Executive Director, IT Business Systems

About the role

The Asahi Kasei Group operates with a commitment of creating for tomorrow. Our business sectors, Materials, Homes, and Health Care, contribute to the development of society by anticipating the changing needs of those around the world. We look for candidates that offer a fresh perspective and a variety of skills to help us achieve our commitment.

Asahi Kasei Therapeutics is the global specialty pharmaceutical business of Asahi Kasei. We are a commercial-stage company committed to positively impacting health by expanding therapeutic options that improve the lives of patients around the world. Drawing upon our strong heritage of scientific innovation, we aim to help reshape care in transplantation, nephrology, immunology, infectious diseases and other underserved conditions.

Summary of Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Digital Transformation

• Develop and execute the enterprise Business Systems strategy aligned with objectives and digital transformation enablement initiatives.
• Ensure your team is the primary systems business partner to functional business leaders across Finance, Supply Chain, Commercial Operations, Medical, Quality, Clinical, Regulatory Affairs and Corporate Functions.
• Lead cloud-based use of enterprise systems, automation initiatives, analytics capabilities, and digital business processes.
• Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiency, business agility, user experience, and data-driven decision making.
• Build and maintain a multi-year system and transformation enablement roadmap aligned with business priorities.
• Drive organizational change management through your team to ensure successful adoption of new systems and processes.

Global Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing global team supporting business systems.
• Successfully manage virtual and geographically distributed teams across Europe and North America.
• Foster a coaching-based leadership culture focused on accountability, continuous improvement, employee development, and collaboration.
• Promote a culture of business enablement and value creation by efficient use of systems supported by customer service, IT operational excellence, and business partnership.

Business Relationship Management

• Build strong relationships with functional business leadership and business stakeholders across the enterprise.
• Act as a trusted advisor by translating business strategy into system capabilities and solutions.
• Continuously improve our Business IT Operating model to align business priorities, technology investments, and resource allocation.
• Facilitate effective communication between technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Drive business case development and value realization for system investments.

Enterprise Systems & Process Excellence

• Provide leadership and governance for enterprise business systems including but not limited to:
• ERP platforms
• Financial systems
• CRM platforms
• Commercial applications
• Data and analytics solutions
• Integration platforms
• Manage business system project portfolio covering implementation, optimization, and lifecycle management of enterprise systems.
• Drive standardization and continuous improvement across global business processes.
• Support business growth through scalable and sustainable system solutions.

Data Management, Governance & Analytics

• Establish and drive data governance, master data management, and information management practices.
• Ensure data quality, integrity, security, and compliance across business systems.
• Promote data-driven decision making through dashboards, KPIs, and executive reporting.
• Enable advanced analytics and AI-ready data capabilities through strong governance frameworks.

Performance Management

• Define and manage system and service performance metrics.
• Establish KPI frameworks and dashboard reporting that drive accountability and business results.
• Lead system benefits value realization follow-up close partnership with team and business stakeholders.
• Regularly communicate portfolio status, risks, dependencies, and outcomes to IT PMO & CIO
• Drive communication within your team to keep functional business management up to date on portfolio risks, dependencies and outcomes.

Compliance, Quality & Risk Management

• Ensure compliance with regulatory, privacy, cybersecurity, and quality requirements.
• Support validation and lifecycle management of regulated systems.
• Partners with IT Compliance leader to maintain appropriate IT governance controls.
• Establish and maintain operating procedures within the team
• Manage vendor relationships and third-party service providers in accordance with company standards.

Core Competencies

• Global coaching and virtual leadership experience
• Executive presence and influence while driving organizational change in a collaborative environment
• Strategic thinking and life science business acumen
• Strong presentation and executive storytelling skills both verbally and in writing
• Strong enterprise system experience in a global life-science pharmaceutical business
• Strong proficiency in Microsoft 365 applications and collaboration tools
• Experience of building global data management and governance frameworks
• Experience of building global system teams with focus on performance and business value creation
• ITIL Foundation experience and experience of managing GxP validated systems

Required Qualifications and Skills

• Minimum 15 years of progressive IT leadership experience
• 10+ years of people management in a global and virtual environment
• ITIL Foundation Certification
• PMP, PgMP, Agile, or equivalent project management certification
• Experience with ERP, EPM and data platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics 365, Oracle EPM, Power Platform is preferred.

• #Hybrid
• #LI-AS1 #LI-LH1

Pay and benefits

The annual base compensation range for this role is $260,000 - $290,000

• Base Compensation is influenced by many factors including, but not limited to: time in the role, previous experience, skills, knowledge, performance, work requirements, internal equity, and business / economic conditions.