Senior Manager, Technical Product Ownership

If you want to make a difference at the center of health, come join our innovative company and help us improve the lives of people and animals everywhere. Under the direction of the IT Group Product Owner, the IT Product Lead – CRM serves as the technical lead and product owner for the CRM and client portal products supporting core Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) operations. This role is accountable for the end-to-end technology delivery of solutions built on Salesforce Service Cloud and Experience Cloud, including API integrations with other enterprise cloud platforms. In partnership with the Business Product Owner for CRM, the IT Product Lead ensures that products are delivered in alignment with business priorities, customer requirements, technical roadmaps, security standards, and service-level commitments. The IT Product Lead – CRM requires hands-on technical leadership — guiding architecture decisions, backlog prioritization, and engineering best practices — while collaborating with IT and business stakeholders to drive continuous improvement, value realization, and long-term product strategy. This role will establish product plans, technical roadmaps, work with technical architects to ensure a forward-looking design strategy within the Salesforce ecosystem, and collaborate with business and IT leaders on long-term strategies to maintain and enhance the product(s). The IT Product Lead – CRM is expected to demonstrate general knowledge and capabilities in all areas of the operating model and application lifecycle management. This role will provide coaching and guidance to a cross-functional team and must have a strong understanding of product design, product ownership, continuous delivery, lean practices, agile practices and execution, operations, and development/engineering. This role supports highly complex GPO business processes — including contract management, member relationships, and client portal operations — that require cross-team support outside of the immediate product team and will require managing and leveraging resources from architecture, release/change management, infrastructure, network, and other systems in support of the product. Strategy / Planning Plans for future changes to the CRM and client portal products to meet GPO customer and business priorities Works collaboratively with other product owners, customer relationship managers, and capacity planners to forecast demand for Salesforce-based solutions Partners with IT and business leaders to identify and prioritize initiatives based on GPO business needs and timetables Maintains liaison relationships with GPO business partners and IT partners to provide effective technical solutions within the Salesforce ecosystem Drives continuous improvement in all areas impacting the CRM and portal products, including Salesforce platform optimization and API integration reliability Develops business-focused concepts, including risk assessments, cost-benefit analyses, strategic initiatives, and task/defect fix prioritization Aligns with IT strategy and architecture teams to define and maintain the long‑term Salesforce product strategy roadmap, including Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, and integration architecture Develops and maintains product roadmaps that incorporate new features, technical debt reduction, and product end‑of‑life or retirement planning Works with Release Management and other product owners to ensure that products are reflected in business plans In conjunction with the Business Product Owner, develops customer communications strategy that facilitates and promotes awareness of significant events for the product(s) Benchmarks and manages IT metrics established for the product team Serves as the technical lead for the CRM product team, providing hands‑on guidance on Salesforce architecture, design patterns, and engineering best practices Programmatic development decisions within the Salesforce platform Oversees the design, development, and reliability of API integrations between Salesforce and other enterprise cloud platforms, ensuring data integrity and scalability Owns the technical delivery of the GPO client portal (built on Salesforce Experience Cloud), ensuring it meets client expectations for usability, performance, and reliability Conducts or facilitates code reviews, architecture reviews, and design discussions to maintain quality standards Provides sprint‑level technical decision‑making and removes technical blockers for the development team Partners with Salesforce architects and enterprise architects to evaluate platform capabilities, governor limits, and scalability considerations Ensures Salesforce platform governance standards are followed, including release management, environment strategy, and data governance Product Definition / Risk Management Works with the Business Product Owner to prioritize continuous improvement, technical debt paydown, and defect resolution within the Salesforce environment Develops business-focused concepts including risk management, cost-benefit analysis, strategic initiatives, innovative solutions, and success measurements Oversees the development of metrics aligned to and supporting the established business Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for the CRM and portal products Oversees the development of and negotiates Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) and Operational Level Agreements (OLAs) in support of the products Assesses and evaluates risk as part of the lifecycle analysis of the product — including Salesforce platform risk, integration risk, and data risk — and communicates risk to appropriate IT and business leadership with clarity and recommended mitigation plans Defines and directs interaction with governance, audit, and quality teams Working with financial analysts, analyzes the costs associated with delivering the CRM and portal products, including Salesforce licensing, and