Group Product Manager, Targets and Mechanisms Solutions (Director)

Pfizer • New York City, NY

6d • Hybrid

About The Position

Targets and Mechanisms Solutions sits within DP&TS and delivers the digital capabilities behind target identification, mechanism understanding, and translational decision-making across integrative biology, vaccines, and cross-Research Unit software. The portfolio includes iFOX, Hermes, and Athena. We're looking for a Group Product Manager to take DP&TS and Digital's strategy and turn it into a real multi-year roadmap and set of business priorities for this function. You'll own the outcomes across Integrative Biology, Vaccines, and the Research Units, work directly with business leaders on what they need delivered, and build the governance and investment rhythms that keep the portfolio moving as one thing instead of a pile of disconnected initiatives. You'll own portfolio strategy, investment decisions, and delivery commitments. That means deciding what the portfolio takes on, how budget and people get allocated, and standing behind what gets promised to business leaders. You'll lead through a team of leaders (program managers, product managers, and lead business analysts) who each own delivery for their own initiatives. You won't be running execution yourself, and you won't own technical design. That's on the principal engineers. You'll report to the Senior Director, Targets and Mechanisms Solutions, and manage the program managers, product managers, and lead business analysts on the team. Principal engineers are your closest partners. Your job is keeping priorities, requirements, and delivery plans lined up with what's actually getting built. This role needs someone who's actually run product and program operations inside a complex matrixed org, someone comfortable building structure where there isn't much yet, tightening execution discipline, and developing people. You'll also need to work closely enough with principal engineers to catch misalignment between business priorities and technical execution before it turns into a real problem. What a typical day looks like Mostly operational: check-ins with program managers and business analysts, roadmap and status reviews, escalation triage, syncing with principal engineers, and pulling together the governance materials senior stakeholders need. You're the one who notices when priorities are drifting from what the business actually needs and pulls things back in line.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Business, Computer Science, Data Science, Bioinformatics, Life Sciences, Engineering, or a related field.
• 8+ years in program management, product management, portfolio operations, business analysis leadership, or digital solution delivery, ideally supporting scientific, data, or enterprise software portfolios.
• 3+ years leading people managers or team leads (program managers, product managers, lead business analysts) across multiple initiatives, including accountability for budget or investment decisions.
• A track record of building operating rhythms, governance forums, portfolio reporting, intake processes, prioritization practices, and roadmap coordination across multiple initiatives.
• Experience setting multi-year strategy for a product or program portfolio and translating business-unit strategy into function-level direction.
• Experience with requirements management, stakeholder alignment, delivery planning, risk and dependency tracking, executive communications, and cross-functional issue resolution.
• A proven ability to partner with senior technical leaders, including principal engineers or architects, while keeping business, product, program, analysis, and engineering accountabilities distinct.
• Solid grounding in agile delivery, product operating models, SDLC practices, data and analytics concepts, and secure, compliant delivery in enterprise environments.
• Strong leadership, facilitation, communication, coaching, and stakeholder management skills, and the ability to create clarity in ambiguous situations.
• A track record of influencing peers, developing others, and guiding the work of colleagues to real business impact.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in pharmaceutical R&D, life sciences, translational research, integrative biology, vaccines, or research unit operations.
• Experience leading teams supporting scientific software, target identification, mechanism exploration, omics data, biological data integration, analytics, or AI-enabled research capabilities.
• Experience building or maturing product management, program governance, portfolio prioritization, or business analysis standards inside a matrixed organization.
• Familiarity with GxP, HIPAA, data privacy, information security, records management, or other regulatory expectations for R&D software and data.
• Experience owning budget or investment decisions for a portfolio or business unit, and presenting strategy and tradeoffs to executive leadership.
• Advanced degree, PMP, agile certification, product management certification, business analysis certification, or equivalent experience.
• Candidate demonstrates a breadth of diverse leadership experiences and capabilities including: the ability to influence and collaborate with peers, develop and coach others, oversee and guide the work of other colleagues to achieve meaningful outcomes and create business impact.

Responsibilities

• Turn DP&TS and Digital's strategy into long-term direction, multi-year roadmaps, and business priorities for the portfolio.
• Own portfolio-level outcomes across Integrative Biology, vaccines, and cross-RU software, and be accountable to business and DP&TS leadership for results.
• Set investment priorities and allocate budget and resources across initiatives, including iFOX, Hermes, and Athena, based on business impact.
• Lead and develop the program managers, product managers, and lead business analysts who own delivery on individual initiatives.
• Build consistent practices for intake, prioritization, dependency tracking, and delivery reporting.
• Coach the team on execution discipline and communication so the portfolio becomes predictable, not reactive.
• Own portfolio operations across Integrative Biology, vaccines, and cross-RU.
• Run governance forums, roadmap reviews, and escalation processes.
• Keep plans, resource assumptions, timelines, and dependencies organized enough that leadership isn't hunting for basic information to make decisions.
• Partner closely with principal engineers, who own technical design and direction.
• Keep business priorities, requirements, and engineering plans in sync through the product lifecycle.
• When issues come up, clarify priorities, clear administrative blockers, and escalate what needs senior attention.
• Build real working relationships with Integrative Biology, vaccines, and RU stakeholders, plus DP&TS teams, Digital colleagues, and vendors.
• Keep execution pointed at long-term DP&TS and Research goals.
• Give stakeholders honest tradeoffs based on what the portfolio can actually deliver, not just what would be nice.
• Drive improvements to how the team plans, tracks, and communicates.
• Define the metrics that tell you whether the portfolio is actually healthy, and use them.
• Make sure delivery holds up against the security, privacy, and compliance expectations for R&D software.

Benefits

• 401(k) plan with Pfizer Matching Contributions and an additional Pfizer Retirement Savings Contribution
• paid vacation, holiday and personal days
• paid caregiver/parental and medical leave
• health benefits to include medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage
• Relocation assistance may be available based on business needs and/or eligibility.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director