Director, Ignite - Product Owner - Core Modernization

AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company. We follow the science to deliver lifechanging medicines and build an inclusive culture that empowers diverse perspectives, collaboration, and continuous learning.  

About the Team: 

Ignite’s Decom Factory Platform operates the integrated Application Decommissioning & Archival service across AZ’s IT estate. The platform partners with Enterprise Technology Services (ETS), Enterprise Archival Services (EAS), CMDB Governance, Procurement, Risk/Compliance, and Business Owners to accelerate safe retirement of legacy applications, ensure compliant data preservation, and realize measurable savings.  

About the Role:  

The Product Owner (Director) leads the strategy, delivery, and ongoing improvement of the enterprise Decom Factory Platform. You will define the operating model and governance, and set SLAs and quality standards. You will lead a cross geography team to improve turnaround times, ensure adherence (GRAD/legal hold), and realize value. Your customers include Business Application Owners, Platform/Infra teams, Compliance/Records Management, and Finance/Procurement. For Business Owners, this service removes ambiguity and delays, provides a guided path to closure, and ensures their data obligations are met. For ETS/EAS, it clarifies handoffs and increases throughput. For Compliance and Finance, it strengthens control evidence and makes savings visible.  

Key Responsibilities  

• Product Strategy and Roadmap  

• Define vision, objectives, and OKRs for the integrated decommissioning + archival service, prioritized by compliance risk, cost to serve savings, and technical debt reduction.  

• Build and maintain a quarterly roadmap: single intake (NextGen) enhancements, ServiceNow workflow automation, Snowflake ingest patterns/QA standards, and reporting/value realization improvements.  

• Translate strategy into epics/features; prioritize backlog based on customer value, risk reduction, and expected return on investment.  

• Operating Model, SLAs, and User Journey  

• Establish end to end operating model across intake validation, change preparation/approval (CAG), infrastructure ticketing, archival planning/ingest/UAT, CMDB updates, and value confirmation.  

• Set and maintain SLAs, WIP limits, and paths for critical issues; plan capacity for concurrent application / parallel execution.  

• Define a clear user journey with standard communication touchpoints (orientation, CR submission, soft delete confirmation, archival plan approval, UAT, prod ingest, CMDB update, closure) and templated status updates.  

• Configuration Governance (Policy Ownership)  

• Own service configuration/data governance policies: CMDB data quality standards, CI reconciliation rules, “Non-Operational” status criteria, approval thresholds, and audit evidence requirements.  

• Sponsor single source of truth adoption (registry/CMDB alignment) and targeted cleanup/audits.  

• Stakeholder Engagement and Change Leadership  

• Engage senior leaders across Ignite, R&D IT, Commercial IT, ETS, EAS, Procurement, and Compliance to align priorities, remove blockers, and communicate outcomes.  

• Chair governance reviews on throughput, SLA adherence, compliance findings, CMDB quality, and savings realization.  

• Drive change management for the single intake and onerepository strategies; publish guidance and playbooks for customers and partners.  

• Delivery Oversight and Continuous Improvement  

• Act as executive Product Owner for the platform backlog (ServiceNow flows, Snowflake templates, metadata/QA libraries, reporting).  

• Partner with the Scrum Master/Orchestrator to run cadence, lead risk/issues, and deliver sprint outcomes; drive root cause analysis and improvement experiments.  

• Ensure standardized runbooks/checklists and training (including GRAD awareness) are published and kept current.  

• Value Capture, Product Outcomes, and Reporting  

• Define product outcomes and success metrics, including:  

• Cycle time per stage (intake → CR → soft delete → archival plan → UAT → prod ingest → CMDB → closure)  

• Customer satisfaction for Business Owners and partner teams (ETS/EAS)  

• Savings realization lead time and cumulative savings validated with Finance/Procurement  

• Own the value realization framework: baselines, savings hypotheses, milestone tracking, and auditready confirmation at closure.  

