Associate Principal IT Product Lead - Digital Applications

SUMMARY/JOB PURPOSE:

The Associate Principal IT Product Lead, Digital Applications, will lead a portfolio of digital products critical to Exelixis's success and ambition to launch innovative medicines for patients. This role is pivotal in driving the strategy, development, and operational excellence of our digital application ecosystem, ensuring alignment with business objectives and a strong focus on user experience and value delivery. Operating within a product-centric model, the Associate Principal IT Product Lead will be responsible for defining product roadmaps, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and leading agile product teams to deliver innovative and impactful digital solutions that accelerate drug discovery, development, and commercialization.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Product Strategy & Roadmap (Product-Centric Focus):

• Support the development and execution of the vision, strategy, and roadmap for digital products within the Digital Applications job family (e.g., Clinical Trials Applications, R&D Informatics, Commercial Operations Platforms).
• Partner with senior product leads and business stakeholders (e.g., R&D, Clinical, Commercial, G&A, Medical Affairs) to gather insights, understand user needs, and translate them into clear product requirements and user stories.
• Design scalable data architecturesusing AWS, Databricks, and modern patterns like data mesh and Lakehouse.
• Contribute to market research, competitive analysis, and technology assessments to inform product planning and identify innovation opportunities.
• Assist in prioritizing product initiatives by evaluating business impact, technical feasibility, compliance needs, and resource constraints.
• Collaborate with architecture and engineering teams to ensure digital solutions are designed and built securely and in alignment with enterprise standards.
  

Product Development & Delivery (Agile/Product Team Leadership):

• Support the Principal Product Lead in mentoring Business Analysts and other digital application team members, encouraging a culture of ownership, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Contribute to managing the product lifecycle from ideation through launch and post-launch optimization, applying Agile methodologies (e.g., Scrum, Kanban) to ensure efficient delivery.
• Assist in defining clear user stories, acceptance criteria, and product specifications that align with the product vision and business objectives.
• Collaborate with engineering, architecture, and quality assurance teams to help ensure timely delivery of scalable, secure, and high-quality digital applications.
• Coordinate with external vendors and service providers to support alignment on product roadmaps and delivery operations.
• Promote user-centric design by incorporating user research, usability testing, and feedback into product enhancements.
• Lead engineering teamsto build reusable, governed data products.
• Translate business needsinto scalable data solutions across clinical, supply chain, and operations domains.
• Implement data governanceframeworks for quality, lineage, and lifecycle management.

Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Act as a key liaison between IT and business functions, helping to translate technical concepts into business language and vice versa.
• Build collaborative relationships with stakeholders to support alignment of product vision, priorities, and outcomes.
• Facilitate communication and coordination across product, business, and IT teams to support effective decision-making.
• Represent the product team in cross-functional discussions and contribute to strategic initiatives as needed.

Operational Excellence, Quality & Compliance:

• Support efforts to maintain the operational stability, performance, and security of digital applications in collaboration with IT operations and infrastructure teams.
• Assist in managing vendor relationships and third-party software solutions that support the digital application portfolio.
• Help ensure compliance with regulatory requirements (e.g., GxP, HIPAA, GDPR) and internal quality and security standards across product releases.
• Contribute to quality assurance processes to ensure product releases meet defined standards.
• Actively contribute to the Implementation and maintenance of robust data management & AI practices to protect sensitive information and ensure its accuracy and reliability.
• Track and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess product success, adoption, and business impact, and support continuous improvement efforts.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• No supervisory responsibilities.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE/KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in related discipline and 11 years of related experience; or
• Master's degree in mathematics or statistics or engineering, and 9 years of related experience.
• PhD degree in a related discipline and 5 years of related experience; or
• Equivalent combination of education and experience.

Experience/The Ideal Candidate will have:

• Minimum of 6 years of experience supporting Enterprise IT enabling business functions.
• Minimum of 8+ years of progressive experience in IT, with at least 6+ years in a leadership role focused on digital applications or product management within the life science or pharmaceutical industry.
• Proven experience leading product development teams in anagile/product-centricoperating model is essential.
• Strong understanding of the drug discovery or clinical development, or commercialization lifecycle within a pharmaceutical or biotechnology company.
• Demonstrated success in defining and delivering complex digital products that drive significant business value.
• Experience with one of the mentioned specific technologies or platforms as relevant to the specific role, [e.g., SaaS platforms (Veeva, SalesForce) or cloud solutions (AWS, Azure), or functional capabilities specific to business function such as LIMS, SAP ERP, EDC, CTMS, CRM systems widely used in pharma].
• Experience with regulatory frameworks and compliance in a GxP environment.
  

Knowledge / Skills:

• Exceptional leadership and team-building skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate diverse teams.
• Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving abilities, with a data-driven approach to decision-making.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate effectively at all levels of the organization.
• Deep understanding of product management methodologies (e.g., Agile, Scrum, Kanban) and product lifecycle management.
• Solid technical acumen with the ability to understand complex IT architectures and development processes.
• Apply hands-on expertisewith tools like DBT, Glue, Kafka, Airflow, S3, Delta Lake, Redshift, Unity Catalog, and Atlan.
• Develop with Spark, Python, SQL, and REST APIsusing cloud-native services.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.
  Occasional travel may be required to other company sites, conferences, or vendor locations.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

Our office is a modern, open-plan space that foster collaborations and creativity. Teams work closely together, sharing ideas and solutions in a supportive atmosphere. We provide all necessary equipment, including dual monitors and ergonomic chairs, to ensure a comfortable workspace.

Occasional travel (5-10%) may be required to other company sites, conferences, or vendor locations. On-call availability for critical escalations.

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If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us!

DISCLAIMER
The preceding job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to the job.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class.