Senior Director, IT Product Management - SAP Platform

Exelixis•Alameda, CA

About The Position

SUMMARY/JOB PURPOSE (Basic purpose of the job): The Senior Director IT Product Management, SAP Platform , will oversee and lead a portfolio of digital products critical to Exelixis's success and ambition to launch innovative medicines for patients. This role is pivotal in defining and driving the strategy, development, and operational excellence of our Enterprise Resource Planning ecosystem, ensuring alignment with business objectives and a strong focus on user experience and value delivery. Operating within a product-centric model, the Senior Director 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/RESPONSIBILITIES: Product Strategy & Roadmap (Product-Centric Focus): Define, evangelize, and drive the enterprise vision and multi-year strategy for a portfolio of digital products ( Enterprise Resource Planning, Financial Reporting and Analytics, Supply and Demand Planning, SAP S/4HANA Platform ), ensuring alignment with corporate objectives and Information technology goals. Engage senior business leaders and functional executives across multiple business functions (Finance, Accounting, Strategic Sourcing, Pharmaceutical Supply Chain) to shape product direction , uncover unmet needs, and translate strategic opportunities into actionable product roadmaps. Conduct market research, competitive analysis, and technology trends assessment to identify new opportunities and ensure our enterprise applications remain cutting-edge and competitive within the life science landscape. Prioritize product initiatives based on business value, technical feasibility, regulatory compliance, and resource availability, ensuring a balanced portfolio of short-term wins and long-term strategic investments. Conduct final review and approval of architecture and design patterns to ensure enterprise solutions are built in the right and secured manner Product Development & Delivery (Agile/Product Team Leadership): Inspire and lead multiple cross-functional teams, including Product Analysts, Product Lead(s ) and digital application specialists, by cultivating a culture of strategic ownership, innovation, and continuous improvement across the digital product lifecycle. Provide executive oversight of the entire product lifecycle from ideation to launch and post-launch optimization, ensuring efficient and effective product development processes (e.g., Agile Scrum, Kanban). Set standard s for definition and delivery of multiple enterprise products by guiding the creation of high-impact user stories, acceptance criteria, and product specifications that balance and reflect business priorities and user needs across multiple functions . Partner at a strategic level with engineering, architecture, and quality leaders to ensure the delivery of secure, scalable, and high-quality enterprise applications that meet evolving business demands. Shape and govern strategic vendor relationships, ensuring alignment of external capabilities with internal product roadmaps, delivery timelines, and operational excellence standards. Champion a user-centric design approach, leveraging user research, usability testing, and feedback loops to continuously improve the user experience and effectiveness of enterprise solutions across multiple enterprise products and business functions . Manage and sustain a robust data management & AI practice to protect sensitive information and ensure its accuracy and reliability across multiple enterprise products and business functions . Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Collaboration: Serve as a n executive liaison between IT and various business functions, translating complex technical strategies into actionable business outcome . Forge and sustain strategic partnership with key stakeholders across the organization to ensure alignment on product vision, investment priorities, and measurable outcomes. Facilitate effective communication and decision-making across product teams, 3+ business units, and IT functional groups. Represent the Information Technology team in executive steering committees , strategic planning councils , and enterprise - wide cross - functional initiatives. Operational Excellence, Quality & Compliance: Accountable for the operational stability, performance, and security of digital applications, working closely with IT operations and infrastructure teams. Establish and lead governance frameworks for vendor partnerships and third-party software solutions, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture, compliance mandates, and business continuity objectives . Define and enforce all enterprise applications, feature releases and processes comply with relevant regulatory requirements (e.g., GxP , HIPAA, GDPR , SOX ) and internal quality and security standards. Ensure that all product releases meet rigorous quality standards and compliance requirements . Partner with quality and compliance leaders to re-define and update standards as ne eded. Design and operationalize strategic KPIs and performance dashboards, enabling executive visibility into product adoption, business impact, and continuous improvement opportunities driven by data and stakeholder feedback. Team Leadership & Development: Shape and execute a strategic talent agenda for the Information Technology organization, attracting, developing, and retaining top-tier talent to build a resilient, high-performing team aligned with enterprise goals. Provide visionary leadership and mentorship, fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous growth through structured coaching, feedback, and career development frameworks. Champion a culture of digital innovation and learning agility, embedding continuous improvement, adaptability, and inclusion into the team’s operating model to meet evolving business and technology demands. Manage budgets allocation and financial planning for product a portfolio within Digital Applications job family. Influence budget and financial planning across all products.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in related discipline and 15 years of related experience; or Master's degree in mathematics or statistics or engineering and 13 years of related experience.
PhD degree in a related discipline and 12 years of related experience; or Equivalent combination of education and experience.
Minimum of 10 years of experience supporting Enterprise IT enabling business functions.
Minimum of 1 2 + years of progressive experience in IT, with at least 8 + years in a leadership role focused on enterprise applications or product management within the life science or pharmaceutical industry.
Proven experience in leading product development teams in an agile/product-centric operating model is essential.
Strong understanding of Finance, Commercial Supply Chain, and Procurement business processes within a pharmaceutical or biotechnology company.
Demonstrated success in defining and delivering complex enterprise products that drive significant business value.
Extensive e xperience managing and implementing SAP S/4HANA with a focus on Finance, Supply Chain and analytics
Experience managing and implementing supply and demand planning solutions ( e.g. Kinaxis)
Experience with integration platforms , such as CPI (Cloud Platform Integration) , Integration Suite or other similar middleware
Experience with regulatory frameworks and compliance in a SOX and GxP environment including IT G eneral C ontrols (ITGC) and Segregation of Duties ( SoD ) .
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.
Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Responsibilities

