IT Project Manager - R&D

Atlas is a strategic consulting firm focused on the life sciences industry. The Project Manager will lead complex, cross-functional technology and digital initiatives in a regulated pharmaceutical or biotechnology R&D environment, coordinating stakeholders, vendors, governance processes, evaluations, and project execution.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain integrated project plans, timelines, milestones, dependencies, and acceptance criteria
• Coordinate multiple workstreams and proactively identify schedule risks, blockers, and dependencies
• Drive projects to completion while ensuring alignment with business, technical, regulatory, and governance requirements
• Lead the coordinated onboarding of external vendors and technology partners
• Manage activities across confidentiality agreements, information security assessments, privacy and data protection reviews, legal/IP evaluations, procurement, and AI governance requirements
• Understand approval dependencies and drive activities in parallel whenever possible to accelerate project timelines
• Escalate risks and unresolved issues to the appropriate stakeholders
• Coordinate competitive proof-of-concept evaluations across multiple vendors
• Ensure vendors are evaluated against consistent business requirements, test cases, timelines, and acceptance criteria
• Track vendor progress, risks, deliverables, and outcomes to support business decision-making
• Maintain a comprehensive RAID log with clearly defined owners, due dates, dependencies, and mitigation actions
• Proactively identify and escalate risks before they impact major project milestones
• Produce concise project status reporting for senior leadership and steering committees
• Document key decisions and ensure actions are driven through closure
• Facilitate working sessions across R&D scientists, Regulatory Affairs, Legal, Information Security, Privacy, Procurement, IT, and external partners
• Develop agendas, document meeting outcomes, and ensure timely follow-through on actions and decisions
• Build strong relationships across functional teams and influence stakeholders without direct authority
• Coordinate statements of work, purchase orders, licensing activities, and vendor deliverables
• Partner with Procurement, Legal, Finance, and business owners to ensure commercial and contractual activities remain aligned with project timelines
• Identify and escalate vendor financial, commercial, or business-continuity concerns to the appropriate stakeholders

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences, Information Technology, Business, Project Management, or a related field
• Proven experience managing complex cross-functional technology or digital initiatives
• Working familiarity with pharmaceutical or biotechnology R&D environments
• Understanding of GxP, computer system validation, and regulatory requirements within life sciences
• Experience managing third-party vendors, technology evaluations, and onboarding processes
• Strong knowledge of project management disciplines, including planning, RAID management, dependency management, and executive reporting
• Experience coordinating legal, information security, privacy, procurement, and compliance activities
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to engage both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
• Experience supporting Research IT or R&D technology initiatives within pharmaceutical or biotechnology organizations
• Familiarity with regulatory submission processes
• Experience managing proof-of-concept or vendor-selection initiatives
• Knowledge of AI governance and emerging technology risk processes
• PMP, Agile, or related project management certification preferred