Director Product & Design

Abbott Laboratories; Pleasanton (CA); On-site; USD 197,000 - 395,000; Full time

Job summary

Abbott Laboratories is seeking a strategic leader to define and drive the global Heart Failure product portfolio strategy, roadmap, and innovation initiatives. You will influence enterprise investment decisions and align customer needs with regulatory, quality, and business objectives across markets.

You will lead a diverse, global Product Management and Design organization, partnering with R&D, Marketing, Medical Affairs, and Market Access to deliver patient-centric solutions and sustainable

Qualifications

• 10–12+ years in product management, innovation, or healthcare leadership.
• Experience shaping product strategy across lifecycle in regulated environments.
• Experience influencing executive leadership and enterprise investment decisions.
• Experience leading global, matrixed teams.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive global Heart Failure product portfolio strategy and roadmap.
• Lead governance and design controls for product development.
• Oversee cross-functional collaboration with R&D, Regulatory, Marketing.
• Shape evidence-generation, regulatory, and quality strategies.

Skills

Product strategy

Roadmap development

Portfolio management

Innovation leadership

Executive communication

Cross-functional influence

Commercial acumen

Leadership

Strategic planning

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 122,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

Responsible for defining and driving the global product portfolio strategy, digital solutions roadmap, and innovation agenda across the Heart Failure division, influencing enterprise investment decisions, growth strategies, and long-term business performance globally. Acts as a key strategic leader, shaping the future direction of the portfolio by integrating customer needs, market opportunities, clinical insights, regulatory and quality requirements, business objectives, and emerging technologies. Leads global product and design organizations responsible for translating unmet needs into differentiated products and solutions that accelerate growth, improve patient outcomes, and strengthen competitive advantage across all Heart Failure markets worldwide.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Define and drive the global Heart Failure product portfolio strategy, long-range planning, and roadmap development for pipeline products, digital solutions, services, and innovation initiatives, ensuring alignment with divisional objectives, enterprise priorities, and future growth opportunities.
• Establish the product vision, strategic direction, and value proposition framework by translating customer, clinical, market, and business insights into enterprise-wide product strategies and investment priorities.
• Set the product design, human factors, usability, and product experience strategy for the Heart Failure portfolio, ensuring customer and user insights are translated into product requirements, design decisions, validation, and lifecycle improvements.
• Shape the future innovation agenda for Heart Failure by identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing emerging technologies, new product opportunities, strategic partnerships, and innovation initiatives that drive sustainable portfolio growth and competitive differentiation.
• Lead the development of business cases, market assessments, and investment strategies that inform portfolio prioritization, lifecycle management, resource allocation, and long-term growth decisions across the global Heart Failure portfolio.
• Establish and drive the strategic product development agenda with R&D leadership, ensuring product requirements, development priorities, and investment decisions align with customer needs, business strategy, and portfolio objectives.
• Lead product development governance, including stage-gate reviews and design control decision-making, ensuring alignment between product strategy, technical execution, commercial objectives, and business priorities.
• Own product management strategy across the entire product lifecycle, from concept development through commercialization, launch readiness, market expansion, and ongoing portfolio optimization.
• Drive cross-functional alignment with Clinical Affairs, Medical Affairs, Regulatory Affairs, and Quality leadership to shape evidence-generation, regulatory, and quality strategies that enable portfolio success and accelerated market adoption.
• Define the strategic evidence-generation framework and influence clinical study priorities to support regulatory approvals, reimbursement objectives, physician adoption, and long-term market leadership.
• Lead enterprise-wide alignment across Marketing, Commercial, Market Access, and Market Insights organizations to define commercialization strategies, drive customer adoption, and maximize global portfolio performance.
• Serve as the executive leader accountable for portfolio performance, communicating strategic opportunities, investment recommendations, business risks, and growth plans to senior leadership to enable informed decision-making.
• Shape and influence executive-level decisions related to portfolio priorities, innovation investments, growth strategies, market expansion opportunities, and long-range business planning across the Heart Failure organization.
• Establish governance processes, operating mechanisms, and performance metrics that enable effective portfolio management, strategic prioritization, and execution excellence across all Heart Failure product lines globally.
• Lead and develop a global Product Management and Design organization, building organizational capabilities, succession pipelines, and leadership talent while fostering a culture of customer-centricity, innovation, accountability, collaboration, and execution excellence.

CRITICAL EXPERIENCES FOR THIS ROLE

• Demonstrated success developing and executing global product portfolio strategies within a complex healthcare or medical device environment.
• Experience shaping product strategy across the full lifecycle, including upstream innovation, product development, commercialization, sustaining, and portfolio optimization in a regulated environment.
• Experience integrating customer and user insights into portfolio priorities, product design decisions, and market adoption strategies.
• Proven experience influencing executive leadership and enterprise investment decisions.
• Experience leading organizations through significant growth, transformation, or innovation initiatives with measurable business impact.
• Demonstrated success leading global, cross-functional organizations in a highly matrixed environment.
• Strong financial, strategic planning, portfolio analytics, and portfolio investment management capabilities.

KEY COMPETENCIES

• Product strategy & roadmap development
• Portfolio management
• Innovation leadership
• Market, customer & clinical insights
• Product design & usability
• Product governance & executional excellence
• Regulated product lifecycle management
• Cross-functional influence
• Commercial acumen
• Executive communication
• Developing self & others

INTERDEPENDENCIES

• R&D – Product requirements, development priorities, technical feasibility, product architecture, roadmap execution, design control inputs, and next-generation product planning.
• Clinical & Medical Affairs – Clinical evidence strategy, unmet needs identification, physician adoption insights.
• Digital / IT / Data / Cybersecurity – Connected monitoring roadmap, patient electronics and digital tools, device data, privacy, cybersecurity, analytics readiness, and supporting digital infrastructure.
• Regulatory & Quality – Compliance, risk management, design controls, human factors/usability, regulatory approvals, and lifecycle quality considerations.
• Marketing & Commercial – Customer insights, commercialization planning, launch readiness, adoption strategies, market expansion, field feedback, and portfolio performance.
• Professional Education / Field Clinical / Technical Support – Clinician training, procedural adoption, patient and caregiver education, technical support inputs, field feedback, and safe product use.
• Market Access & Health Economics – Value proposition development, reimbursement considerations, evidence requirements.
• Operations & Supply Chain – Manufacturing readiness, scalability, product availability, cost optimization, and supply risk.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Life Sciences, Business, Healthcare, or related field.
• 10-12+ years of progressive experience in Product Management, Innovation, Marketing, Strategy, R&D, or related healthcare leadership roles.
• 7+ years of people leadership experience, including experience leading global, matrixed, or multi-level teams.
• Experience with product design, human factors/usability, digital health, connected care, or complex medical device product ecosystems preferred.
• Demonstrated success leading cross-functional product development programs from concept through commercialization in a regulated environment.
• Strong strategic, analytical, financial, portfolio investment, and business planning capabilities.
• MBA or advanced degree preferred.
• Experience in cardiovascular, heart failure, medical device, digital health, or related healthcare sectors preferred.

The base pay for this position is $197,300.00 – $394,700.00. In specific locations, the pay range may vary from the range posted.