Executive Director, People Business Partnership

About Acadia Pharmaceuticals

Acadia is committed to turning scientific promise into meaningful innovation that makes the difference for underserved neurological and rare disease communities around the world. Our commercial portfolio includes the first and only FDA-approved treatments for Parkinson’s disease psychosis and Rett syndrome. We are developing the next wave of therapeutic advancements with a robust and diverse pipeline that includes mid- to late-stage programs in Alzheimer’s disease psychosis and Lewy body dementia psychosis, along with earlier-stage programs that address other underserved patient needs. At Acadia, we’re here to be their difference.

Please note that this position is based in either San Diego, CA, or Princeton, NJ. Acadia's hybrid model requires this role to work in our office three days per week on average.

Position Summary

The Executive Director, People Business Partnership leads Acadia’s People Business Partner team and serves as a senior advisor to business and People & Performance leadership. The role translates business strategy into clear organization, workforce, leadership and talent priorities that enable Acadia’s growth and performance.

This leader strengthens the quality, consistency and business impact of People Business Partnership across Acadia. Working with business leaders, PBPs and People & Performance Centers of Excellence, the Executive Director anticipates organizational needs, shapes workforce and capability plans, improves leadership effectiveness and enables successful change.

The successful candidate combines strong business judgment with deep expertise in organization, talent, workforce planning and change. This leader raises PBP capability, clarifies ownership, reduces operational burden and focuses the team on the highest-value business and organizational priorities.

Primary Responsibilities

PBP Leadership & Business Partnership

• Lead and develop Acadia’s People Business Partner team, setting clear expectations, building capability and ensuring consistent, high-quality support to leaders.
• Develop a deep understanding of Acadia’s strategy, growth priorities and operating environment, and translate them into workforce, organization, leadership and talent implications.
• Serve as a senior advisor to business and P&P leaders on organization effectiveness, workforce planning, leadership, talent, culture and significant organizational change.
• Guide PBPs in creating focused people plans linked to business priorities and measurable organizational outcomes.

Organization, Workforce & Talent Strategy

• Partner with leaders to identify the capabilities, roles, structures and talent required to deliver current priorities and prepare for future growth.
• Build a forward-looking workforce planning approach that informs where to build, buy, deploy or access critical capabilities.
• Lead organization design and effectiveness work involving structures, roles, governance, decision-making and ways of working.
• Partner with Talent Management and leaders to strengthen succession, talent planning, leadership pipelines and future capabilities.

Leadership Effectiveness & Change

• Strengthen leadership effectiveness through trusted advice, coaching, organizational insights and practical support.
• Enable organizational change by clarifying the business rationale, assessing workforce impacts, building leadership alignment and sustaining adoption.
• Support complex and consequential people matters with Employee Relations, Legal and other specialists to ensure balanced, compliant and business-oriented decisions.

Operating Model, Insights & Enterprise Partnership

• Partner with P&P Centers of Excellence and Operations to create scalable solutions, tools, processes and insights that improve the manager and employee experience.
• Clarify ownership across PBPs, Centers of Excellence, People Operations and business leaders so PBPs can focus on strategic priorities rather than transactional activity.
• Use workforce data, business indicators, market intelligence and organizational insights to identify emerging needs and improve decisions.
• Partner with Total Rewards to inform talent investments and contribute to the evolution of Acadia’s P&P operating model, accountability and business impact.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned.

Measures of Success

• A high-performing PBP team that delivers consistent, strategic and business-focused partnership.
• Clear people plans aligned to enterprise and functional priorities.
• Stronger workforce, organization, leadership and talent decisions supported by trusted insights.
• Reduced transactional burden and clearer accountability across PBPs, Centers of Excellence and People Operations.
• Effective organizational change and stronger leadership capability across the business.

Education, Experience & Skills

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