Senior Principal Strategist, Strategy & Planning

Cencora • Philadelphia, PA

4d

About The Position

The Senior Principal Strategist leads the operating engine of Cencora’s global Enterprise Infrastructure & Cloud (EIC) organization and drives its transformation to an AI Ops-enabled product operating model. The role owns how EIC plans, funds, staffs, and delivers through a product lens, including a global workforce plan, operating and capital planning, and the EIC delivery portfolio. It leads the transition from project- and ticket-based delivery to product-based work by defining the product taxonomy, product owner accountabilities, and operating cadence, and advancing adoption from the stated 60%+ baseline toward full coverage.

The role owns EIC talent and position management, end-to-end portfolio governance, financial planning and controls, enterprise hardware and software spend reduction, supplier performance, and the EIC leadership operating rhythm. It advises the SVP of EIC and coordinates with the Office of the CDIO, Cyber Security, Finance, HR, Procurement, Legal, and other partners. Success includes better-governed technology spending, suppliers, and investments, and EIC delivering on commitments, within budget, with appropriate staffing.

Requirements

• 15+ years of progressive technology experience, including meaningful time and deep functional expertise in infrastructure, cloud, or IT operations; must be credible with engineers and executives.
• Demonstrated ownership of a technology operating budget of $150M or greater, including capital planning and multi-year forecasting.
• Demonstrated ownership of a technology supplier portfolio of $250M or greater in annual spend, including enterprise agreements with hyperscalers or top-tier software publishers.
• Experience managing a global workforce plan of 500+ employees plus a comparable contingent workforce across multiple countries and delivery models.
• Track record leading enterprise-scale transformation, such as a product operating model, cloud migration, or comparable transformation.
• Experience operating in a regulated environment, with familiarity with SOX, HIPPA, and GxP, DSCSA, or an equivalent regulatory framework.

Nice To Haves

• Direct experience leading enterprise AI or automation adoption, including tooling selection, value measurement, and governance.
• Experience in healthcare, pharmaceutical distribution, life sciences, or another highly regulated industry.
• Prior chief of staff, business operations, or strategy and planning leadership within a technology function.

Responsibilities

• Lead the transformation of the approximately 850-person EIC organization from project- and ticket-based delivery to a product operating model across its infrastructure and technology domains.
• Define and maintain the EIC product taxonomy, including product boundaries, product owner accountabilities, funding models, and operating cadence; extend it to products jointly owned with Information Security and application organizations.
• Partner with domain leaders to redesign roles, rituals, and decision rights in support of the product model.
• Own the EIC global workforce plan, including the position roster, approved headcount envelope, and insource/outsource mix aligned to the Talent Strategy.
• Govern requisition approval, backfills, contractor-to-employee conversion, organizational design, and span-of-control discipline with HR and Finance.
• Maintain a rolling view of skills supply and demand and lead succession planning and talent review preparation for the EIC leadership team.
• Own the EIC delivery portfolio, including intake, prioritization, resourcing, dependency management, milestone tracking, executive reporting, and portfolio governance forums.
• Represent EIC in enterprise technology investment prioritization and maintain the EIC delivery dashboard, with 90%+ of work visible in Jira or ServiceNow.
• Own the EIC operating and capital plan, including annual budget development, monthly forecasting, variance analysis, accrual discipline, year-end landing, and financial controls.
• Deliver committed savings targets and develop business cases and investment narratives for EIC’s strategic agenda.
• Run the enterprise hardware and software spend reduction program, coordinating its workstreams and cross-functional leads.
• Own the EIC renewal portfolio and rolling 18-month renewal calendar; apply the PADU disposition framework and report savings validated by Finance.
• Establish and run the EIC vendor performance management framework, including scorecards, quarterly business reviews, service-level accountability, and escalation paths.
• Drive supplier consolidation and standardization when they improve economics or outcomes.
• Run the EIC leadership operating rhythm, including staff meetings, offsites, all-hands, OKRs, and the annual planning calendar.
• Prepare the SVP for executive and enterprise forums, own EIC internal and executive communications, and coordinate EIC audit, compliance, and regulatory responses.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision care.
• Benefits supporting physical, emotional, financial, and social wellness.
• Support for working families, which may include backup dependent care, adoption assistance, infertility coverage, family building support, behavioral health solutions, paid parental leave, and paid caregiver leave.
• Training programs and professional development resources.
• Mentorship programs, employee resource groups, and volunteer activities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal
• Education Level: No Education Listed