Senior Digital Program Manager

Work Schedule

Standard (Mon-Fri)

Environmental Conditions

Office

Job Description

COMPANY INFORMATION

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with annual revenue exceeding $45 billion. Our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer.

Whether our customers are accelerating life sciences research, solving sophisticated analytical challenges, improving patient diagnostics and therapies or growing efficiency in their laboratories, we are here to support them.

Our distributed team of more than 130,000 colleagues delivers an outstanding combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and pharmaceutical services through our industry-leading brands, including Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Unity Lab Services and Patheon. Thermo Fisher Scientific is an equal opportunity employer. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com.

GROUP/DIVISION SUMMARY

The Drug Product Division (DPD), a business within the Pharma Services Group, operates as a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) for large & specialty pharma and biotech companies. The business offers development services & commercial production of drugs, improving the life of millions of patients every day.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Senior Digital Program/Project Manager (PPI & Digital) is accountable for end-to-end delivery of prioritized digital initiatives (site and cross-site as assigned) that improve throughput, quality, compliance effectiveness, and cost through the DPD Practical Process Improvement (PPI) system and scalable digital solutions.

The role translates operational problems into executable project charters and leads cross-functional teams from discovery through deployment, ensuring solutions are implemented in standard work with sustained adoption and measurable performance impact.

Owns execution, integrated timeline, approved funding envelope, risk management/dependency management, and change management for assigned initiatives, ensuring each use case is delivered safely and in compliance with GxP/CSV, data integrity, cybersecurity, privacy and EHS requirements, with Finance-validated benefits aligned to the sites AOP and the divisional PPI & Digital roadmap.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Digital Project Delivery

• Manage the full lifecycle of assigned digital programs or projects (site and cross-site as assigned), from charter through hypercare and benefit verification.
• Translate business unit, region or sites needs into clear project charters (problem statement, scope, constraints, value hypothesis), milestones, resource plans and success criteria, using PPI/Lean methods and standard divisional templates.
• Build and maintain integrated project plans, risk management log and status reporting; proactively manage risks, issues and dependencies; escalate with clear mitigation options and decision asks to the site PPI Leads and relevant sponsors.
• Coordinate site, divisional and group stakeholders and, where required, external partners to ensure on-time, on-budget, in-full delivery with audit-ready documentation.

2. Business Unit or Region (cross-site) Digital Roadmap & Portfolio Management

• Support the Region/Business Unit leadership team and the assigned Global PPI Director in maintaining a prioritized, value-based digital use case pipeline aligned with strategy, PPI savings targets, and the divisional roadmap/standards.
• Contribute to annual and multi-year digital plans (sequencing, resourcing, validation capacity, key milestones) to enable realistic commitments and execution readiness.
• Provide regular insight on capacity, constraints and dependencies (systems, data readiness, validation resources, change impacts) across projects to support decision-making and trade-offs.

3. Business Case and Benefits Realization

• Co-develop robust business cases for digital initiatives with process owners, PPI Leads and Finance (assumptions, value drivers, measurement method, benefit owners).
• Track impact bottom-up and align to the Region/Business Unit PPI savings plan; establish a monthly benefits cadence from baseline through run-rate.
• Define and monitor KPIs for each use case and ensure benefits are documented and validated/signed off by Finance and the accountable owners at agreed milestones.
• Provide accurate, timely input to divisional digital/PPI dashboards and governance reviews; ensure a single source of truth for KPI definitions and reporting.

4. Stakeholder Engagement, User Experience and Change Management

• Act as the primary day-to-day delivery lead at business unit or region for assigned digital cross-site digital initiatives, partnering with the PPI Leads, leadership team, functional managers and process owners.
• Lead change management: stakeholder mapping, communication plan, training plan, role impacts and adoption KPIs (e.g., active users, usage frequency, compliance to new ways of working).
• Ensure SOP/Work Instruction updates, training completion and readiness checks are in place before go-live; treat adoption as a formal delivery milestone.
• Apply test-and-learn and pilot approaches with end users to validate concepts, refine user experience and de-risk scale-up before full deployment.
• Facilitate workshops, Kaizens and design sessions to map current state, define future state, capture requirements (URS/FRS where applicable) and agree implementation roadmaps.
• Ensure solutions are embedded into standard work, tier meetings and visual management, with clear post-go-live ownership and sustainment routines to avoid one-off pilots.

