Director, Innovation (Digital Early Incubation, Technical Program Management)

Edwards Lifesciences•Irvine, CA

4d•$170,000 - $241,000

About The Position

How you will make an impact: This is an exciting opportunity to join a team identifying unmet patient needs and boldly designing a new category of digital products for Edwards Lifesciences. Edwards’ Advanced Innovation & Technology team is deeply dedicated to solving the complex challenges in the broader structural heart field in order to transform treatment and significantly improve patients’ lives around the world. Edwards Lifesciences Advanced Innovation & Technology (AI&T) division has a unique opportunity for a Director, Innovation (Digital Early Incubation, Technical Program Management) to join our growing team, to be part of the team driving a new digital innovation portfolio for the future of Edwards Lifesciences. Be part of the team to build and implement the strategy for needs driven innovation within the AI&T incubator driving a multidisciplinary project team to identify opportunities. This highly collaborative role will partner with multiple teams that compete on numerous projects based on value proposition and feasibility of new products. The Director, Innovation (Digital Early Incubation, Technical Program Management) will contribute to the planning, execution, and delivery of novel digital and software-based solutions within Edwards Lifesciences’ early-stage incubator, guiding digital product concepts from ambiguity to architectural clarity. This role will be pivotal in driving cross-functional alignment, managing technical complexity, and ensuring timely delivery of innovative digital health products that complement Edwards’ cardiovascular portfolio.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree or Equivalent in Engineering, Science or Business Administration with 12 years of relevant experience -OR- Master's Degree or equivalent with 10 years of relevant experience -OR- Ph.D. or equivalent with 8 years of relevant experience (Degree in Computer Science strongly preferred)
Strong track record of technical program management for new early-stage or concept-stage software/digital product development initiatives in the medtech domain, with proven ability to coordinate multidisciplinary technical teams and manage dependencies
Proficiency with project management and collaboration tools (e.g. JIRA, Confluence)
Experience developing digital products/services spanning multiple hardware platforms (e.g. desktop, tablet, phone)
Strong understanding of software development lifecycle (SDLC), agile frameworks, cloud-based architectures, system requirements, and technical trade studies
Exceptional organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously
Experience working in both the medical device (or life sciences) industry and digital/tech industry
Familiarity with implantable medical devices
Experience in roles requiring knowledge of a domain of human anatomy and physiology (ideally cardiovascular)
Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills
Strong presentation skills, adaptable to various audiences ranging from design reviews to executive-level forums

Nice To Haves

Experience working with remote software engineering teams (i.e. international)
Ability to quickly evaluate solution viability, courage to fail fast and learn from mistakes
Practical knowledge of clinical trials and biostatistics
Experience with Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) and regulatory compliance (FDA, ISO 13485, IEC 62304)
Understanding of business strategy and competitive landscape in the medical device / medtech industry
Technical background in software engineering or systems architecture, with prior experience as a software engineer or hands-on coding background (e.g. Python, JavaScript), enabling effective collaboration with development teams
Experience with product use cases involving medical imaging (e.g. CT, MRI, echo/ultrasound) or image processing
PMP or other formal project management certification (e.g. Agile)
Familiarity with cybersecurity, data privacy (HIPAA), and interoperability standards (FHIR, HL7)
Experience with data pipelines, ETL processes, and data structuring for digital health or software products
Exposure to AI/ML workflows and how structured data support predictive modeling
Excellent documentation and communication skills and interpersonal relationship skills including negotiating and relationship management skills with ability to drive achievement of objectives
Data-driven but ability to make decisions based on imperfect information
Demonstrated ability to develop relationships to drive alignment of objectives
Strict attention to detail
Ability to interact professionally with all organizational levels and proactively escalate issues to appropriate levels of management in the organization
Ability to manage competing priorities in a fast-paced environment
Ability to represent leadership on projects within multiple areas, interfacing with project managers, team and middle to senior management
Ability to consult in a project setting within multiple areas, interfacing with low to middle management
Adhere to all EHS rules and requirements and take adequate control measures in preventing injuries to themselves and others as well as to the protection of environment and prevention of pollution under their span of influence/control
Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite
Aligning our overall business objectives with performance, we offer competitive salaries, performance-based incentives, and a wide variety of benefits programs to address the diverse individual needs of our employees and their families.

Responsibilities

Deeply understand clinical management paradigms, anatomy, and pathophysiology to define clinical unmet needs for various patient segments along the care pathway
Actively contribute to generation of new digital product concepts, prioritization/screening of concepts, and de-risking through data-driven methods
Robustly characterize minimum viable product, define strategies for demonstrating clinical proof-of-concept for software prototypes, and understand market adoption criteria
Develop, plan and prioritize impactful projects and activities based on value proposition, clinical needs driven innovation, and feasibility of new digital products, with accountability for successful completion of all project deliverables
Partner with internal technology and business leaders to identify, develop and execute new whitespace product opportunities
Manage multiple concurrent software development programs, ensuring delivery on time and within scope
Identify project and schedule risks and dependencies, developing complex mitigation strategies, alternative solutions, resolving issues, etc. in collaboration with cross functional groups.
Collaborate with product manager, UX/UI designer, and software engineers on requirements, roadmaps, and execution of project deliverables
Communicate program status, risks, and dependencies to leadership and cross-functional stakeholders
Maintain detailed program documentation, including project plans, timelines, dependencies and executive readouts
Serve as visionary for software architecture, factoring in integration feasibility, system-level impact and scalability to go from early prototype phase to builds that will be validated and shipped to clinical end-users, defining transition plans between the upstream and downstream phases
Implement and champion agile methodologies and lean startup principles for rapid prototyping and iteration. Balance speed, learning, and rigor, ensuring concept work progresses while preserving optionality.
Oversee processes for data ingestion, normalization, and structuring from multiple sources (device, EMR, cloud platforms)
Identify opportunities for leveraging AI, cloud, and data analytics in digital health solutions