Associate Director Product Management

Charles River Laboratories; South Carolina; On-site; USD 145,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus incentives

401K

Health and wellness coverage

Stock purchase program

Work-life balance flexibility

Job summary

Charles River Laboratories is seeking an Associate Director of Product Management to lead a team within Microbial Solutions, translating portfolio direction into executable strategies and driving lifecycle management in regulated environments.

You will partner with QA/RA, R&D, Operations and Supply Chain to ensure product quality, manage KPIs, and deliver growth with a customer-led focus. This is a senior, customer-facing leadership role in the US.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, engineering, or related field; advanced degree preferred.
• 7–10+ years in product management or related roles in life sciences/pharma; leadership experience.
• At least 2 years leading product managers or teams.
• Proven track record with scientific/technical products in regulated environments.
• Strong familiarity with GxP and QA/RA partnership.
• Strategic thinking with pricing inputs, investment cases, and analytics.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management with senior leaders.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of product managers and associates; set objectives, coach performance, and build capability and succession plans.
• Own strategy, roadmap coherence, and execution for an assigned sub-portfolio/segment, aligned to the broader contamination control vision and business objectives specifically for Software, Automation and Digital Ecosystem.
• Set investment priorities within the sub-portfolio by shaping and reviewing business cases, tradeoffs, and resource requests; ensure decisions are data-driven and customer-led.
• Ensure high-quality execution of roadmaps, product launches, and lifecycle management with strong cross-functional alignment.
• Partner with QA/RA, R&D, Operations, and Supply Chain to ensure product quality, compliance, and continuity of supply; sponsor risk management and continuous improvement for the sub-portfolio.
• Serve as a senior customer-facing leader for key accounts and strategic projects; represent product direction in technical meetings and regulated/audit contexts as needed.
• Drive VOC discipline across the team and ensure insights translate into measurable product outcomes.
• Track and report sub-portfolio KPIs and lead quarterly reviews and corrective actions.
• Contribute to Microbial Solutions portfolio planning activities and to maturing PM processes and governance.

Skills

Leadership

Product Mgmt

Strategy

Cross-functional

Data-driven

Stakeholder mgmt

VOC insights

Education

Bachelor's degree

Advanced degree

Job description

For nearly 75 years, Charles River employees have worked together to assist in the discovery, development and safe manufacture of new drug therapies. When you join our family, you will have a significant impact on the health and well-being of people across the globe. Whether your background is in life sciences, finance, IT, sales or another area, your skills will play an important role in the work we perform. In return, we’ll help you build a career that you can feel passionate about.

Job Overview

The Associate Director, Product Management is the first formal people-leader level in the Product Management career path. This role leads a team responsible for a sub-portfolio/segment of Microbial Solutions offerings supporting pharmaceutical QC labs and contamination control programs. The Associate Director translates broader portfolio direction into executable strategies and roadmaps, ensures disciplined lifecycle management and launch execution, and develops product management talent while partnering cross-functionally to deliver growth and customer outcomes in regulated environments.

Job Description

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of product managers and associates; set objectives, coach performance, and build capability and succession plans.
• Own strategy, roadmap coherence, and execution for an assigned sub-portfolio/segment, aligned to the broader contamination control vision and business objectives specifically for Software, Automation and Digital Ecosystem.
• Set investment priorities within the sub-portfolio by shaping and reviewing business cases, tradeoffs, and resource requests; ensure decisions are data-driven and customer-led.
• Ensure high-quality execution of roadmaps, product launches, and lifecycle management (enhancements, rationalization, obsolescence, change control) with strong cross-functional alignment.
• Partner with QA/RA, R&D, Operations, and Supply Chain to ensure product quality, compliance, and continuity of supply; sponsor risk management and continuous improvement for the sub-portfolio.
• Serve as a senior customer-facing leader for key accounts and strategic projects; represent product direction in technical meetings and regulated/audit contexts as needed.
• Drive VOC discipline across the team (cadence, synthesis, actionability) and ensure insights translate into measurable product outcomes.
• Track and report sub-portfolio KPIs (revenue, margin, adoption, quality signals, support themes) and lead quarterly reviews and corrective actions.
• Contribute to Microbial Solutions portfolio planning activities (roadmap reviews, pricing discussions, AOP inputs) and to maturing PM processes and governance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in life sciences, engineering, or related field (required); advanced degree (MS, MBA, PhD) preferred.
• 7–10+ years of progressive experience in product management or adjacent roles in life sciences/pharma, including demonstrated leadership of cross-functional programs.
• At least 2 years of experience managing, mentoring, or formally leading product managers and/or teams (people leadership begins at this level).
• Proven track record managing scientific/technical products/solutions in regulated environments with measurable growth and/or customer outcome impact.
• Strong familiarity with GxP expectations and ability to partner effectively with QA/RA and Operations.
• Strategic thinking and business acumen; comfortable with pricing inputs, investment cases, and performance analytics.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills; credible with customers and senior internal leaders.

Compensation Data

The pay rate for this role is $145,000 - $165,000 per year. Please note that salaries vary within the range based on factors including, but not limited to, experience, skills, education, certifications, and location.

About Microbial Solutions

Our Microbial Solutions business group has a comprehensive portfolio of endotoxin testing, microbial detection and microbial identification products and services is unlike any other, and has been purposefully designed to meet the complex and ever-changing needs of the industry. We help clients to ensure product safety and quality with easy-to-use yet robust testing solutions that satisfy regulatory requirements, support critical decision making and improve operational efficiencies.

About Charles River

Charles River is an early-stage contract research organization (CRO). We have built upon our foundation of laboratory animal medicine and science to develop a diverse portfolio of discovery and safety assessment services, both Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and non-GLP, to support clients from target identification through preclinical development. Charles River also provides a suite of products and services to support our clients’ clinical laboratory testing needs and manufacturing activities. Utilizing this broad portfolio of products and services enables our clients to create a more flexible drug development model, which reduces their costs, enhances their productivity and effectiveness to increase speed to market.

With over 20,000 employees within 110 facilities in over 20 countries around the globe, we are strategically positioned to coordinate worldwide resources and apply multidisciplinary perspectives in resolving our client’s unique challenges. Our client base includes global pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, government agencies and hospitals and academic institutions around the world.

At Charles River, we are passionate about our role in improving the quality of people’s lives. Our mission, our excellent science and our strong sense of purpose guide us in all that we do, and we approach each day with the knowledge that our work helps to improve the health and well-being of many across the globe. We have proudly worked on 80% of the drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the past five years.

We’re committed to providing benefits that elevate your quality of life. Based on your position these may include: bonus/incentives based on performance, 401K, paid time off, stock purchase program, Health and wellness coverage, employee and family wellbeing support programs, and work life balance flexibility.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Charles River is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified applicants and employees without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, mental or physical disability, family status, pregnancy, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

It is unlawful in some states (including Massachusetts) to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

If you are interested in applying to Charles River Laboratories and need special assistance or an accommodation due to a disability to complete any forms or to otherwise participate in the resume submission process, please contact a member of our Human Resources team by sending an e-mail message to [e-mail]. This contact is for accommodation requests for individuals with disabilities only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.