Digital & Tech Business Partner - Category & Advanced Research

Haleon is a purpose‑driven, world‑class consumer company dedicated to delivering better everyday health. We look for a Director, IT Business Partner – Category Growth & Future Horizons to translate category ambition into technology reality.

Category Strategy & Tech Enablement Serve as the primary IT Business Partner and unify the owner at the category interface, enabling capabilities required to support whitespace identification, innovation prioritization, consumer insights integration, and functional investments. Translate category strategies into multiyear digital and technology roadmaps spanning platforms, data assets, AI/ML, automation, and advanced analytics. Identify digital enablers, capability gaps, and cross‑category reuse opportunities across Oral Health, VMS, Pain, Respiratory, Digestive Health, and Skin.

Shape category-specific value cases integrating consumer, scientific, and technology insight. Ensure roadmaps align with enterprise architecture, cybersecurity, and data governance.

Thought Leadership in Breakthrough and Competitive Technology Connect breakthrough sciences to scalable tech, minimize fragmentation, and maximize value creation. Lead the identification and evaluation of category-enabling futuristic digital platforms and services—AI/ML, digital health, advanced data platforms, sensors, virtual testing—to support Real World Data, Consumer Sensory, and External Innovation. Partner with RWD and Data Science teams to define technology needs for acquisition, integration, and analysis of real‑world data and support Consumer Sensory and Insights teams with digital tools for sensory panels, experiment design, virtual shelves, and preference modelling.

Cross-Functional Stakeholder Influence & Techno-Functional Leadership Act as the connective tissue across R&D, Category, Commercial, Regulatory, Medical, Supply Chain, and Digital & Tech teams. Facilitate and chair cross-functional forums to assess technical feasibility, digital readiness, data requirements, and resource implications. Negotiate platform prioritization, sequencing, and trade-offs with senior leaders. Build strong, trust‑based relationships to drive adoption of digital and data-enabled ways of working.

Portfolio, Investment & Roadmap Governance Provide senior governance to harmonize platform strategies, avoid duplicative investments, and strengthen interoperability across categories. Partner with finance and strategy to shape a category-aligned technology investment portfolio and apply consistent evaluation frameworks that consider business value, technical complexity, re‑use of platforms, risk, and time-to-impact.

Product Ownership & Delivery Oversight Own product management of the Innovation PPM platform and key enabling digital products (RWD platforms, sensory & insights tools, external innovation systems, category superiority dashboards). Prioritize backlogs, manage dependencies, and ensure timely, high-quality delivery with scalability and reuse across categories.

Technology Insight & External Ecosystem Engagement Monitor emerging technologies and engage external partners, vendors, startups, academic institutions, and innovation networks to identify new digital and technology opportunities. Bring forward curated insights shaping category strategies and R&D exploration.

Deep understanding of digital product development, data platforms, analytics, and R&D consumer health technology ecosystems. Proven ability to translate category, consumer, and scientific needs into technology requirements. Strategic & analytical strength, with experience in opportunity assessment, scenario planning, and value-case development. Leadership and influence skills to engage senior leaders in a matrixed global organization. Innovation & future‑horizon mindset, comfortable operating in ambiguity and testing hypotheses.

Extensive experience in R&D tech, digital strategy, category strategy, innovation leadership, data analytics, or IT business partnering in consumer health, CPG, or life sciences. Track record shaping and delivering tech-enabled strategies with measurable growth outcomes. Executive-level influencing and communication experience.

Approved multiyear digital & data roadmaps for Category Growth and Future Horizons. Modern, integrated tools adopted by RWD, Consumer Sensory, and External Innovation teams. Demonstrable impact on category growth, innovation hit-rate, and decision‑making speed. Recognition of the Director as a trusted strategic advisor within the extended leadership team.

Haleon is committed to mobilising our purpose in a way that represents the diverse consumers and communities who rely on our brands. We create an inclusive culture where all employees feel they belong. All employees are valued and respected.