5. Governance, Standards, Data & Compliance

• Apply the DPD PPI & Digital governance model and standards (including stage gates and release readiness) ensuring alignment with divisional roadmaps, IT/OT architecture, cybersecurity and data standards.
• Use agreed PPI templates and methods, use case definitions, project documentation standards, validation/CSV and deployment checklists as applicable.
• Partner with IT, OT and Data & Analytics to ensure data readiness and quality (definitions, lineage, integrity controls) for the solutions delivered.
• Define KPI and data definitions with owners and implement basic data quality checks to ensure a single source of truth for performance reporting.
• Ensure initiatives comply with GxP, CSV/validation, data integrity, cybersecurity, privacy and EHS requirements; coordinate required validation activities and approvals in line with site and divisional procedures.

6. Innovation, Technology Scouting and External Partners

• Monitor relevant Industry 4.0 trends and recommend opportunities that improve sites performance, reduce risk or simplify work, aligned with divisional standards.
• Support evaluation of solutions and vendors using structured criteria (value, scalability, integration fit, compliance/validation effort, cybersecurity, support model) and coordinate site-level interactions aligned with central functions.
• Where relevant, provide input on eligibility for internal/public funding programs (e.g., grants, incentives) supporting digital/Industry 4.0 investments.

7. Capability Building, Digital Culture and Continuous Improvement at Region or Business Unit

• Support training of business unit or regional personnel on new digital tools and associated work processes, focusing on practical day-to-day usage and sustainment.
• Help build a digital and data-driven mindset by enabling local communities of practice and digital champions within departments.
• Coach local SMEs and PPI practitioners on digital delivery routines (project cadence, benefit tracking, problem solving) to scale capabilities.
• Capture and share lessons learned and best practices across sites and with divisional PPI & Digital teams; propose improvements to templates, routines and governance based on implementation experience.

QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Life Sciences, Business, or related field; Master’s degree is an asset.
• 8+ years of experience in project management, continuous improvement, or operations/digital roles in manufacturing
• Pharma/biotech, CDMO or other highly regulated environments is a plus; exposure to GxP digital delivery and Computer System Validation (CSV) is preferred.
• Experience delivering or supporting digital, automation, data/analytics or MES/quality-related projects on the shop floor, in labs or quality functions.
• Experience with continuous improvement / Lean / Six Sigma / PPI; Green Belt or equivalent certification preferred.

Technical & Functional Skills

• This role requires the ability to effectively partner with cross-functional digital delivery teams (product owners, full-stack developers, data engineers, data scientists/analysts, OT/automation engineers, solution architects, cybersecurity and validation/quality) to translate business needs into scalable, compliant solutions.
• Working knowledge of relevant systems and technologies such as AI, MES/EBR, LIMS/LES, DMS, historians, SCADA/PLC, data platforms and BI/analytics tools.
• Understanding of pharmaceutical ore regulated / GMP manufacturing and quality processes
• Exposure to other industries with advanced digital maturity (e.g., automotive, aerospace, semiconductors, advanced manufacturing) is a plus
• Solid project management skills (scope definition, integrated planning, stakeholder management, risk and dependency management); familiarity with Agile or hybrid delivery approaches (e.g. sprints, backlogs, incremental releases) is a plus.

Validation-aware delivery experience (e.g., URS/FRS, test evidence, change control, release readiness) in regulated environments is preferred.

• Ability to build and interpret basic financial business cases
• Good understanding of data and analytics concepts (KPIs, basic statistics, dashboards, visualization; ability to work with Data & Analytics teams on requirement definition).

Certifications (Preferred)

• Formal project management certification (e.g. PMP, PRINCE2, etc) preferred.
• Agile certification preferred (Scrum Master)
• Lean / Six Sigma Green Belt or equivalent.
• Change Management certification preferred (e.g. PROSCI or equivalent)

Behavioral Competencies

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, able to interact effectively with operators, supervisors, functional managers and site leadership, and to translate technical topics into clear business language.
• Structured, analytical and results-oriented, with the ability to break down complex problems into clear, manageable actions and drive them to completion.
• High learning agility and curiosity toward new technologies, data and ways of working; comfortable with “test & learn” and iterative improvement.
• Proven ability to work collaboratively in a matrix and cross-functional environment, balancing operational priorities and project timelines.
• Strong commitment to safety, quality, compliance and the company’s values and leadership behaviors.