Associate Director, IT Business Relationship Management - R&D and Product

About the Job

This role serves as a strategic bridge between R&D, Product, and IT organizations, providing forward-looking thought leadership to shape the future of technology in a highly regulated life sciences environment. The successful candidate will continuously monitor emerging trends across key domains such as electronic lab notebooks (ELN), laboratory information management systems (LIMS), and data science platforms, translating market insights and industry benchmarks into actionable strategies.

By advising senior leaders on modernization opportunities, risks, and investment priorities—and facilitating cross‑functional alignment forums—this role ensures that innovation initiatives are both business-driven and operationally feasible.

A core responsibility of this position is the development and stewardship of multi-year capability roadmaps that advance R&D and Product technology maturity. These roadmaps are tightly aligned with enterprise strategy, regulatory expectations, and architectural standards, while incorporating cross-functional dependencies such as data flows between R&D and Operations and cybersecurity requirements. The role applies a transparent, value-based prioritization framework to guide investment decisions and maintains a dynamic, living roadmap that informs annual planning, budgeting, and sequencing of initiatives—ensuring sustained progress toward long‑term strategic objectives.

In addition, this role owns the operational excellence and lifecycle management of critical R&D and Product technology platforms. Acting as the platform Run owner for core systems, the individual defines governance models, release strategies, and integration approaches while managing vendor relationships and ensuring platforms remain secure, compliant, scalable, and user‑centric. The position also drives ITIL-based process maturity across the portfolio and maintains rigorous oversight of technology investments and costs, ensuring delivery of high-quality services aligned with business needs and financial targets.

• Thought Leadership
  • Monitor emerging trends in R&D technology (ELN, LIMS, data science and pipelines)
  • Benchmark industry best practices across life sciences R&D and Product domains
  • Advise senior R&D, Product, and IT leaders on strategic opportunities, risks, and modernization pathways
  • Facilitate cross‑functional forums to align on R&D and Product technology strategy and innovation priorities
  • Translate insights into actionable recommendations and investment proposals
• Capability Roadmaps
  • Develop multi‑year roadmaps to advance the capabilities of R&D and Product
  • Align roadmaps with enterprise strategy, regulatory requirements, and architectural standards
  • Prioritize investments using a transparent, value‑based framework
  • Maintain a living roadmap that guides annual planning, budgeting, and sequencing of initiatives
  • Ensure roadmaps reflect cross‑functional dependencies (e.g., R&DOperations data flows, cybersecurity)
• Platform Run Ownership
  • Serve as platform Run owners for core R&D and Product systems (ELN, LIMS, data science and pipelines)
  • Define platform vision, governance, and release strategy
  • Manage platform lifecycle, upgrades, integrations, and vendor relationships
  • Ensure platforms are secure, compliant, scalable, and optimized for user experience
  • Drive standardization, data governance, and interoperability across R&D and Product systems
• R&D and Product Technology Operations
  • Drive ITIL-base process excellence for the R&D and Product technology portfolio
  • Manage R&D and Product technology investments and costs in line with IT budget
  • Comply with FMI's attendance policies

• Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Life Sciences, or a related field
• Minimum of 8+ years of experience in IT, digital, or technology roles, with at least 5 years supporting R&D, Product Development, or scientific platforms within the life sciences, biotechnology, or pharmaceutical industry
• 4+ years of management experience
• Demonstrated experience with core R&D technologies, including Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELN), Laboratory Information Management…