Data Product Owner – Research and Transversal Core Data Products - Job Opportunity at Sanofi

Toronto, Canada
Full-time
Senior
Posted: June 6, 2025
Hybrid
CAD 125,300.00–180,966.66 per year

Benefits

Comprehensive extended health care coverage providing financial security beyond basic provincial healthcare
High-quality healthcare programs ensuring access to premium medical services
Prevention and wellness programs promoting proactive health management and work-life balance
Thoughtful rewards package designed to recognize contributions and amplify professional impact
Wide range of health and wellbeing benefits supporting both employee and family needs

Key Responsibilities

Lead strategic development and evolution of data products supporting bioinformatics and AI/ML workflows, directly impacting Sanofi's digital transformation and scientific innovation capabilities
Own comprehensive data product roadmap with clear strategic alignment to company objectives, driving measurable business value and competitive advantage in pharmaceutical research
Bridge critical communication gaps between scientific teams and product development, serving as master coordinator and translator to ensure optimal business outcomes
Drive requirements gathering and prioritization across diverse stakeholder groups, defining strategic "What" and "Why" of product development to maximize research impact
Collaborate with senior leadership and cross-functional teams to ensure product strategy alignment with industry standards and robust business case development
Oversee agile product development processes from conception to delivery, ensuring smooth execution and continuous iteration of high-impact scientific data products
Manage comprehensive risk mitigation and issue resolution throughout product delivery lifecycle, providing regular strategic updates to executive forums
Partner with Scrum Masters and delivery teams to optimize sprint execution, resolve ambiguities, and maintain development momentum
Ensure data products adhere to DataOps principles and architectural standards, maintaining scalability and operational excellence
Track post-launch product performance and impact, driving continuous improvement through systematic feedback collection and analysis
Monitor user satisfaction, adoption metrics, and scientific outcomes to ensure products evolve strategically to meet researcher needs and business goals
Provide technical leadership with deep understanding of scientific source systems, inspiring data engineering teams through clear vision articulation

Requirements

Education

Master's degree in computer science, bioinformatics, data science, or a related scientific field. Ph.D. or equivalent experience in relevant scientific domains is a plus

Experience

5+ years in product management, preferably with experience in bioinformatics and/or life sciences

Required Skills

Experience leading data product development in scientific environments, particularly in areas like NGS, proteomics, genomics, or bioinformatics Familiarity with cloud environments such as AWS and Snowflake to build and deploy data products Strong understanding of scientific source systems (e.g. Benchling, GeneData, iLab, etc.) Strong drive and ability to articulate data product vision and align teams around shared goals Excellent communication, presentation, and collaboration skills, particularly with scientists, engineers, and executive stakeholders Proven ability to make strategic decisions, overcome roadblocks, and deliver results in a fast-paced, complex environment Leadership skills to inspire and guide both technical and non-technical teams toward successful product delivery Solid knowledge of Agile methodologies, including experience working in Scrum teams Familiarity with product management tools and frameworks, such as Jira, Confluence, Miro, and related Strong understanding of data operations (DataOps), data warehousing, and data engineering principles including ETL, Snowflake, DBT, SQL, Python, and Airflow Experience with cloud platforms and data pipelines is required Understanding of concepts in reference data and ontological/semantic data management, including use of CENtree and related ontology management platforms
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Sauge AI Market Intelligence

Industry Trends

The pharmaceutical industry is experiencing unprecedented digital transformation acceleration, with companies investing heavily in AI-first strategies to reduce drug discovery timelines from decades to years. This shift is creating massive demand for professionals who can bridge scientific research and data product development, particularly in areas where traditional pharmaceutical workflows meet cutting-edge AI and machine learning applications. Bioinformatics and computational biology are becoming central to pharmaceutical R&D operations, with next-generation sequencing, proteomics, and digital pathology generating exponential data volumes. Organizations are restructuring their data architectures to support real-time analytics and AI-driven insights, creating new roles that combine scientific domain expertise with product management and data engineering capabilities. The adoption of cloud-native data platforms and DataOps methodologies in life sciences is accelerating rapidly, driven by regulatory acceptance of cloud computing and the need for scalable, compliant data processing capabilities. Companies are moving away from siloed data systems toward integrated platforms that support cross-functional collaboration and advanced analytics workflows.

Salary Evaluation

The salary range of CAD 125,300-180,966 is competitive for the Toronto market and reflects the specialized nature of this role combining pharmaceutical domain expertise with advanced data product management. This range aligns with senior product management positions in the life sciences sector, considering Toronto's status as a major pharmaceutical hub and the high demand for professionals with bioinformatics and AI/ML product experience.

Role Significance

This role typically oversees cross-functional teams of 8-15 professionals including data engineers, scientists, and technical specialists. The position involves managing matrix relationships with multiple scrum teams while coordinating with senior leadership and executive stakeholders across R&D, technology, and operations departments.
This is a senior-level strategic role with significant organizational impact, positioned to influence Sanofi's digital transformation roadmap and R&D capabilities. The role combines individual contributor expertise with leadership responsibilities, requiring the ability to drive strategic initiatives while managing complex stakeholder relationships across scientific and technical teams.

