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Director / Senior Director, Strategic CAPEX & Investment Portfolio Management

Lonza

Houston, TX; Portsmouth, NHOnsitePosted 3 days ago
Full TimeDirector & AboveOperations & Supply ChainCDMO
Original posting ↗

Summary

As Director / Senior Director, Strategic CAPEX & Investment Portfolio Management, you will shape investment decisions across Lonza's Specialized Modalities platform. You will lead investment governance, capital planning and portfolio prioritization, helping translate business needs into strategically aligned, financially robust investment proposals.

Job description

Working closely with sites, Operations, Commercial Development, Engineering, Finance and Global Value Assurance, you will guide investments from initial opportunity assessment through approval and mobilization. You will also maintain portfolio-level oversight through delivery and value realization, ensuring insights inform future capital allocation decisions.

Key responsibilities

  • Lead governance of the Specialized Modalities CAPEX portfolio, including growth investments and major projects requiring Executive Committee approval.
  • Drive annual and long-range CAPEX planning, consolidating investment demand across sites and modalities into a transparent, prioritized investment pipeline.
  • Develop capital allocation recommendations for senior leadership, balancing strategic priorities, expected value, risk, affordability, capacity requirements and portfolio interdependencies.
  • Lead the platform investment governance process from intake through approval, coordinating stage-gate reviews and ensuring proposals are complete and ready for decision.
  • Integrate commercial, operational, engineering, financial, people and risk inputs into coherent business cases, constructively challenging assumptions with the responsible functions.
  • Partner with Finance and Global Value Assurance on financial evaluation and scenario analysis, ensuring consistency and comparability across investment proposals.
  • Support sites during early investment development, translating business needs into clear requirements, viable options and approval-ready proposals.
  • Ensure continuity across the end-to-end investment lifecycle, establishing clear accountabilities and coordinating structured handovers to E2E Leads and execution teams.
  • Monitor portfolio performance against approved business cases, supporting value reviews and escalating material deviations, risks and decisions requiring leadership attention.
  • Strengthen portfolio management through standardized tools, data-driven analytics, cross-project learning and continuous improvement of portfolio reporting, forecasting and decision support. Familiarity with AI-enabled approaches is an advantage.

Key requirements

  • Relevant academic background in engineering, finance, business administration, life sciences or a related discipline.
  • Experience in investment portfolio management, strategic CAPEX planning, investment governance or capital project strategy within biopharmaceutical manufacturing, or relevant experience from a leading strategy consulting firm advising clients on capital strategy, manufacturing networks, operations or major investments.
  • Strong understanding of biopharmaceutical manufacturing and capital investments, with the ability to evaluate technical feasibility, business cases, financial returns and execution considerations. Direct engineering experience is an advantage.
  • Demonstrated ability to lead complex investment initiatives through structured governance and approval processes, coordinating cross-functional stakeholders and ensuring high-quality, decision-ready proposals.
  • Ability to integrate cross-functional inputs, challenge assumptions constructively and translate complex information into clear executive recommendations.
  • Experience working across sites and functions, influencing senior stakeholders and driving alignment within a matrix organization.
  • Strong analytical and communication skills, with a structured approach to managing risks, dependencies and competing investment priorities.
  • Experience applying digital tools to portfolio reporting, scenario analysis or decision support. Familiarity with AI-enabled approaches is an advantage.

Requirements

  • Relevant academic background in engineering, finance, business administration, life sciences or a related discipline
  • Experience in investment portfolio management, strategic CAPEX planning, investment governance or capital project strategy within biopharmaceutical manufacturing, or relevant experience from a leading strategy consulting firm
  • Strong understanding of biopharmaceutical manufacturing and capital investments
  • Ability to evaluate technical feasibility, business cases, financial returns and execution considerations
  • Demonstrated ability to lead complex investment initiatives through structured governance and approval processes
  • Ability to integrate cross-functional inputs, challenge assumptions constructively and translate complex information into clear executive recommendations
  • Experience working across sites and functions, influencing senior stakeholders and driving alignment within a matrix organization
  • Strong analytical and communication skills
  • Structured approach to managing risks, dependencies and competing investment priorities
  • Experience applying digital tools to portfolio reporting, scenario analysis or decision support

Company overview

Lonza is a pioneering global Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) and a world leader in pharmaceutical manufacturing services. Founded in 1897 in Switzerland, the company has evolved into the first and original CDMO, now operating as one of the largest Western CDMO networks with approximately 19,000 employees across more than 30 sites spanning five continents. Lonza specializes in transforming therapeutic discoveries into life-saving and life-enhancing treatments for patients worldwide. The company's comprehensive services span from early development to drug substance and drug product manufacturing, covering established and emerging technologies including mammalian biologics, small molecules, highly potent APIs, bioconjugates, mRNA, microbial products, and cell and gene therapies. With a focus on cutting-edge science, smart technology, and lean manufacturing, Lonza serves a diverse customer base ranging from emerging biotechs to global pharmaceutical companies, delivering integrated solutions throughout the entire treatment lifecycle.

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