Senior Director, Program Manager

Join Abeona Therapeutics as Senior Director, Program Manager!

Join Abeona Therapeutics as a Senior Director, Program Manager in our Program Leadership department and help advance a mission-driven portfolio of cell and gene therapies. In this role, you will lead cross-functional development programs, translate strategy into integrated execution plans, and influence portfolio-level decisions. You will collaborate with colleagues across the organization who are committed to developing innovative therapies for patients.

This is a U.S.-based remote role supporting colleagues across the country. Abeona's manufacturing facilities are in Cleveland, Ohio.

Current projects are focused primarily on preclinical and IND-enabling programs, with responsibilities expected to span the full development lifecycle.

Abeona Therapeutics Inc.: Who We Are

Our Values: Patient First | Innovation | Integrity | Determination | Trust

Join us in making cure the new standard of care. At Abeona Therapeutics, we exist for our patients and their caregivers; their needs guide our decision-making. We challenge ourselves to think differently, move quickly, and deliver solutions. We hold ourselves to the highest ethical and quality standards. We persevere with resilience and focus to achieve our mission. We build trust through humility, mutual appreciation, openness, and respect.

Your day-to-day as Senior Director, Program Manager

Reporting to the VP, Program Leadership, the Senior Director, Program Manager provides strategic leadership for one or more programs within Abeona's portfolio and directs integrated, cross-functional program planning and execution. The role partners with program and functional leaders to align strategy, timelines, resources, risks, and decisions in support of program and corporate goals.

This is an individual-contributor leadership role with responsibility for influencing cross-functional teams, strengthening program-management practices, and advancing gene therapy programs in a highly regulated environment.

Schedule

This is a remote role, with core work hours from Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (ET). Occasional work outside core hours, including early mornings, evenings, or weekends, may be required.

This position works collaboratively with colleagues across the U.S., so some flexibility is required depending on the successful candidate's location.

Does this sound like you?

You are an accomplished biopharma program manager who can translate complex cell and gene therapy strategies into clear, executable plans. With deep cross-functional drug development experience, you anticipate risks, align timelines and resources, and keep high-priority programs moving toward corporate and patient-focused goals.

You build credibility with executives and functional leaders through concise communication, sound judgment, and productive accountability, while creating the tools, metrics, and decision frameworks teams need to succeed. You also bring a collaborative, improvement-oriented leadership style and are motivated to mentor others and strengthen program management capabilities across the organization.

Essential Responsibilities and Duties

Program Strategy and Governance

• Provides strategic leadership for one or more portfolio programs and guides major program decisions.
• Develops and maintains integrated program strategies, critical paths, and cross-functional milestones.
• Ensures alignment among program strategy, functional plans, corporate priorities, and governance decisions.
• Establishes governance, directs critical workstreams, and ensures appropriate Program Leadership coverage.
• Leads one or more programs within the overall portfolio.
• Manages and tracks the overall timeline for the program, including input from all functions, and ensures access to that timeline for all functional representatives; ensures that the functional timelines are aligned with global corporate timelines.
• Actively manages critical program workstreams and works with project managers to ensure all critical workstreams have Program Leadership resource coverage.
• Establishes effective program governance, facilitates decision-focused team meetings, documents and communicates key decisions, escalates material risks and tradeoffs, and ensures that execution reflects leadership direction.

Integrated Planning and Execution

• Partners with sub-teams to ensure that functional deliverables are completed on time, on budget and according to quality standards and program goals.
• Establishes a close, partnering relationship with all functional leads.

Risk, Resource, and Budget Management

• Develops program-planning scenarios; identifies, assesses, and monitors risks with input from functional leaders; and coordinates mitigation and issue-resolution plans.
• Recognizes when corrective action and planning are necessary and conducts root cause analyses.
• Manages activities to ensure functions have the right tools, reports, and data for accurate resource estimates.
• Evaluates cross-program resource needs, identifies capacity risks, and recommends allocation priorities and tradeoffs to leadership.
• Partners with Finance and functional leaders to monitor the consolidated program budget and forecast material variances.
• Develops and coordinates resource planning across functions to assure that adequate resources are being applied to the program.

Executive Reporting and Decision Support

• Develops decision-quality program materials, dashboards, integrated plans, and executive reports that clearly communicate progress, risks, dependencies, and recommended actions.
• Applies advanced program-management tools to collect metrics and analyze program performance data.
• Develops and implements standards, templates, checklists, and analytical tools that strengthen planning, decision-making, and process improvement.

Organizational Leadership and Mentoring

• Provides coaching and mentorship to program-management colleagues, promotes consistent use of standards and tools, and contributes to the continued development of the Program Leadership function.

Required Qualifications

The knowledge and skills required to be successful in the role are:

• Advanced degree in a scientific field such as MS, PhD, MD, or PharmD, and at least 15 years of cross-functional program or project management experience within the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industry.
• Direct experience managing cell and gene therapy development programs.
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize complex project data into clear risks, options, and recommendations for the executive leadership team.
• Demonstrated knowledge of pharma/biotech development project management.
• Successful track record of leading complex, cross-functional drug-development programs through integrated planning, executive communication, and disciplined execution.
• Ability to hold oneself and others accountable for commitments in a productive and assertive manner.
• Proficiency with planning systems and tools (e.g., Microsoft Project, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Track record of facilitating productive decisions across geographically and culturally diverse teams.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Oncology experience
• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification

Compensation and Benefits

• The anticipated U.S. base salary range for this position is $225,000–$240,000. Actual compensation will depend on experience, qualifications, and work location.
• Annual discretionary bonus
• Equity opportunities
• Robust health coverage options
• FSA/HSA options
• Company-paid basic dental and vision plans
• Lifestyle spending account (wellness reimbursements)
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Up to 160 hours of paid time off accrual per calendar year (prorated based on date of hire)

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to experience prolonged sitting, some bending, stooping, and stretching. Hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity sufficient to operate a keyboard, photocopier, telephone, calculator, and other office equipment is required. A normal range of hearing and vision correctable to 20/20 is required. Must be able to travel between company sites or to vendor locations, as needed.

Important Notes for Candidates:

Visa Sponsorship Not Currently Available

• Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.
• Current or future H-1B sponsorship is not available for this role.

Additional Notes to Applicants:

• Due to the volume of applications received, we are unable to respond to every applicant. Only candidates whose qualifications most closely match the requirements of the position and who successfully complete the initial stages of the selection process will be contacted.
• All applications will be reviewed in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local employment laws.

EEOC Disclaimer

We're committed to building a workplace where everyone feels welcome. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected status.

Connect with our team today!

If you are ready to bring collaborative program leadership to a patient-focused cell and gene therapy organization, we encourage you to apply.