Key Projects

Development of integrated data platforms supporting multi-omics research workflows, enabling scientists to access and analyze complex datasets from genomics, proteomics, and digital pathology sources through unified interfaces Implementation of AI-powered drug discovery pipelines that accelerate target identification and validation processes, reducing time-to-market for new therapeutic compounds Creation of real-time analytics dashboards and reporting systems that provide executive visibility into R&D performance metrics and research progress across global operations

Success Factors

Deep technical understanding combined with strong business acumen enables effective translation between scientific requirements and technical implementation, ensuring data products deliver measurable value to research outcomes while aligning with strategic business objectives. Exceptional stakeholder management and communication skills are crucial for navigating complex organizational dynamics, building consensus among diverse technical and scientific teams, and maintaining executive support for long-term digital transformation initiatives. Strategic thinking and product vision capabilities allow for effective roadmap development that balances immediate research needs with long-term scalability requirements, positioning the organization for future growth and innovation in pharmaceutical R&D. Agile leadership and adaptability enable successful management of rapidly evolving technical requirements and changing business priorities in the dynamic pharmaceutical research environment.

Market Demand

Extremely high demand exists for this specialized role combination, as pharmaceutical companies globally are struggling to find professionals who possess both deep scientific domain knowledge and modern data product management expertise. The intersection of bioinformatics, AI/ML, and product ownership represents a critical skills shortage in the market.

Important Skills

Critical Skills

Bioinformatics and life sciences domain expertise is absolutely essential for success in this role, as it enables effective communication with research scientists and ensures data products meet the complex requirements of pharmaceutical R&D workflows. Without this foundation, it would be impossible to translate scientific needs into technical specifications or evaluate the scientific validity of proposed solutions. Product management experience specifically in data-intensive environments is crucial for managing the complexity of multi-stakeholder requirements, competing priorities, and technical constraints that characterize pharmaceutical data product development. This skill set enables effective roadmap development, resource allocation, and delivery management in highly regulated environments. Technical proficiency in cloud platforms, data engineering tools, and DataOps methodologies is critical for understanding architectural constraints, evaluating technical feasibility, and communicating effectively with engineering teams. This knowledge ensures realistic product planning and enables informed decision-making about technical trade-offs and implementation approaches.

Beneficial Skills

Experience with regulatory compliance and validation processes in pharmaceutical environments would provide significant value, as it enables more effective planning for data governance requirements and ensures products meet industry standards for data integrity and auditability. Advanced knowledge of AI/ML algorithms and their applications in drug discovery would enhance the ability to identify innovative product opportunities and evaluate the potential impact of new technologies on research workflows and outcomes. International pharmaceutical market experience would provide valuable context for understanding global regulatory requirements, cultural considerations, and market dynamics that influence product development priorities and go-to-market strategies.

Unique Aspects

This role uniquely combines deep pharmaceutical domain expertise with cutting-edge AI and data product development, positioning the successful candidate at the forefront of industry transformation and innovation in drug discovery and development processes.
The position offers direct involvement in Sanofi's enterprise-wide digital transformation initiative, providing unprecedented visibility into strategic decision-making and the opportunity to influence how one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies approaches data-driven research and development.
The role bridges multiple high-growth technical domains including bioinformatics, AI/ML, cloud computing, and DataOps, offering exceptional learning opportunities and career development potential in some of the most in-demand skill areas in the technology sector.
Working with Sanofi's global R&D organization provides exposure to international markets, regulatory environments, and diverse therapeutic areas, creating a comprehensive understanding of pharmaceutical operations that extends far beyond typical product management roles.

Career Growth

Career progression to executive roles typically occurs within 3-5 years for high-performing individuals in this type of strategic position, particularly given the rapid growth and investment in pharmaceutical digital transformation initiatives.

Potential Next Roles

Senior Director of Data and AI Products, overseeing multiple product portfolios and strategic data initiatives across the entire R&D organization Head of Digital Transformation for R&D, leading enterprise-wide technology adoption and change management initiatives Chief Data Officer or VP of Data Strategy, responsible for organization-wide data governance, strategy, and value creation General Manager of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, combining technical leadership with business unit management responsibilities

Company Overview

Sanofi

Sanofi is a multinational pharmaceutical corporation ranked among the world's largest pharmaceutical companies by revenue, with a strong focus on research and development across multiple therapeutic areas including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and vaccines. The company has been investing heavily in digital transformation and AI-driven drug discovery, positioning itself as a leader in next-generation pharmaceutical development.

Sanofi maintains a strong global market position as one of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies worldwide, with significant market share in key therapeutic areas and a robust pipeline of innovative treatments. The company's commitment to digital transformation and AI-first strategies demonstrates its forward-thinking approach to maintaining competitive advantage in an evolving industry landscape.
Toronto represents a significant strategic hub for Sanofi's North American operations, benefiting from Canada's strong life sciences ecosystem, government support for pharmaceutical innovation, and access to world-class research institutions. The location provides access to top-tier talent in bioinformatics and data science while offering favorable regulatory and business environments.
Sanofi's culture emphasizes scientific excellence, innovation, and collaborative problem-solving, with a strong focus on improving patient outcomes through cutting-edge research. The company's digital transformation initiative has created an environment that values technological innovation, cross-functional collaboration, and agile methodologies, making it attractive to professionals seeking to work at the intersection of science and technology.
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