Senior Manager, Technical Product Ownership

Cencora•Philadelphia, PA

About The Position

The IT Product Lead – CRM serves as the technical lead and product owner for CRM and client portal products supporting core Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) operations. The role is accountable for end-to-end technology delivery of solutions built on Salesforce Service Cloud and Experience Cloud, including API integrations with enterprise cloud platforms. In partnership with the Business Product Owner for CRM, the role aligns product delivery with business priorities, customer requirements, technical roadmaps, security standards, and service-level commitments. The position provides hands-on technical leadership for architecture decisions, backlog prioritization, and engineering practices while collaborating with IT and business stakeholders on continuous improvement, value realization, and long-term product strategy. It establishes product plans and technical roadmaps, works with technical architects on forward-looking Salesforce ecosystem design, and supports the product lifecycle and operating model. The role coaches a cross-functional team and draws on expertise in product design and ownership, continuous delivery, lean and agile practices, operations, and engineering. It also maintains service costing and resource budgets. The products support complex GPO processes, including contract management, member relationships, and client portal operations, requiring coordination with architecture, release and change management, infrastructure, network, and other systems. The role also oversees product performance and support, service costs, procurement planning, vendor and contractor management, and associate development. It participates in Agile SAFe practices and coordinates dependencies with other IT Product Leads in the same Product Train.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems or a related field, or equivalent work experience; the posting also states a bachelor's degree in business administration, marketing, communications, product management, economics, healthcare administration, or a related field, or equivalent experience, is required.
At least 7 years of Information Technology experience with progressive responsibility.
Strong understanding of Salesforce Service Cloud and Experience Cloud, including platform architecture, declarative and programmatic development, and Salesforce release management.
Experience managing API integrations between Salesforce and other enterprise cloud platforms.
Strong understanding of creating and maintaining technical backlogs and incorporating architecture, new features, and technical debt improvements into a product roadmap.
High-level understanding of several IT areas, such as product management, technical architecture, business analysis, testing, or operations and support.
Strong leadership skills and ability to provide technical direction to a cross-functional team.
Self-motivated and self-directed, with a bias toward action.
Demonstrated ability to partner and collaborate across organizations to optimize outcomes.
Working knowledge of product management methodology and Salesforce platform best practices.
Strong understanding of SAFe Agile principles and their practical application in a development environment.
Ability to prioritize workload and meet commitments in a fast-paced environment.
Ability to work across IT groups to ensure end-to-end performance of Salesforce-based solutions and integrations.
Excellent interpersonal, written, oral, listening, and presentation skills; comfortable working on a team with daily accountability for commitments.
In-depth knowledge of GPO business operations and how CRM and portal technology enables them.
Strong organizational skills and ability to manage competing priorities.
Good judgment in communicating status and escalating problems.
Ability to coach and mentor team members on product management and Salesforce technical topics.
Knowledge of the service cost basis, including Salesforce licensing and integration platform costs.
Ability to respond effectively under pressure.

Nice To Haves

At least 2 years in a leadership or team lead capacity.
Experience supporting GPO operations, pharmaceutical distribution, or healthcare-related business processes.
Experience managing or supporting a client-facing portal built on Salesforce Experience Cloud.
Some budgetary responsibility.
Salesforce Certified Administrator certification.
Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder certification.
Salesforce Certified Service Cloud Consultant certification.
Salesforce Certified Experience Cloud Consultant certification.
SAFe Product Owner / Product Manager (POPM) certification.
Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) certification or equivalent.
Master's degree in business administration, marketing, communications, product management, economics, healthcare administration, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

Plan future changes to CRM and client portal products to meet GPO customer and business priorities.
Collaborate with product owners, customer relationship managers, and capacity planners to forecast demand for Salesforce-based solutions.
Partner with IT and business leaders to identify and prioritize initiatives based on GPO needs and schedules.
Maintain relationships with GPO business and IT partners to provide effective Salesforce ecosystem solutions.
Drive continuous improvement, including Salesforce platform optimization and API integration reliability.
Develop business-focused concepts, risk assessments, cost-benefit analyses, strategic initiatives, and task and defect prioritization.
Maintain the long-term Salesforce product strategy and roadmap with IT strategy and architecture teams, including Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, and integration architecture.
Foster Design Thinking across the product team and maintain roadmaps for features, technical debt reduction, and product end-of-life or retirement.
Coordinate with Release Management and other product owners to ensure products are represented in business plans.
Interface with GPO clients about product offerings, costs, value propositions, and onboarding, particularly for the client portal.
Develop customer communications strategies with the Business Product Owner to promote awareness of significant product events.
Benchmark and manage IT metrics established for the product team.
Provide hands-on technical leadership on Salesforce architecture, design patterns, and engineering best practices, including guidance on declarative versus programmatic development.
Oversee Salesforce API integrations with enterprise cloud platforms to support data integrity, reliability, and scalability.
Own technical delivery of the Salesforce Experience Cloud client portal, ensuring usability, performance, and reliability meet client expectations.
Lead backlog refinement and technical story creation, with well-defined acceptance criteria and architectural considerations.
Conduct or facilitate code reviews, architecture reviews, and design discussions; make sprint-level technical decisions and remove technical blockers.
Partner with Salesforce and enterprise architects to evaluate platform capabilities, governor limits, and scalability; ensure platform governance standards are followed.
Work with the Business Product Owner to prioritize continuous improvement, technical debt reduction, and defect resolution.
Develop business-focused risk management and cost-benefit concepts, strategic initiatives, innovative solutions, and success measures.
Oversee metrics aligned with business Objectives and Key Results for CRM and portal products.
Develop and negotiate Service-Level Agreements and Operational Level Agreements for the products.
Assess Salesforce platform, integration, and data risks; communicate risks and recommended mitigation plans to IT and business leadership.
Direct interactions with governance, audit, and quality teams and remove technical and functional roadblocks, coordinating with other product teams, Centers of Competence, and Enterprise Services.
Analyze product delivery costs, including Salesforce licensing, identify cost-optimization opportunities, and potentially perform profit-and-loss analysis.
Negotiate allocation of shared infrastructure and service costs; define cost allocation, cost recovery, and pricing plans within IT chargeback or pricing models.
Ensure product cost-effectiveness and efficient Salesforce platform utilization.
Identify or approve procurement needs for Salesforce licenses, AppExchange products, and third-party integration tools; identify obsolete assets and document plans to replace or retire them.
Define product performance, availability, security, and scalability attributes, with attention to Salesforce platform limits and API integration health.
Lead product continuous-improvement reviews and ensure performance meets KPI, SLA, and OLA requirements.
Develop and maintain performance dashboards and scorecards; review product value realization against GPO and IT strategies.
Serve as the first point of contact for high-severity product issue communications, coordinate recovery and resolution, and ensure root-cause analysis is provided to the business.
Manage and review vendor contracts with the Vendor Management Office (VMO), assess service-provider performance, escalate issues, and provide input on vendor decisions and contracts.
Oversee contractor work and performance, including coordination with Centers of Competence on identification, onboarding, and evaluation.
Manage cross-functional product team members and, with Centers of Competence, manage and evaluate associate goals, skills, and training, including Salesforce-specific development.
Participate in Agile SAFe methodology and coordinate with other IT Product Leads in the same Product Train to manage risks and dependencies.
Coach and mentor associates, modeling effective communication, conflict resolution, and urgency.
Contribute directly to team execution when needed, including user story creation, technical architecture guidance, code reviews, acceptance criteria, and Salesforce configuration decisions.
Perform other duties as assigned.