identifies opportunities for cost optimization Working with financial analysts, defines cost allocation, cost recovery, and pricing plans within the overall context of the IT chargeback or pricing model Ensures cost effectiveness of products and Salesforce platform utilization Identifies and/or approves needs for procurement of new assets — including Salesforce licenses, AppExchange products, and third‑party integration tools — to better deliver product capability Identifies assets that are or will become obsolete and in need of retiring Documents improvement plans based on current asset deployment and the need to replace or retire older or non‑performing assets Product Performance and Support Defines product attributes such as performance, availability, security, and scalability — with specific attention to Salesforce platform limits and API integration health Ensures that performance meets the requirements of KPIs, SLAs, and OLAs Develops and maintains performance dashboards and scorecards to quantify and measure outcomes and to identify persistent problems across the CRM and portal products Regularly reviews the product to ensure value realization is in line with GPO business strategy and IT strategy Serves as the first point of contact in communications regarding high‑severity issues for the CRM and portal products; coordinates recovery and resolution, and ensures root‑cause analysis is provided to the business Vendor Management In coordination with the VMO, manages and reviews vendor contracts — including Salesforce and integration platform vendors — for alignment with desired results Provides input to the VMO with regards to decision‑making and contract development processes Regularly reviews service provider performance to identify and confirm performance problems; notifies vendors and VMO management of issues and escalates to business and IT leaders with improvement plans Contractor Management: Provides oversight of contractor work and performance, including coordinating with Centers of Competence in identifying, onboarding, and evaluating vendor performance Associate Management Responsible for the human resource management of the cross‑functional product team members In collaboration with the appropriate Centers of Competence, manages and evaluates goals, skills, and training for associates on the product team — including Salesforce‑specific skill development Participates in Agile SAFe methodology, especially in coordinating with other IT Product Leads in the same Product Train to reduce risks and ensure coordination of inter‑dependencies Directly contributes to the team’s success by helping to execute when necessary, including but not limited to user story creation, technical architecture guidance, code reviews, acceptance criteria creation, and Salesforce configuration decisions Bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems or another related field, or equivalent work experience 7+ years in Information Technology in progressive levels of responsibility, with 2+ years in a leadership or team lead capacity preferred Strong understanding of Salesforce Service Cloud and Experience Cloud, including platform architecture, declarative and programmatic development approaches, and Salesforce release management Experience managing API integrations between Salesforce and other enterprise cloud platforms Experience supporting GPO operations, pharmaceutical distribution, or healthcare‑related business processes preferred Experience managing or supporting a client‑facing portal built on Salesforce Experience Cloud preferred High‑level understanding of several components of IT such as: Product Management, Technical Architecture, Business Analysis, Testing, or Operations and Support Salesforce Certified Administrator Salesforce Certified Platform App Builder Salesforce Certified Service Cloud Consultant Salesforce Certified Experience Cloud Consultant SAFe Product Owner / Product Manager (POPM) Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) or equivalent Working knowledge of product management methodology and Salesforce platform best practices Strong understanding of SAFe Agile principles and methodology and their practical application within a development environment Ability to work across multiple groups within IT to ensure end‑to‑end performance of Salesforce‑based solutions and integrations In‑depth knowledge of GPO business operations and how CRM and portal technology enables them Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities Provides coaching and mentoring to team members on both product management and Salesforce technical topics Knowledge of the cost basis for the service, including Salesforce licensing and integration platform costs Bachelor's degree in business administration, marketing, communications, product management, economics, healthcare administration, or a related field, or equivalent experience required Master's degree in business administration, marketing, communications, product management, economics, healthcare administration, or a related field, or equivalent experience preferred medical dental vision care backup dependent care adoption assistance infertility coverage family building support behavioral health solutions paid parental leave paid caregiver leave training programs professional development resources mentorship programs employee resource groups volunteer activities much more Full time Equal Employment OpportunityCencora is committed to providing equal employment opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, age, disability, veteran status or membership in any other class protected by federal, state or local law.Therefore, harassment is prohibited and all matters related to recruiting, training, compensation, benefits, promotions and transfers comply with equal opportunity principles and are non‑discriminatory.Cencora is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities during the employment process which are consistent with legal requirements. #J-18808-Ljbffr