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Job Description

About the Role

The Senior Director, Head of R&D Global Capability Centers (GCC) — India is a senior R&D leadership role that shapes Takeda's global R&D GCC strategy and owns its execution in India. Based in Bengaluru, this leader is accountable for the India hub's operating model, talent agenda, and full integration into Takeda's global R&D organization, and represents Takeda R&D in India to enterprise partners and global R&D leadership through establishment and as the hub matures.

Operating with enterprise-wide visibility and significant influence on organizational strategy, this leader partners closely with R&D functions, Therapeutic Areas, and enterprise stakeholders to ensure the India hub is successfully established, culturally embedded, and fully integrated into Takeda R&D, delivering sustainable capabilities, talent pipelines, and long-term value. Success depends on strong matrix leadership and the ability to lead through influence across a global organization.

Beyond structure and strategy, this role is fundamentally about people: inspiring a diverse, ambitious talent base, building a high-performing culture rooted in Takeda's values, and creating a community where world-class R&D scientists and professionals choose to build their careers. We are looking for a visible, engaging leader with the credibility, authenticity, and vision to inspire teams, attract exceptional talent, and build a thriving R&D community.

This leader does not start from a blank page. Takeda's Innovation Capability Center (ICC) in Bengaluru is already a vibrant, established presence, a proven foundation of talent, culture, and delivery excellence. Building on that momentum, this role will help shape a globally integrated R&D organization where colleagues in India contribute to scientific strategy, development execution, innovation, and enterprise transformation alongside their counterparts across Takeda's global hubs.

This position reports to the VP, Head of R&D Global Capability Centers, and calls for a leader with 12+ years of leadership experience within life sciences R&D and a track record of working across multiple R&D functions.

Strategic Context

This role supports Takeda's evolution toward a globally integrated, multi-hub R&D model that:

• Drives collaboration mechanisms and capability sharing across Cambridge, MA; Poland; and Bengaluru, India to create a truly integrated global R&D organization
• Focuses on sustainable capability, community, and talent development
• Enables hybrid Global Program Team (GPT) and sub-team execution across hubs
• Operates through a network of hub leaders, each accountable for their location, connected by shared governance, integration, and change management
• Partners with R&D hub leaders across all GCC locations to ensure consistency of operating principles, culture, governance, and talent development across Takeda's global R&D network

Key Responsibilities

R&D & Enterprise Partnership

• Serve as the R&D GCC leader for India, accountable for the hub's strategy, execution, and continued evolution as it scales
• Act as R&D partner to the Enterprise Transformation Office and R&D leadership; build trusted relationships with global stakeholders, serving as a strategic connector between Bengaluru and Takeda's global R&D network
• Represent the R&D GCC in R&D and enterprise governance forums, shaping decisions that affect the global hub network

GCC Strategy & Operating Model

• Own the multi-year vision and roadmap for R&D in India, and contribute to the global R&D GCC strategy it sits within
• Design, implement, and refine the India operating model within Takeda's multi-hub R&D framework
• Ensure alignment with R&D functional strategies, governance, and ways of working

Scaling the India Hub

• Lead the R&D agenda for building and scaling the India hub, from capability design through to operational maturity
• Partner with enterprise teams on infrastructure planning, talent strategy, and change management
• Build R&D capabilities in India in deliberate phases, sequencing what the hub takes on and when

Cross-Functional Leadership

• Serve as the senior R&D leader in India across all functions and Therapeutic Areas, setting how the hub engages with each
• Manage cross-functional dependencies and integration risks
• Define roles, responsibilities, and decision rights for R&D work delivered from India

Talent, Capability & Culture

• Serve as a highly visible R&D leader in India, building engagement and community across the Takeda R&D ecosystem while representing Takeda within the external scientific, technology, and life sciences community
• Build on the ICC's established culture, traditions, and ways of working to create a high-performing, inclusive environment where colleagues see themselves as integral members of Takeda's global R&D community, connected directly to the patient mission
• Champion psychological safety, open dialogue, scientific curiosity, and accountability, so teams do their best work
• Attract, retain, and grow R&D talent in a highly competitive market, building a reputation that makes Takeda a destination of choice
• Shape leadership and talent models with HR and R&D leaders, creating career pathways that connect Bengaluru colleagues to global R&D work and building sustainable, diverse pipelines that strengthen capability across all hubs
• Coach and develop leaders who carry Takeda's values and culture forward as the hub scales

Minimum Requirements / Qualifications

Required

• 12+ years of leadership experience within life sciences R&D
• Experience working across multiple R&D functions, such as Clinical Development, Pharmacovigilance, and Regulatory Affairs, as well as experience across different therapeutic areas.
• Demonstrated leadership in large-scale transformation and change initiatives
• Experience working with Global Capability Centers or globally distributed R&D organizations
• Track record of engaging and inspiring diverse teams, with demonstrated ability to build culture, community, and talent
• Strong matrix leadership and influencing skills across geographies and functions, with comfort operating in ambiguity as the organization scales

Preferred

• Direct experience establishing or scaling global R&D hubs or GCCs
• Experience with digital, data, or AI-enabled R&D transformation
• Awareness of how local operating conditions, including regulatory, statutory, and business environment factors, influence the growth of global capability centers, with a track record of partnering effectively with Legal, Tax, Finance, and HR colleagues
• Exposure to hybrid or matrix operating models
• Advanced degree in a scientific, technical, or business discipline

Additional Information

• Travel: Approximately 30%
• Work arrangement: Hybrid, in accordance with Takeda's Hybrid and Remote Work policy

Locations

IND - Bengaluru

Worker Type

Employee

Worker Sub-Type

Regular

Time Type

Full time