Program Manager, Product Development

Overview

The Program Manager (PM) will support the project portfolio for the Specimen Management Business Group within BD. The PM will lead cross-functional core teams in executing all aspects of new product development or sustaining engineering (PLM) portfolio management. The PM is responsible for leading and motivating a complex cross-functional team or a program with one or more projects to develop new products or improve existing products. The PM is ultimately responsible for the execution, quality and results of their project(s), and the success of the resulting product in the market, including achieving defined strategic and financial objectives once the project has launched. This is a critical role within the Specimen Management Program Management Office (PMO), part of the R&D Operations and Science group, based in Franklin Lakes, NJ. The position requires frequent presentations and updates across all organizational levels, including senior leadership.

Job Responsibilities

Project Planning & Execution

• Responsible for creating project schedules, resource requirements, risk management plans, integrated business plans, and product requirements.
• Accountable for execution, quality, and results of assigned projects and overall product success in the market.
• Leads cross-functional development of product architecture, synthesizes functional plans, and identifies critical interdependencies to ensure successful execution.

Team Leadership & Motivation

• Demonstrate strong leadership, learning agility, and action orientation when facing uncertainty, instilling confidence through clear decisions and proactive actions.
• Engage, influence, and direct all functions involved in product development to inspire and motivate cross-functional teams toward achieving common goals.
• Constructively challenge team members and leaders to rethink assumptions and improve product development outcomes.

Day-to-Day Management

• Manage and guide daily activities of team members, track progress against plan, manage project budget, identify risks, and implement mitigation plans.

Problem Solving & Risk Management

• Lead cross-functional teams through problem resolution, including root cause analysis and corrective/preventive actions.
• Communicate with functional managers and business leaders regarding critical project risks, questions, or challenges.

Continuous Improvement & Collaboration

• Challenge core team members, functional leaders, and business leaders on strategies and approaches to improve product development outcomes.
• Interact across functions to ensure alignment and transparency.

Education and Experience required

• Bachelor's degree in a science or engineering field.
• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience, including at least 3 years of relevant project management leadership experience associated with product development within a regulated industry, with progressively increasing complexity of assignments.

Knowledge and Skills required

• Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite tools Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams.
• Proven ability to establish customer requirements from defined specifications and translate them into product requirements.
• Ability to lead and drive the identification, validation, and mitigation planning of all project risks—including technical, schedule, business, and resource—based on a thorough understanding of integrated project plans and work breakdown structures.
• Strong financial acumen with proven ability to develop and manage complex program budgets, perform cost-benefit analyses, and forecast financial impacts throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Skilled in applying analytical, statistical, computational, and empirical methods to gain deep design insights and minimize development timelines.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to tailor messaging to different audiences and convey complex technical/business issues concisely to enable high-quality decision-making.
• Exceptional interpersonal and influencing without authority abilities, fostering collaboration and driving cross-functional alignment.
• Strong learning agility and ability to quickly master new subject matter.
• Proven ability to manage ambiguity and adapt to changing priorities.
• Technical and business judgment to significantly influence project direction and inspire novel thinking within teams.

Preferred qualifications

• Master's Degree in a science or engineering field and/or MBA preferred.
• Experience in the medical device or biotechnology industry.
• Experience with clinical studies and 510(k) submission/FDA regulatory.
• Experience using visual project management tools (e.g., Microsoft Planner, OnePlan, Azure DevOps, Obeya boards, Kanban boards) to drive planning, execution, and stakeholder alignment.