Principal IT Program Manager - R&D

Who We Are:
Neurocrine Biosciences is a leading biopharmaceutical company with a simple purpose: to relieve suffering for people with great needs. We are dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing life-changing treatments for patients with under-addressed neurological, psychiatric, endocrine and immunological disorders. The company's diverse portfolio includes FDA-approved treatments for tardive dyskinesia, chorea associated with Huntington's disease, classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia, hyperphagia in Prader-Willi syndrome, endometriosis* and uterine fibroids*, as well as a robust pipeline including multiple compounds in mid- to late-phase clinical development across our core therapeutic areas. For more than three decades, we have applied our unique insight into neuroscience and the interconnections between brain and body systems to treat complex conditions. We relentlessly pursue medicines to ease the burden of debilitating diseases and disorders, because you deserve brave science. For more information, visit neurocrine.com, and follow the company on LinkedIn, X, Facebook and YouTube. (*in collaboration with AbbVie)
About the Role:The Principal IT Program Manager - R&D is accountable for the successful delivery of multiple complex, cross-functional IT programs and initiatives supporting R&D technology solutions, data platforms, and products that enable Neurocrine’s R&D strategy and our ability to reach patients with few treatment options. Serving as the critical bridge between IT teams and R&D business stakeholders, this role ensures initiatives are planned, governed, and delivered with discipline, transparency, and measurable value.
Operating with a high degree of autonomy, this individual leads multiple concurrent programs of moderate-to-high complexity while providing IT product ownership, program and project management, and agile leadership across multiple teams. The role combines technical program management with product delivery planning and execution in alignment with established R&D and IT priorities, including collaborating with stakeholders to define platform features, managing feature backlogs, coordinating dependencies across developers, external vendors, and distributed product owners and project managers, and facilitating the agile ceremonies to support timely delivery of R&D data solutions.
As a developing subject matter expert in IT program management and R&D technology delivery, the Principal IT Program Manager - R&D influences decision-making, contributes to and implements best practices, and serves as a key resource to R&D and IT stakeholders. The role requires exceptional communication and organizational skills and the ability to navigate diverse perspectives and personalities while maintaining focus on urgent deliverables, so that R&D data platforms continue to evolve to meet business needs.
Reporting Structure: Reports to the Manager, IT Program Management, with dotted-line support to the Informatics & Business Insights team and the IT R&D Business Partner.
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Your Contributions (include, but are not limited to):
Program Leadership & Delivery
Lead multiple concurrent R&D IT programs, data platforms, and products of moderate-to-high complexity with cross-functional scope and impact across R&D and related IT functions
Own end-to-end program delivery, ensuring alignment to R&D business objectives, timelines, scope, and quality expectations
Develop and manage integrated program plans and roadmaps (e.g., Gantt charts), including milestones, dependencies, and deliverables
Strategic Alignment & R&D Stakeholder Partnership
Partner with R&D business stakeholders, the IT R&D Business Partner, and IT leaders to develop program delivery plans, roadmaps, and success metrics aligned with established business priorities and ensure successful execution
Translate technical concepts into business impact, risks, and decision-ready insights for R&D and IT leadership
Drive alignment across diverse perspectives, personalities, and competing priorities to ensure clarity of priorities and outcomes, including urgent deliverables
Product Ownership & Platform Feature Definition
Provide IT product ownership for R&D data platforms and products, supporting established product vision and objectives and managing feature backlogs and prioritization in collaboration with business and technical stakeholders
Drive clear definition of platform features; elicit R&D user requirements and translate them into functional specifications for Engineering
Identify and communicate product feature dependencies across developers and stakeholders
Agile Leadership & Execution Excellence
Facilitate agile ceremonies for IT teams, including backlog grooming, sprint planning, kickoff, and product showcases
Coordinate and respond to fast-moving clarifications and changes across developers, external vendors, and distributed product owners or other project managers
Select, apply and recommend improvements to delivery methodologies (Agile, hybrid, or waterfall) to support program outcomes
Collect and review customer feedback, and partner with delivery teams to identify and implement improvements to processes and data products to enhance efficiency, scalability, and delivery performance
Cross-Functional Coordination
Coordinate activities across engineering, architecture, data, informatics and business insights, operations, cybersecurity, and R&D business teams
Manage interdependencies across programs, R&D scientific systems and platforms (e.g., Benchling, Core LIMS), and vendors
Influence and align stakeholders in a highly matrixed environment without direct authority
Governance, Risk & Compliance
Implement and maintain program-level governance practices, including status reporting, executive updates, and communication cadence
Identify, assess, and mitigate risks across technical, operational, and regulatory domains
Ensure adherence to applicable compliance, validation, and security requirements
Communication, Reporting & Portfolio Management
Provide clear, concise communication to technical and non-technical stakeholders, including R&D scientists and executive leadership
Deliver structured reporting on program status, risks, issues, and value realization, and facilitate decision-making through data-driven insights and effective storytelling
Coordinate program and product updates in the Atlassian product suite (Jira Product Discovery, Jira, Confluence)
Coordinate updates to the IT Project Portfolio within ServiceNow
Vendor, Financial & Resource Management
Coordinate with external vendors and partners to ensure accountability and performance
Support budget tracking, forecasting, and resource planning
Monitor program execution against approved budgets, resource plans, and expected business outcomes, escalating variances and recommending corrective actions as needed
Requirements:
Equivalent combination of relevant education, training and experience (10+ years) consisting of IT program or project management experience, with the most recent experience delivering data platforms, scientific/R&D applications, or enterprise systems using Agile, hybrid, or waterfall methodologies. Experience supporting validated applications for regulatory purposes in a biotech/pharmaceutical company strongly required
BS/BA degree in computer science, IT, or similar field AND 6+ years of IT experience working in a pharmaceutical or biotech company with exposure to FDA regulations. Experience should include IT program or proje