Operations Lead, Digital Research and Development Data AI Products and Platforms

Sanofi•Toronto, ON

6d•CA$124,800 - CA$174,800•Onsite

About The Position

Sanofi is undergoing a significant digital transformation, with a focus on accelerating data transformation and adopting AI/ML solutions to enhance R&D, manufacturing, and commercial performance. The Digital R&D Data & AI Products and Platforms Team is central to this initiative, aiming to democratize data across R&D and scale AI/ML capabilities. As the Operations Lead, you will support the end-to-end delivery excellence of products and platforms, working closely with the Product Line Owner and Product Owners to establish a robust strategy, roadmap, and agile practices. Your role will involve quantifying value, measuring performance, and ensuring continuous optimization. This position requires strong coordination with internal teams, other verticals, and business R&D stakeholders.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in Strategy or Operations or Program/Portfolio Management, preferably in digital R&D teams and agile Ways of Working.
Bachelor's degree required.
Detailed planning, budgeting, and reporting capabilities and demonstrated ability to link those to strategy and vision.
Strong networking, influencing, and negotiating skills.
Superior problem-solving skills.
Strong and confident storytelling and communication skills with the ability to convince and influence at all levels of the organization.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills across technical, business, and finance teams.
Demonstrated ability to work with multiple teams to drive alignment and results.
Continuous improvement mindset.
Results oriented, and self-motivated.
Positive team player who is service-oriented and flexible.
English fluent.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in business, science, engineering or digital field preferred.
Knowledge on agile development and product lifecycle is a plus.
Data and AI Products and Platform expertise or experience.
Pharma and/or Digital healthcare expertise is a plus; experience in or good understanding of pharmaceutical R&D.
French, Spanish, or other languages is a plus.

Responsibilities

Support the delivery of R&D Data and AI products and platforms strategy through defining roadmap in collaboration with DPP leaders, Product Owners, vertical and business R&D SMEs.
Maintain a clear and current view of all products/components, owners, milestones, and dependencies.
Be plugged into key Agile rituals and provide a reliable, concise view of status, risks, and spend to leadership for each product/platform.
Collaborate with Product Line Owners and Product Owners on value engineering and impact delivered to business R&D.
Consolidate OKRs/KPIs and conduct post-launch ROI reviews for global Digital R&D scorecards, and communicate to LT.
Define and execute change management / GTM strategy and framework with the scrum team, iterating as needed based on stakeholder needs and communication requirements to drive awareness, adoption and/or utilization.
Collaborate with Delivery Leads and/or Scrum Masters to ensure release or launch readiness and conduct post-launch retrospectives.
Create and own product/platform artifacts with the scrum team, ensuring they are fit-for-purpose.
Own Product Line communication, capture “win wires” and successes, and channel them to internal and cross-functional and leadership forums to build visibility and support.
Promote updates & features & launches, sharing of success stories, and monitoring of adoption.
Proactively manage risks, issues, and dependencies for successful delivery in collaboration with Product Line Owners and Products Owners.
Systematically identify, log, and track risks (timelines, dependencies, blockers, GxP/quality gaps, resourcing issues, etc.).
Drive resolution by assigning clear owners and due dates; escalate when decisions or tradeoffs are needed.
Collaborate with Finance and Procurement on budget elaboration, strategic resource planning, and business case reviews.
Manage and monitor budget: plan vs. committed, spend vs forecast vs variance by product/platform.
Manage and execute SOWs and POs with vendors or providers.
Collaborate with Product Line Owners, People & Culture, and procurement to ensure optimized staffing allocation to achieve product impact and support their roadmap.
Track internal and external resources across various products/platforms.
Raise agile capability of the Product Line and provide coaching and mentorship in agile practices.
Define and enforce Ways of Working including roles and responsibilities across Product Owners, Scrum Master, Tech Lead, QA, Operations, Engineers.
Establish, enhance, and/or promote systems and processes to drive self-governance and management.
Improve and refine Ways of Working and Operating Model and monitoring for impact.
Identify and address structural/procedural pain points (e.g., onboarding overhead, fragmented documentation, meeting sprawl).
Propose and implement small, practical changes (templates, intake processes, meeting hygiene) that enhance delivery over time.