Director, Corporate Strategy (San Diego / Hybrid)

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Position Title: Director, Corporate Strategy

Function: Enterprise Strategy

Location: San Diego, California (Hybrid).This is a full-time role, Monday through Friday, with an expectation of 2–3 in-office days per week and additional on-site presence as needed. The individual must reside in the San Diego area and be able to commute to our corporate offices. Relocation assistance is available and should be completed within a twelve (12) month period or a mutually agreed upon time.

Reports To: Senior Director, Corporate Strategy

FLSA Status: Exempt

Position Summary:

The Director, Corporate Strategy is a senior member of the Enterprise Strategy team who independently leads high-priority, cross-enterprise strategy engagements and serves as a strategic advisor to senior leaders. Working within enterprise priorities established by the Vice President and Senior Director, the Director sharpens the decision to be made, designs the problem-solving approach, integrates evidence across the company, develops credible alternatives, and owns the recommendation for assigned engagements.

The role operates across R&D, Product, Commercial, Finance, Corporate Development, Medical, Operations, and regional leadership in a global, science- and technology-driven environment. The Director is an individual contributor who is expected to lead a complex strategy question from framing through executive decision, develop an independent enterprise point of view within the engagement mandate, and lead cross-functional strategy project teams without relying on formal reporting authority. Business and functional leaders own execution; Corporate Strategy supports decision clarity and follow-through without owning enterprise transformation or day-to-day implementation.

Essential Functions:

The following are the essential functions of the role. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.

• Lead enterprise strategy engagements. Independently lead cross-enterprise strategy projects from initial framing through recommendation and executive decision. Topics may include growth strategy, business-model evolution, new-market entry, technology disruption, competitive response, enterprise capability choices, or other high-priority questions sponsored by the ELT or Enterprise Strategy leadership.
• Shape the strategic question. Translate an executive mandate or emerging concern into a defined decision, meaningful alternatives, decision criteria, hypotheses, and an integrated workplan. Reframe the mandate when evidence shows that a different question is more consequential, and align the revised framing with the senior sponsor.
• Own the enterprise fact base. Determine which market, customer, competitive, scientific, technology, operational, and financial evidence is required; direct the analysis; pressure-test assumptions; and remain accountable for the integrity of the project fact base and strategic conclusion.
• Develop options and recommendations. Create real strategic alternatives and quantify implications for growth, investment, risk, capabilities, organizational requirements, and opportunity cost. Recommend what Illumina should start, stop, accelerate, deprioritize, or sequence differently within the project scope.
• Integrate enterprise perspectives. Engage functional, domain, product, and regional leaders to incorporate expertise without defaulting to the loudest organizational view. Surface disagreements, test them through evidence and explicit decision logic, and build a recommendation that reflects the enterprise rather than one function.
• Advise senior leaders. Lead sponsor working sessions, develop concise decision-ready materials, present recommendations to senior leaders and the ELT as appropriate, and respond credibly to challenge. Contribute to Board-ready materials under the direction of the Senior Director or Vice President.
• Lead cross-functional strategy project teams and strengthen the craft. Set direction for multi-workstream project teams, coordinate functional and specialist contributors, review and improve analytical quality, provide project-based coaching, and develop reusable approaches that improve problem solving, synthesis, executive communication, and project leadership across Corporate Strategy.

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