Mgr IT Product Lead (Analytics / GPO)

IT Product Lead - Analytics

Our team members are at the heart of everything we do. At Cencora, we are united in our responsibility to create healthier futures, and every person here is essential to us being able to deliver on that purpose. 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 - Analytics serves as the technical lead and product owner for the Analytics products supporting core Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) operations. This role is accountable for the end-to-end technology delivery of solutions built on Azure Data Bricks and PowerBI, including supporting technologies. In partnership with the Business Product Owner for Analytics, 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 - Analytics 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 Analytics ecosystem and collaborate with business and IT leaders on long-term strategies to maintain and enhance the product(s). This role supports highly complex GPO analytics vital to our members and therefore will be required to grow their knowledge of our data and how it is structured, used, and supports our business team.

The IT Product Lead - Analytics 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 is accountable for maintaining service costing and resource budgets for their product(s). Additionally the role will manage cross-team support outside of the immediate product team and will require managing and leveraging resources from Enterprise Analytics, release/change management, infrastructure, network, and other systems in support of the product.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities:

• Define and own the Analytics product vision and roadmap, aligning it with SGPO strategic objectives and broader Cencora enterprise goals.
• Function as the primary point of accountability for the Analytics product portfolio, managing scope, prioritization, and stakeholder expectations across business and IT.
• Serve as a trusted advisor and thought leader to senior stakeholders on analytics capabilities, platform investments, and emerging data technologies.
• Lead product planning ceremonies, including quarterly roadmap reviews, portfolio prioritization sessions, and executive briefings.
• Drive buy vs. build vs. configure decisions for analytics tooling and platforms in partnership with architecture and sourcing teams.

• Maintain and groom the product backlog, ensuring user stories, epics, features, and acceptance criteria are clearly defined, prioritized, and development-ready within the SAFe Agile framework.
• Actively engage as a hands-on contributor analyzing data sets, reviewing technical designs, and providing substantive input and feedback on analytics reports and dashboards.
• Partner closely with data engineers and BI developers to review solutions built on Azure, Databricks, and Power BI, ensuring alignment with product intent, business requirements, and data quality standards.
• Translate complex business requirements into clear technical specifications, facilitating shared understanding between business stakeholders and delivery teams.
• Actively participate in SAFe Agile ceremonies PI Planning, sprint planning, standups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives ensuring the team remains unblocked, aligned, and focused on delivering value.
• Own release planning and go-live readiness, coordinating UAT, change management, and deployment activities.
• Evaluate and provide technical input on data architecture, data models, and pipeline designs, ensuring solutions are scalable, performant, and maintainable.

• Lead and mentor a high-performing, cross-functional Analytics team, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Provide coaching and career development guidance to team members, including business analysts, data engineers, and BI developers.
• Champion SAFe Agile and product management best practices within SGPO, contributing to the maturation of the team's ways of working.
• Identify staffing needs, support recruitment efforts, and contribute to workforce planning for the Analytics capability.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with business partners, data stewards, and technology teams across Cencora.
• Facilitate cross-functional alignment on analytics priorities, data governance standards, and platform adoption strategies.
• Represent the Analytics product area in SGPO governance forums, portfolio reviews, and steering committees.
• Communicate product status, key decisions, risks, and milestones to stakeholders at all levels including executive leadership.

• Champion the adoption of self-service analytics, data literacy, and insight-driven decision-making across the SGPO business.
• Partner with data governance and architecture teams to ensure adherence to data quality, security, and compliance standards.
• Leverage hands-on expertise in Power BI to review, critique, and guide the development of dashboards and analytical reports that drive business outcomes.
• Evaluate and recommend enhancements to the analytics tech stack, with a focus on the Azure, Databricks, and Power BI ecosystem.

Experience & Educational Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Data Science, Business, or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 7+ years in Information Technology in progressive levels of responsibility, with 2+ years in a leadership or team lead capacity preferred
• 5+ years of experience in IT product management, technical product ownership, or a related discipline.
• 3+ years of experience leading analytics, data, or business intelligence products or programs.
• Demonstrated ability to operate in a dual leadership capacity balancing strategic product vision with hands-on technical engagement.
• Strong proficiency in SAFe Agile methodologies, including PI Planning, backlog management, and Agile delivery at scale.
• Experience managing and grooming product backlogs, writing user stories and epics, and defining acceptance criteria.
• Proven hands-on experience analyzing data, reviewing technical designs, and providing input into analytics reports and dashboards.
• Hands-on experience with Azure Cloud Services, Databricks, and Power BI, with the ability to engage meaningfully with engineering teams on platform design, architecture, and implementation.
• Proven experience managing complex stakeholder relationships and presenting to senior or executive audiences.

Preferred Certifications:

• Experience working within a Group Purchase Organization (GPO), specialty pharmacy, or healthcare/pharmaceutical distribution environment.
• Certification in SAFe (e.g., SAFe POPM, SAFe Agilist), PMP, or CSPO.
• Familiarity with data governance frameworks and enterprise data quality standards.
• Experience with AI/ML product integration and operationalizing data science models within an analytics platform.