Intern, Vendor Relationship Management
At Biogen, our mission is clear - we are pioneers in neuroscience. Biogen discovers, develops, and delivers worldwide innovative therapies for people living with serious neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. Together, our employees create, commercialize, and manufacture transformative therapies for our patient population.
We at Biogen are committed to building on our culture of inclusion and belonging that reflects the communities where we operate and the patients who we serve. We are focused on strengthening our foundation to advance our overall Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) strategy and, most importantly, ensure all our employees feel included.
As an intern or co-op at Biogen, you can expect to be placed on a real project, under the guidance of experienced professionals and subject matter experts who are invested in your career and academic growth. We also ensure that you have plenty of opportunities to build your network, learn more about our organization through weekly lunch and learns led by leaders from across the company, and join us for several fun events.
Summary:
This application is for a 12-week internship role from June - August 2023. Resume review begins in January 2023.
Biogen’s Research and Development (R&D) Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) group is responsible for overseeing key strategic partnerships Biogen has with our CRO (Contract Research Organization) partners, as well as our Central Laboratory partners. This includes:
- Defining and ensuring implementation of processes, behaviors, and expectations for key vendors
- Ensuring vendor services are meeting expectations of performance and maintenance of relationship health
- Leading governance meetings between Biogen and the partner to ensure that all decisions (financial, scope of work, timeline, etc.) are made at the appropriate time, and escalates as necessary if there is an issue
- Leading issue management and resolution, working with appropriate functional leadership, escalating as necessary both internally and externally
- Ensuring open communication within the relationship, both internally and externally
- Ensuring Biogen service needs are adequately resourced, and that the vendor is abiding by all contract terms
- Point of escalation for key R&D strategic vendor issues
- Ensuring compliance in support of required internal / external audits
R&D VRM sits within QSO (Quality and Strategic Operations). VRM partners closely with R&D functions including Global Clinical Operations (GCO), Global Regulatory and Safety Services (GSRS), Global Procurement Services (GPS), Development Units (DU), Analytical and Data Sciences (ADS), Biomarkers, and Quality.
Position Description:
Detailed description of role including but not limited to:
- Your primary responsibility will be redesigning existing guidance materials known as Operating Tools (OTs) in place with Biogen’s partner CROs (Clinical Research Organizations) that execute our clinical trials. Includes reviewing existing materials to understand the purpose and basic content, gathering stakeholder input on pain points and suggestions to improve, and developing alternative ideas to formatting the OTs as well as more robust and streamlined process for updating them. The goal is to have a more user friendly, visually appealing format where changes can be easily tracked and ideally future updates to can be made across multiple OTs more efficiently.
- You will develop a guidance document to outline the process for updating the Operating Tools, including how and where future updates are gathered and tracked in preparation for annual updates and how more urgent ad hoc updates will be handled.
- Update / improve existing SharePoint sites Biogen has in place with two CRO partners so navigation and ability to find necessary materials is user friendly and intuitive. Consult on redesigning existing external SharePoint site owned by one of our CRO partners to accomplish the same.
- The deliverables include improved OTs for our 3 CRO partners, as well as a guidance document for updating the OTs, and improved Partnership SharePoint sites.
Through working on the above deliverables, you will gain a good understanding of how clinical trials are conducted operationally, the various functions / departments and vendors involved in conducting clinical trials, and how to collaborate in a matrix environment.
Example projects may include:
- CRO Operating Tool Redesign
- CRO Operating Tool Guide development
- CRO SharePoint site design
Qualifications:
- Excellent computer skills, including in depth knowledge of MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Teams, SharePoint. Other MS application knowledge a plus (Visio, Project).
- Collaborative partner; experience working in cross-functional teams /environments
- SharePoint site / website design / development experience a plus.
- Awareness of and interest in clinical research, in particular operational conduct of clinical trials
- Strong project management, organizational, and problem-solving skills
- Effective oral and written communication skills with the ability to collaborate and obtain consensus
- Creative thinking / solutioning / designing
To participate in the Biogen Internship Program, students must meet the following eligibility criteria:
- Legal authorization to work in the U.S.
- At least 18 years of age prior to the scheduled start date
- Be currently enrolled in an accredited college or university
Education:
Flexible on level and majors but must have the above-mentioned qualifications.
Location:
Any of the below are acceptable:
- Research Triangle Park, NC
- Cambridge, MA
- Weston, MA
- Remote