Senior Staff IT Product Lead - Digital Applications (Salesforce CRM & Field Engagement)

Summary/Job Purpose

The Senior Staff IT Product Lead - Digital Applications will lead a portfolio of digital products critical to Exelixis's success and ambition to launch innovative medicines for patients. This role drives the strategy, development, and operational excellence of the digital application ecosystem, ensuring alignment with business objectives and a strong focus on user experience and value delivery. Operating within a product-centric model, the role defines product roadmaps, fosters cross-functional collaboration, and leads agile product teams to deliver impactful digital solutions that accelerate drug discovery, development, and commercialization.

Essential Duties/Responsibilities

Product Strategy & Roadmap

• Own two or more digital products with thorough understanding and execution of vision and strategy within the Digital Applications job family (e.g., Clinical Trials Applications, R&D Informatics, Commercial Operations Platforms).
• Work with business owners and stakeholders to gather user needs and drive development of product requirements and user stories.
• Support other leads in market research and technology reviews to support product planning and identify improvement areas.
• Assess business value, technical feasibility, and compliance considerations for product initiatives.
• Own the architecture and design of one or two products and ensure digital solutions align with enterprise design and security standards.

Product Development & Delivery

• Own product development activities across one or more digital products through the lifecycle—from concept to launch and post-launch support—using Agile practices (e.g., Scrum, Kanban).
• Draft user stories and acceptance criteria across two or more digital products.
• Collaborate with engineering, architecture, and QA teams to deliver secure, scalable, and high-quality digital applications.
• Coordinate with vendors and service providers to support product delivery timelines and operational needs.
• Improve user experience across digital products by incorporating feedback from usability testing and end user research.

Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Support communication between IT and business teams by translating technical concepts into business-friendly language across two or more functional areas.
• Build working relationships with stakeholders to support alignment on product goals and deliverables.
• Contribute in team meetings and cross-functional discussions to stay aligned on priorities and progress.
• Own planning sessions and provide input on product-related decisions.

Operational Excellence, Quality & Compliance

• Maintain the stability, performance, and security of digital applications in collaboration with IT operations and infrastructure teams.
• Manage vendor interactions and support the use of third-party software solutions.
• Support compliance efforts by ensuring product features and processes meet regulatory and internal standards (e.g., GxP, HIPAA, GDPR).
• Support quality assurance activities to ensure product deliverables meet expectations.
• Implement and maintain robust data management & AI practices to protect sensitive information and ensure accuracy and reliability.
• Monitor product performance metrics and KPIs to support continuous improvement.

Education/Experience/Knowledge/Skills & Abilities

Bachelor's degree in related discipline and 9 years of related experience; or Master's degree in mathematics or statistics or engineering and 7 years of related experience; or PhD degree in a related discipline and 5 years of related experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of experience supporting Enterprise IT enabling business functions.
• Minimum of 7+ years of progressive experience in IT, focused on digital applications or product management within the life science or pharmaceutical industry.
• Proven experience leading product development teams in an agile/product-centric operating model.
• Strong understanding of the drug discovery, clinical development, or commercialization lifecycle within a pharmaceutical or biotechnology company.
• Demonstrated success defining and delivering complex digital products that drive significant business value.
• Experience with SaaS platforms (Veeva, Salesforce) or cloud solutions (AWS, Azure), or functional capabilities such as LIMS, SAP ERP, EDC, CTMS, CRM systems widely used in pharma.
• Experience with regulatory frameworks and compliance in a GxP environment.
• Led IT product strategy, roadmap, architecture, and technology enablement for the CRM and Field Engagement ecosystem supporting Commercial, Sales, and Medical Affairs/MSLs, enabling HCP/HCO 360, territory management, call planning/reporting, field insights, medical inquiries, omnichannel engagement, and AI-assisted workflows.
• Strong experience with Salesforce Life Sciences Cloud, Customer Engagement for Life Sciences Cloud, Data Cloud/Data 360, Agentforce, Marketing Cloud, Tableau, Veeva CRM, PromoMats, MedComms, Flow, Apex, APIs, SSO, MFA, and field-level security, including GenAI, next-best-action, intelligent alerts, and agentic CRM capabilities.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required

• 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.

Occasional travel (5–10%) may be required to other company sites, conferences, or vendor locations.