Product Strategy & Roadmap (Product-Centric Focus): Define, evangelize, and drive the enterprise vision and multi-year strategy for a portfolio of digital products ( Enterprise Resource Planning, Financial Reporting and Analytics, Supply and Demand Planning, SAP S/4HANA Platform ), ensuring alignment with corporate objectives and Information technology goals.
Engage senior business leaders and functional executives across multiple business functions (Finance, Accounting, Strategic Sourcing, Pharmaceutical Supply Chain) to shape product direction , uncover unmet needs, and translate strategic opportunities into actionable product roadmaps.
Conduct market research, competitive analysis, and technology trends assessment to identify new opportunities and ensure our enterprise applications remain cutting-edge and competitive within the life science landscape.
Prioritize product initiatives based on business value, technical feasibility, regulatory compliance, and resource availability, ensuring a balanced portfolio of short-term wins and long-term strategic investments.
Conduct final review and approval of architecture and design patterns to ensure enterprise solutions are built in the right and secured manner Product Development & Delivery (Agile/Product Team Leadership)
Inspire and lead multiple cross-functional teams, including Product Analysts, Product Lead(s ) and digital application specialists, by cultivating a culture of strategic ownership, innovation, and continuous improvement across the digital product lifecycle.
Provide executive oversight of the entire product lifecycle from ideation to launch and post-launch optimization, ensuring efficient and effective product development processes (e.g., Agile Scrum, Kanban).
Set standard s for definition and delivery of multiple enterprise products by guiding the creation of high-impact user stories, acceptance criteria, and product specifications that balance and reflect business priorities and user needs across multiple functions .
Partner at a strategic level with engineering, architecture, and quality leaders to ensure the delivery of secure, scalable, and high-quality enterprise applications that meet evolving business demands.
Shape and govern strategic vendor relationships, ensuring alignment of external capabilities with internal product roadmaps, delivery timelines, and operational excellence standards.
Champion a user-centric design approach, leveraging user research, usability testing, and feedback loops to continuously improve the user experience and effectiveness of enterprise solutions across multiple enterprise products and business functions .
Manage and sustain a robust data management & AI practice to protect sensitive information and ensure its accuracy and reliability across multiple enterprise products and business functions .
Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Collaboration: Serve as a n executive liaison between IT and various business functions, translating complex technical strategies into actionable business outcome .
Forge and sustain strategic partnership with key stakeholders across the organization to ensure alignment on product vision, investment priorities, and measurable outcomes.
Facilitate effective communication and decision-making across product teams, 3+ business units, and IT functional groups.
Represent the Information Technology team in executive steering committees , strategic planning councils , and enterprise - wide cross - functional initiatives.
Operational Excellence, Quality & Compliance: Accountable for the operational stability, performance, and security of digital applications, working closely with IT operations and infrastructure teams.
Establish and lead governance frameworks for vendor partnerships and third-party software solutions, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture, compliance mandates, and business continuity objectives .
Define and enforce all enterprise applications, feature releases and processes comply with relevant regulatory requirements (e.g., GxP , HIPAA, GDPR , SOX ) and internal quality and security standards.
Ensure that all product releases meet rigorous quality standards and compliance requirements .
Partner with quality and compliance leaders to re-define and update standards as ne eded.
Design and operationalize strategic KPIs and performance dashboards, enabling executive visibility into product adoption, business impact, and continuous improvement opportunities driven by data and stakeholder feedback.
Team Leadership & Development: Shape and execute a strategic talent agenda for the Information Technology organization, attracting, developing, and retaining top-tier talent to build a resilient, high-performing team aligned with enterprise goals.
Provide visionary leadership and mentorship, fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous growth through structured coaching, feedback, and career development frameworks.
Champion a culture of digital innovation and learning agility, embedding continuous improvement, adaptability, and inclusion into the team’s operating model to meet evolving business and technology demands.
Manage budgets allocation and financial planning for product a portfolio within Digital Applications job family.
Influence budget and financial planning across all products.

Benefits

Exelixis offers comprehensive employee benefits package, including a 401k plan with generous company contributions, group medical, dental and vision coverage, life and disability insurance, and flexible spending accounts.
Employees are also eligible for a discretionary annual bonus program, or if field sales staff, a sales-based incentive plan.
Exelixis also offers employees the opportunity to purchase company stock, and receive long-term incentives, 15 accrued vacation days in their first year, 17 paid holidays including a company-wide winter shutdown in December, and up to 10 sick days throughout the calendar year.

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