Lead Product Manager

Syngenta Group; Bracknell; On-site; GBP 85,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

Syngenta Crop Protection is seeking a Lead Product Manager to own the R&D Activity POD within CP R&D IT, guiding a portfolio of digital products across laboratory and field environments.

You will shape the POD vision, define multi-horizon roadmaps, and drive data-driven value realization with senior stakeholders and a cross-functional team.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading product-centric, cross-functional teams and delivering measurable outcomes.
• Strong product strategy skills, including vision setting and roadmap development.
• Understanding of digital R&D workflows, data capture, trials, automation, sensors and imaging.
• Knowledge of data integrity, metadata, provenance, and quality controls across data pipelines.
• Experience with data governance, security, architecture, and regulatory requirements.
• Excellent stakeholder management and change leadership.

Responsibilities

• Co-create the POD vision, value hypotheses, and multi-horizon roadmap.
• Translate strategy into a coherent product portfolio aligned with priorities.
• Define product boundaries, ownership, and interfaces across PODs.
• Establish and track POD-level success measures (OKRs, KPIs, adoption).
• Lead stakeholder engagement across R&D, IT, data, security, and compliance.
• Own product delivery governance, backlog health, release planning, and scope management.
• Drive operational excellence through product operations and post-launch tracking.
• Manage POD-level risks, dependencies, and vendor relationships.
• Ensure data solutions align with FAIR principles and data standards.
• Partner with technical leads to deliver scalable, enterprise-aligned solutions.
• Monitor market trends and emerging technologies in lab and field R&D.
• Lead and develop Product Managers to strengthen delivery capability.
• Manage POD budget and financial performance for ROI.
• Establish stakeholder reporting and transparent progress communication.
• Leverage analytics to inform prioritisation and optimise user outcomes.

Skills

Agile & Lean practices

Cross-functional leadership

Product strategy & roadmap

Stakeholder management

Data governance & quality

Communication with business & tech

Education

Bachelor's or advanced degree in IT/Engineering/CS/Life Sciences

Tools

LIMS/ELN knowledge

Geospatial data tools

Job description

Syngenta Crop Protection is a leader in agricultural innovation, bringing breakthrough technologies and solutions that enable farmers to grow productively and sustainably. We offer a leading portfolio of crop protection solutions for plant and soil health, as well as digital solutions that transform the decision-making capabilities of farmers. Our 17,900 employees serve to advance agriculture in more than 90 countries around the world. Syngenta Crop Protection is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and is part of the Syngenta Group.

Our employees reflect the diversity of our customers, the markets where we operate and the communities which we serve. No matter what your position, you will have a vital role in safely feeding the world and taking care of our planet. Join us and help shape the future of agriculture.

Job Description

As Lead Product Manager, you will lead and own the R&D Activity Product-Oriented Delivery (POD) within CP R&D IT. You will be accountable for a portfolio of digital products that enable R&D innovation across both laboratory and field environments.

You will shape the POD vision and multi-horizon roadmap, make prioritisation and investment decisions, define clear product boundaries, and drive measurable improvements in how R&D captures, manages, and uses data—from laboratory experimentation and assay workflows to field trials, sensors, imaging, and geospatial data.

This is a senior product leadership role. You will lead a cross-functional team and may line-manage and develop Product Managers within the POD, ensuring scalable, sustainable, secure, and high-quality digital products with clear business outcomes.

Key responsibilities

• Co-create the POD vision, value hypotheses, and multi-horizon product roadmap with business and technical stakeholders.
• Translate strategy into a coherent product portfolio aligned with business priorities, investment decisions, and enterprise architecture.
• Define product boundaries, ownership, taxonomy, interfaces, and dependencies across PODs.
• Establish and track POD-level success measures, including OKRs, KPIs, adoption, user outcomes, operational performance, value realisation, and total cost of ownership.
• Act as the senior voice of the customer, ensuring enterprise and user needs are understood, validated, and reflected in product direction.
• Lead stakeholder engagement across R&D, business, IT, data, security, architecture, quality, and compliance functions.
• Own product delivery governance, prioritisation cadence, backlog health, release planning, capacity allocation, and management of scope, time, cost, and value trade-offs.
• Drive operational excellence through reliable product operations, incident and problem management, root-cause analysis, and post-launch value tracking.
• Manage POD-level risks, dependencies, data governance, security, regulatory constraints, and vendor or partner relationships.
• Ensure data solutions align with FAIR principles, data quality, traceability, provenance, auditability, metadata, and standardisation requirements.
• Partner with technical leads and architects to deliver scalable, reusable, secure, and enterprise-aligned solutions.
• Monitor relevant market trends and emerging technologies across lab and field R&D, including LIMS/ELN, lab automation, instrument connectivity, mobile/offline solutions, IoT and sensors, geospatial/GIS, imaging, and digital phenotyping.
• Lead, coach, and develop Product Managers, strengthening product practice and delivery capability across the POD.
• Manage POD budget allocation, resource planning, and financial performance, ensuring optimal return on investment and cost-effective delivery of digital solutions.
• Establish regular stakeholder communication cadences and reporting mechanisms to maintain transparency on product progress, risks, and business impact across the organisation.
• Leverage product analytics and data-driven insights to inform prioritisation decisions, validate product hypotheses, and continuously optimise user experience and business outcomes.

Qualifications

**Required:**

• Demonstrated experience leading product-centric, cross-functional teams and delivering measurable outcomes through Agile and Lean product practices.
• Strong product strategy skills, including vision setting, roadmap development, prioritisation, portfolio management, and value measurement through OKRs/KPIs.
• Understanding of digital R&D workflows in laboratory and/or field environments, including data capture, experimentation, trial execution, automation, sensors, imaging, geospatial data, and data standards.
• Knowledge of data integrity, discoverability, metadata, taxonomy/ontology, traceability, provenance, auditability, and quality controls across data pipelines.
• Experience working with data governance, security, architecture, quality, compliance, and regulatory requirements.
• Strong stakeholder management and change leadership skills, with the ability to influence without formal authority.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity, make sound trade-offs, and communicate effectively with business and technical leaders.
• Strategic and systems-thinking mindset, with the ability to simplify complex challenges whilst maintaining end-to-end design integrity.
• Bachelor's or advanced degree in IT, Engineering, Computer Science, Life Sciences, or a related field—or equivalent practical experience.

**Preferred:**

• Proven experience in product analytics, data-driven decision-making, and continuous optimisation of user experience and business outcomes.
• Demonstrated capability in budget allocation, resource planning, and financial performance management to ensure optimal return on investment.
• Experience managing vendor relationships, third-party integrations, and partner collaborations within complex technology environments.
• Knowledge of incident and problem management frameworks, root-cause analysis methodologies, and post-launch value tracking processes.
• Familiarity with FAIR principles (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, Reusability) and industry-standard data frameworks relevant to R&D environments.

**What will make you successful**

You are a collaborative, curious, and value-oriented leader who sees digital technology as an enabler of meaningful R&D and business outcomes. You are comfortable operating in a fast-paced, evolving environment, balancing strategic ambition with delivery discipline, and bringing diverse teams together around a shared product vision.

Additional Information

Why Syngenta?

• Meaningful impact: help build technology that supports scientific innovation and sustainable agriculture.
• Complex, modern challenges: work on high-scale platforms and systems with room for technical judgement.
• Collaborative environment: partner with global engineering, R&D and product communities.
• Growth: broaden your influence through challenging work, visible outcomes and a global network.

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