• Publish monthly/quarterly executive dashboards and narrative: progress vs. OKRs, outcome metrics, risks, and nextstep improvements.  

• Compliance and Risk Management  

• Embed GRAD/legal hold requirements into process artifacts and approval gates; ensure CAG alignment and audit ready traceability for decommissioned assets and archived data.  

• Sponsor CMDB data quality improvements and periodic audits aligned to “single source of truth.”  

• Optional (AgentEnabled Evolution)  

• If agentic capabilities are pursued, own the “agent product” strategy and controls (humanintheloop, logging/provenance, draft acceptance important metrics); ensure compliance and risk posture remain intact while improving cycle time and documentation.  

Required Qualifications and Experience  

• Leadership: 8–12 years of progressive responsibility with 3–5 years leading cross functional product/service teams in IT operations, platform services, or lifecycle management; proven people leadership across geographies in matrix organizations.  

• Product/Service Ownership: Demonstrated ability to define strategy, OKRs, backlogs, and deliver measurable product outcomes (cycletime reduction, compliance adherence, customer value, and financial savings).  

• Governance & Compliance: Experience setting and enforcing configuration/data governance (CMDB data quality, change approvals, evidence standards); familiarity with records retention/legal hold frameworks (e.g., GRAD).  

• Tooling & Platforms: Solid understanding of ServiceNow (Change/Catalog/Flows, CMDB), data platforms (Snowflake ingest/QA concepts), and value reporting (Excel; Power BI desirable).  

• Financial Acumen: Ability to frame savings hypotheses, partner with Finance/Procurement, and confirm realized savings with audit ready documentation.  

• Stakeholder Management: Strong executive presence; ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive cross organization alignment and change.  

Desirable  

• Pharma/regulated IT experience and enterprise archival patterns (SDR Gold on Snowflake; eDiscovery Vault/SDR Bronze).  

• Experience leading decommissioning or modernization programs at scale (app retirement, infra ticket orchestration, CMDB cleanup).  

• Expertise in workflow automation backlogs (ServiceNow Flow Designer) and reusable ingestion templates/patterns on Snowflake.  

• Exposure to agent assisted operating models and human in the loop controls.  

Skills and Attributes  

• Outcome driven leadership; meticulous, data informed decision making.  

• Structured problem solving; prioritization under constraints; risk based approach.  

• Excellent communication—clear executive narratives and precise operational guidance.  

• Customer empathy and service attitude; balances speed, compliance, and cost.  

Location and Working Model  

• Location: Gaithersburg, Maryland.  

• Working Model: Hybrid-three days per week in office, two days remote. Occasional travel for key meetings, plant/partner engagements, conferences, or incident support may be required.  

WHY JOIN US ?  

We’re a network of high-reaching self-starters who contribute to something far bigger. We enable AstraZeneca to perform at its peak by delivering premier technology and data solutions.  

We’re not afraid to take ownership and run with it. Empowered with unrivalled freedom. Put simply, it’s because we make a significant impact. Everything we do matters.  

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to encourage life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. That's why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn't mean we're not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and ambitious world.  

The annual base pay for this position ranges from $152.353,60- $228.530,40 USD Annual. Hourly and salaried non-exempt employees will also be paid overtime pay when working qualifying overtime hours. Base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. In addition, our positions offer a short-term incentive bonus opportunity; eligibility to participate in our equity-based long-term incentive program (salaried roles), to receive a retirement contribution (hourly roles), and commission payment eligibility (sales roles). Benefits offered included a qualified retirement program [401(k) plan]; paid vacation and holidays; paid leaves; and, health benefits including medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans. Additional details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. If hired, employee will be in an “at-will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base pay (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.  

SO, WHAT’S NEXT?  

Are you already envisioning yourself joining our team? Good, because we’d love to hear from you! Click the link to apply, and we’ll be in touch as soon as we can. 

WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE?  

Our Social Media, Follow AstraZeneca on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/1603/