business Operations in our Cambridge office. At Takeda, we are transforming the pharmaceutical industry through our R&D-driven market leadership and being a values-led company. To do this, we empower our people to realize their potential through life-changing work. Certified as a Global Top Employer, we offer stimulating careers, encourage innovation, and strive for excellence in everything we do. We foster an inclusive, collaborative workplace, in which our global teams are united by an unwavering commitment to deliver Better Health and a Brighter Future to people around the world. Here, you will be a vital contributor to our inspiring, bold mission. OBJECTIVES The Specialist, Business Operations, will: Own and evolve key OTAU business operations workflows and alliance governance infrastructure, applying independent judgment to identify operational risks, design scalable solutions, and drive work that supports unit priorities. Use digital tools, AI, automation, and continuous-improvement practices to simplify processes, strengthen transparency, and improve stakeholder experience across a geographically distributed organization. Partner with Alliance Management, Business Operations leadership, and cross-functional stakeholders to translate business priorities into structured operating models, decision-ready materials, and sustainable ways of working. ACCOUNTABILITIES Alliance Governance & Sub-Team Operations Governance Meeting Operational Strategy & Execution for Defined Alliances Own the operating model for hybrid and in-person governance meetings, accounting for meeting objectives, stakeholder needs, confidentiality considerations, venue options, technical requirements, and risk points to design an effective meeting experience and resolve execution issues in real time. Partner with Alliance Managers to shape governance meeting readiness, identifying gaps in materials, decision inputs, and follow-up requirements. Manage the master governance calendar as a strategic planning tool across active alliances, proactively evaluating cadence needs, stakeholder availability, decision timelines, and operational conflicts to recommend adjustments and prevent governance gaps. Create and govern a searchable decision and action-management framework for defined alliances, ensuring decision rationale, ownership, risks, and outcomes are captured in a way that enables leadership visibility, accountability, and informed follow-through. Coordinate end-to-end alliance governance and sub-team meetings across global time zones, using judgment to anticipate governance risks, resolve scheduling and readiness barriers, and ensure forums are structured to support timely decision-making. Governance Infrastructure & Digital Tools Lead the strategy, optimization, and deployment of alliance digital infrastructure, making recommendations on Teams, SharePoint, repository design, permissions, access governance, version control, and archival practices based on alliance needs, confidentiality requirements, and stakeholder workflows. Design and manage the alliance digital onboarding approach for Takeda and partner committee members, determining appropriate access, tool orientation, repository structure, and ways-of-working guidance based on each alliance’s governance model, confidentiality requirements, and collaboration needs. Alliance Health & Reporting Partner with Alliance Management to define, interpret, and improve recurring governance health metrics across oncology alliances, translating operational signals into actionable insights that help Alliance Managers identify friction, prioritize interventions, and strengthen alliance effectiveness. Manage the operational design and execution of periodic alliance health surveys, including recommending survey approach, identifying response risks, synthesizing themes, and preparing insight summaries that inform Alliance Manager review and follow-up planning. Business Operations New Joiner/Leaver Employee Experience Management Own and continuously evolve OTAU’s new-joiner, offboarding, and employee-transition strategy as an integrated unit-wide experience, independently identifying transition risks, designing scalable solutions, aligning stakeholders, and driving improvements that accelerate ramp-up, preserve business continuity, and reduce operational disruption. Design, evaluate, and continuously improve standardized checklists, templates, trackers, and knowledge resources, using digital tools and automation to increase transparency, reduce manual effort, and improve consistency across employee-transition workflows. Conference and Travel Budget & Approvals Management Own OTAU’s conference attendance request process end-to-end, independently managing intake, evaluating completeness and readiness, identifying decision points, preparing leadership review inputs, documenting outcomes, and improving the process based on recurring stakeholder needs and business priorities. Analyze recurring pain points, ambiguous decision criteria, and sources of rework, then recommend and implement process, tool, template, or guidance changes that improve stakeholder experience and strengthen operational consistency. Core Business Process Management Own and optimize the Preclinical Oncology Request (PCOR) operating process, independently triaging complex external support requests, evaluating routing options, identifying decision points and bottlenecks,