Associate Director, Product Management (Data Platform)

QuartzBio Overview: QuartzBio (www.quartz.bio ) is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions provider to the life sciences industry. We deliver innovative, data enabling technologies (i.e., software) that provide biotech/pharma (R&D) teams with enterprise-level access to sample/biomarker data management solutions & analytics, information, insight & reporting capabilities.

Our end-to-end (from sample collection to biomarker data) suite of solutions are focused on providing sponsors information (data with context) – we do this by connecting biospecimen, assay as well as clinical data sources in a secure and scalable cloud-based infrastructure, enabling seamless, automated data management workflows, key insight development, improved collaboration, and the ability to make faster, more informed decisions.

Position Summary:

As we continue to expand our product management team, we are seeking a highly skilled Associate Director, Product management to lead product management of our data platform’s components – Data Lake, platform framework & utilities. This leadership role is responsible for driving the product leadership of the data platform components in laying out the vision, creating roadmaps by working with multiple internal and external stakeholders, and building the product through collaboration with multiple teams (Engg, QA, Data sciences, Infra).

Key Responsibilities:

• Product vision:
  • Research and determine client and market needs for a SaaS based Biomarker Data Platform (Data Lake, Platform framework & utilities)
  • Collate and distill ideas, to create a backlog of feature and component ideas for building a data lake and common framework & utilities (part of data platform)
  • Create and manage a visual representation of the vision of the data platform (Data lake, Platform framework & utilities)
  • Ensure that the data lake, platform framework & utilities roadmap (features across releases) aligns with the QB platform vision.
• Product Strategy:
  • Assess current product and platform, identify key components and feature groups that needs to be available for satisfying vision of the data lake & platform, framework & utilities (data platform components)
  • Analyze current technical landscape (Data Sciences, ML & AI) to incorporate AI features for data ingestion, data lake, platform common framework & utility components of the data platform.
  • Conceptualize short term, mid-term and future state of user journeys of the various persona using the data platform components of data lake and common framework & utilities.
  • Define and create a Metadata driven Business architecture of the data platform components (based on different types of Biomarker data and Platform use cases)
  • Identify build, buy and partnership opportunities as part of data platform product strategy (As applicable to the data lake and common framework components)
• Product Roadmaps:
  • Create data platform business architecture by decomposing product to components, subcomponents, feature groups, features and map the features to end user benefits
  • Perform and Lead data platform feature prioritization based on end user, internal and external stakeholder needs
  • Collaborate with engineering and QA groups for discovery workshops and to enable estimation of the data platform features
  • Publish and manage data platform roadmaps that meets the stakeholder requirements and schedule.
• Product Feature Requirements:
  • Create and maintain channels for data platform features intake process (ideas to features)
  • Manage product backlog and plan out the feature selection as part of release planning process
  • Enable Business analysts to detail the data platform features to user stories and low fidelity wireframes
  • Enable Product design team for data platform user research, user experience and to create high fidelity wireframes Product Releases:
  • Lead data platform Product grooming sessions with product development functional groups (Engg, Data sciences, QA)
  • Perform and lead product management efforts as part of Agile product development efforts (clarifications, follow-ups, feedback on development & QA)
  • Lead collaboration with Product QA to plan our test and validation release strategy specific to data platform
  • Plan and lead strategical and tactical workarounds (by working with development teams) in case of bottle necks, roadblocks during product development 
  • Lead collaboration with vendor teams in case of buy and partnership scenarios in building out components of the data platform
  • Lead collaboration with product operations team for all aspects of product release process for every major, minor and sub-minor releases.
• Post release:
  • Lead collaboration efforts with product support team to set up hyper-care team and process after every release
  • Lead collection and analysis of release feedback to incorporate the feedback as feature enhancements for future releases
  • Lead triage of defects and bugs, identify workarounds and collaborate with product support team
  • As necessary, plan out minor and sub-minor versions of product release with product operations team and other functional groups
• Product Usage:
  • Define and manage metrics framework for measuring data platform business goals, product implementation, end user satisfaction and delight (Business metrics, Implementation metrics, Usage metrics, adoption metrics)
  • Collaborate with finance and senior leadership team to measure and improve product financial goals (SaaS finance metrics)
  • Define, manage product management operational metrics to improve his/her product management function
• Product Stakeholder management
  • Conduct Periodic stakeholder meetings to provide update on product strategy and releases
  • Build strong relationship with data platform technical and QA lead to deliver product releases. 
  • Create and execute framework to collaborate with stakeholders across internal R&D team and collaboration across other functional groups such as sales/Marketing, Product support, finance. 
  • Build and execute framework to get product strategy inputs from external stakeholders
• Thought Leadership
  • Collaborate with Marketing & content team to publish articles for though leadership in Biomarker data platform
  • Conduct sessions (individually or through networks) on building next generation data platforms.
• Team Leadership 
  •  Build and lead a high-performing team of data platform Business analysts, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
  • Set clear objectives, provide coaching and mentorship, and evaluate team performance.

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's degree in a related field; MBA or advanced degree preferred. 
• Minimum of 10 years of relevant experience in product/service/project/program management or software development, delivering large scale software products or services.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in managing teams.
• 8 + years of experience in building data platforms with deep experience in data warehousing principles
• Strong experience in solutioning and creating business & data architecture for data ingestion, data quality, data transformation and data provisioning.
• Experience in product management of building SaaS Platforms
• Experienced in creating product strategy & roadmaps
• Proven track record of working with technical teams and QA teams in building SaaS Product.
• Excellent leadership and team-building skills, with a track record of managing and developing high-performing Business analyst teams.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, able to convey complex Business technical strategies to both Business and technical stakeholders.
• Analytical mindset with the ability to use data-driven insights to inform decisions.
• Strong problem-solving abilities and the ability to make critical decisions in high-pressure situations.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in Clinical & Biomarker data ingestion, data quality & data transformation
• Experience in AI driven data platforms and solutions.
• Experience in Metadata driven data-warehousing architectures.

Leadership expectations: 

• Provide guidance and support to their team members, helping them to develop their skills, achieve their goals, and grow professionally.
• Ability to understand and appreciate the needs and perspectives of their team members, creating a positive and inclusive work environment.
• Build strong relationships with their team members, stakeholders, and other leaders in the organization, fostering collaboration and teamwork.
• Inspire and motivate their team members, encouraging them to perform at their best and achieve their full potential.
• Effectively manage the performance of their team members, providing feedback, setting expectations, and holding individuals accountable for their results.
• Effectively manage conflicts that arise within their team or with other teams, working to find solutions that meet everyone's needs.
• Delegate tasks and responsibilities to their team members, empowering them to take on more challenging work and develop their skills.
• Recognize and reward the contributions of their team members, creating a positive and supportive culture that values and celebrates success.
• Navigate cultural differences and work effectively with team members from diverse backgrounds, promoting inclusion and diversity within their team. 
• Collaborate effectively with other leaders in the organization, working together to achieve shared goals and drive business success

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