Director, Regional Launch Program Manager

Why Join Us?   Be a hero for our rare disease patients   At Ultragenyx, we fundamentally believe that taking real impactful action to care for the needs of patients and our people is always the right thing to do. To achieve this goal, our vision is to lead the future of rare disease medicine. For us, this means going where other biopharma companies won’t go – challenging the status quo and creating a new model that advances our field so more patients and caregivers can benefit from life-changing treatments. We do this by following the science, applying a novel rapid development approach, making innovative medicines at fair and reasonable prices, and creating a collaborative ecosystem to reach patients in ways that are most meaningful for them.    Our commitment and care for patients extends to our people, so culture is an essential cornerstone for Ultragenyx. We remain continuously focused on creating a supportive and inclusive environment of profound learning and growth – so employees can thrive in all areas of their lives, in and outside of work. Ultimately, we want to be an organization where we would be proud for our family, friends and children to work.   If you want to have a meaningful impact, do the best work of your career, and grow a lot, both professionally and personally, come join our team.

Position Summary:

ultrafocused – Work together to fearlessly uncover new possibilities

Ultragenyx is looking for a Director, Regional Launch Program Manager with a passion and creativity to develop great medicines for rare and ultra-rare diseases. The individual will be a self-starter with excellent project management skills and the ability to build strong rapport across functions. The successful candidate will be ready for a career defining experience and have the passion to drive a number of therapeutics for devastating diseases to final approval and launch.  

This position will report to the Senior Director of Program and Portfolio Management and will be responsible for providing Program Management support to multiple program launch teams in a defined region. This role may potentially manage one or more programs and/or cross-functional initiatives, depending on the scope of a program within commercialization stages. In addition, this individual will actively support development of the department and tools/process across the portfolio. 

Work Model: 

Remote: Officially documented as working full-time from home, with travel to Ultragenyx's offices or other locations on occasion as needed.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain comprehensive, cross-functional launch readiness plans, ensuring alignment across clinical, regulatory, commercial, medical affairs, supply chain, and market access teams. 

• Establish launch governance structures, including escalation pathways, decision frameworks, and stakeholder communication models. 

• Own end-to-end launch timeline development and execution, proactively identifying critical path dependencies and mitigating risks to ensure on-time, successful product launches. 

• Lead development, implementation, and optimization of launch readiness tools, including integrated launch plans, risk registers, dashboards, and collaboration platforms. 

• Drive preparation and execution of Launch Readiness Reviews (LRRs), ensuring readiness criteria are clearly defined, measurable, and consistently applied across programs. 

• Facilitate cross-functional team meetings, ensuring clear agendas, actionable outcomes, accountability tracking, and effective issue resolution. 

• Partner with regional and global stakeholders to ensure alignment of launch strategy, including adaptation of global plans to regional market needs. 

• Monitor and report on key launch performance indicators (KPIs), providing actionable insights and recommendations to senior leadership. 

• Identify, assess, and manage risks and opportunities, leading mitigation planning and contingency strategy development. 

• Collaborate with commercial teams to ensure readiness across key domains including pricing, reimbursement, market access, distribution, and patient services. 

• Serve as a key liaison between regional teams, program teams, and executive stakeholders to ensure transparency and alignment. 

• Lead post-launch assessments and capture lessons learned to continuously improve launch excellence capabilities. 

• Collaborate with other Regional Program Managers in the LATAM and EMEA regions to share and exchange ideas, strategies, and information. 

• Collaborate with the Program Core Team Program Manager, Program Team Leader and Program Core team to ensure alignment of strategies and execution. 

• Manage post-launch commercial and medical affairs operations, in collaborations with Global and Regional teams. 

Requirements:

• Fluency in Japanese (written and spoken) is required, along with a strong understanding of Japanese culture and business practices. Business-level English communication skills are essential for effective collaboration with global stakeholders.

• Position will be located in Japan, in the Tokyo area. 

• Required advanced degree with minimum of 15 years of industry experience 

• At least 8-10 years equivalent multi-/ cross-functional leadership experience commercialization of products. 

• Advanced level of science and clinical acumen.  Experience working in genetic, rare diseases preferred 

• Cross-functional team and relationship enhancing skills 

• Previous work and leadership experience in international and multidisciplinary commercial teams 

• In-depth knowledge of commercial functions, as well as business strategy and business requirements. 

• Outstanding Project Management skills, including expertise in designing, developing, and managing project schedules and resource management. 

• Ability to critically and objectively interpret and evaluate scientific and competitive, business-related information. 

• Exercise wide latitude in determining objectives and approaches critical to program/organization; requires minimal program strategic direction needed from Vice President 

• Must possess solid leadership skills 

• Strong interpersonal, communication, and negotiation skills for bridging between scientific and business participants, for negotiating timelines and for effective collaboration, with internal and external executive-level management 

• Must have outstanding verbal and written communication skills. 

#LI-CK1 #LI-Hybrid

  Full Time employees across the globe enjoy a range of benefits, including, but not limited to:   ·         Generous vacation time and public holidays observed by the company ·         Volunteer days ·         Long term incentive and Employee stock purchase plans or equivalent offerings ·         Employee wellbeing benefits ·         Fitness reimbursement ·         Tuition sponsoring ·         Professional development plans   * Benefits vary by region and country

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical is an equal opportunity employer and prohibits unlawful discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, national origin/ancestry, age, disability, marital and veteran status, and any other status or classification protected by applicable federal, state, and/or local laws. Reasonable accommodation will be provided for all protected statuses or classifications protected by applicable law, including individuals with disabilities, disabled veterans, for pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions, and based on sincerely held religious beliefs. Applicants can request an accommodation prior to accepting a job offer. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, or in any part of the recruitment process, you may contact Talent Acquisition by emailing us at talentacquisition@ultragenyx.com.

See our CCPA Employee and Applicant Privacy Notice. See our Privacy Policy.

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Note to External Recruiters: All candidate activity and open positions are managed strictly through our Human Resources Department. Our Human Resources Department kindly requests that recruiters not contact employees/hiring managers directly in an attempt to solicit business and present candidates. Please note that failure to comply with this request will be a factor in determining a professional relationship with our organization. Submission of unsolicited resumes prior to an agreement set in place between the Human Resources Department and the recruiting agency will not create any implied obligation.  Inquiries on developing a recruiting relationship with us, may be directed to: talentacquisition@ultragenyx.com.