Job Posting
Chief of Staff - PDT & GSQ DD&T
Zurich, Canton of Zurich Job ID R0187370 Category Data, Digital and Technology Subcategory Data, Digital and Technology,Data, Digital and Technology Business Unit Corporate Functions Job Type Full timeBy 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
As a member of the PDT & GSQ Strategy, Portfolio & Operational Excellence team, acts as the Chief of Staff, trusted advisor, strategic partner, and force multiplier to the Head of PDT & GSQ DD&T.
The role strengthens executive and Leadership Team effectiveness by enabling high-quality decisions, disciplined execution of strategic priorities, strong operational governance, effective leadership engagement, and measurable progress against business goals.
Key Accountabilities
Executive Partnership
- Advise and support the Head of PDT & GSQ DD&T on key priorities, leadership topics, stakeholder dynamics, and emerging risks.
- Help maintain focus on the most important issues and provide constructive challenge where needed.
- Handle sensitive business, organizational, and people matters with sound judgment and discretion.
- Act as a core participant in relevant leadership routines and governance forums, ensuring decisions, actions, and escalations are clearly captured and progressed.
Leadership Team Effectiveness
- Own the operating rhythm of the PDT & GSQ DD&T Leadership Team.
- Design and facilitate effective meetings focused on discussion, decisions, accountability, and follow-through.
- Maintain transparent decision and action logs and ensure commitments are closed.
- Reinforce agreed leadership behaviours, team norms, and collective accountability.
- Increase Leadership Team effectiveness by clarifying meeting purpose, decision rights, required contributions, and expected outcomes for each leadership interaction.
- Ensure the Leadership Team spends time on the highest-value strategic, operational, talent, and organizational topics rather than routine status updates.
- Create mechanisms for the Leadership Team to identify, debate, and resolve critical trade-offs, interdependencies, risks, and cross-functional tensions in a timely and constructive manner.
- Facilitate periodic reflection on Leadership Team effectiveness, including what is working, where decision-making or collaboration can improve, and how team behaviours support strategic execution.
- Support effective alignment and engagement of the broader PDT & GSQ DD&T Leadership Forum.
Executive Preparation and Communications
- Prepare the Head of PDT & GSQ DD&T for key executive engagements, business reviews, steering committees, Leadership Team meetings, and strategic workshops.
- Develop concise briefing materials, decision papers, talking points, presentations, and executive communications in close collaboration with the Change Enablement Lead.
- Prepare and coordinate PDT & GSQ DD&T townhalls, including narrative, agenda, content, speaker preparation, and follow-up.
- Anticipate stakeholder positions, key questions, risks, and recommended actions.
Decision Enablement and Follow-Through
- Structure complex topics into clear choices, decisions, owners, and next steps.
- Track key decisions, commitments, risks, and dependencies.
- Follow up with accountable leaders and surface unresolved issues or execution gaps.
- Bring the right stakeholders together or lead initiatives to resolve cross-functional topics.
Business Performance, KPI Management, and Operational Excellence
- Monitor progress against PDT & GSQ DD&T strategic priorities, annual goals, KPIs, risks, and dependencies.
- Analyze performance trends and provide insights, recommendations, and escalation points to improve execution and business outcomes.
- Drive continuous improvement of leadership operating processes, decision governance, meeting effectiveness, and execution discipline.
- Partner with Strategy, Portfolio, Finance, HR, and functional leaders to support prioritization, resource planning, and delivery of key initiatives.
Leadership Alignment and Organizational Effectiveness
- Strengthen collaboration across the Leadership Team and key PDT, GSQ, and DD&T stakeholders.
- Identify misalignment, duplication, unclear ownership, and organizational barriers.
- Strengthen collective accountability by helping leaders connect functional priorities to shared PDT & GSQ DD&T outcomes and by surfacing where ownership or decision rights are unclear.
- Partner with HR and Change Enablement on selected leadership, talent, organization, and communication topics.
- Support the effective use of leadership forums and decision-making processes without duplicating strategy, portfolio, or program ownership.
Change Management, Culture, and Communications
- Support change management activities for priority initiatives, including stakeholder mapping, communication planning, leadership alignment, adoption tracking, and risk mitigation.
- Help foster a collaborative, transparent, and high-accountability leadership culture across PDT & GSQ DD&T.
- Strengthen internal communications and engagement by ensuring key messages are consistent, timely, audience-aware, and aligned to strategic priorities.
- Ensure Leadership Forum, townhall, and broader community touchpoints reinforce PDT & GSQ DD&T priorities, culture, and operating expectations.
Critical Capabilities
- Strong executive presence, judgment, and discretion.
- Excellent facilitation and senior stakeholder management.
- Ability to influence without formal authority.
- Strong strategic thinking and structured problem-solving.
- Outstanding written and verbal communication.
- High emotional intelligence and organizational awareness.
- Ability to translate ambiguity into clear decisions and action.
- Strong follow-through, resilience, and attention to detail.
- Strong business acumen, performance orientation, and ability to translate strategy into measurable execution plans.
- Experience leading through change, managing stakeholder adoption, and communicating effectively in complex transformation environments.
Experience
- Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred.
- Minimum of 8-10 years of relevant experience in strategy, consulting, operations, transformation, Chief of Staff, or comparable roles.
- Significant experience supporting senior executives and Leadership Teams.
- Proven ability to drive decisions, alignment, accountability, and cross-functional follow-through.
- Experience preparing executive materials, leadership communications, and townhalls.
- Experience in large, global, and matrixed organizations.
- Strong understanding of Digital, Data & Technology organizations.
- Pharmaceutical, life sciences, manufacturing, or another regulated-industry background preferred.
- Experience with KPI tracking, business performance management, operational excellence, or executive governance preferred.
- Experience supporting budget, resource planning, portfolio prioritization, or strategic investment discussions preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to handle highly confidential information and navigate sensitive organizational topics with discretion.
Locations
Zurich, SwitzerlandBase Salary Range:
CHF177,400.00 - CHF243,980.00For information about our benefits, please click here.
