IT Solutions Delivery Lead, R&D Operations

BioSpace; San Rafael (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading biotech company in San Rafael is seeking an IT Solutions Delivery Lead to manage and deliver IT strategies in R&D operations. The successful candidate will ensure system ownership and operational excellence across critical R&D applications. Ideal candidates should have over 5 years of experience in IT roles within the pharmaceutical industry and a strong foundation in R&D systems. This role offers competitive compensation and a chance to make a significant impact in the field.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in a technical or business analyst role focusing on R&D functional systems and/or IT.
• Experience with Pharma/BioTech R&D systems.
• Data analysis expertise with SQL, Oracle, Excel.

Responsibilities

• Manage and support R&D related incident/service tickets.
• Facilitate Application Steering Committees to maximize application value.
• Develop and implement technical strategies for systems.

Skills

SAS architecture knowledge

Leadership

Problem solving

Communication

Project Management

Education

Bachelor of Science or greater in relevant field

Tools

SAS 9.4

SAS Viya

R-Studio

Power BI

Job description

Overview

IT Solutions Delivery Lead, R&D Operations Location: San Rafael, CA BioMarin is the world leader in delivering therapeutics that provide meaningful advances to patients who live with serious and life-threatening rare genetic diseases. Our teams support the mission of providing first and best in class therapeutics to patients who live with rare diseases. The IT Solutions Delivery Lead, R&D Operations role is critical to ensuring successful development and delivery of Information Technology strategies, including System Ownership for the R&D organization’s systems which allow the business to focus on what they do best. The R&D organization covers research, discovery, and post-market clinical development. This position maintains full-time engagement with the R&D department and collaborates with business stakeholders to manage the standard support practices for identifying, scoping, developing, testing, and releasing/publishing R&D business systems. The role provides system support, maintenance, licensing, data management and project delivery for the life of the systems. It is part of the global R&D IT Solution Delivery and Support team, responsible for developing, maintaining, monitoring, and supporting an industry-specific set of R&D Operations systems. The role works with business SMEs and IT project managers to capture and prioritize requests and address data, process, and technical issues that affect business needs and efficiency.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• System Ownership – Technical ownership of SAS 9.4, SAS Viya, R-Studio, Phoenix WinNonLin, PumasAI, etc.
• Lifecycle Management of applications to deliver business capabilities while ensuring efficient allocation of resources across the technology landscape.
• Financial responsibility for all system operational expenses.
• Manage Software Vendors to ensure SLAs are met and systems are up to date.
• Manage Licensing for your systems including budgeting and growth forecasting.
• Facilitate Application Steering Committees to maximize value delivered by applications and improve user experience.
• Participate in change control boards and design review committees.
• Bridge the gap between business needs and technology constraints to develop the right strategy/solution for the company.

Project Delivery

• Support new application and system deployment projects with emphasis on the software development life cycle (SDLC).
• Participate as subject matter expert (and in some cases lead) projects with project managers, technicians, and business analysts.
• Develop and implement technical strategies for various validated/qualified computer systems with emphasis on global enterprise systems.
• Partner with the business team to implement next-gen applications and upgrade existing applications.
• Develop Solution Options based on user requirements including level of effort and cost estimates.
• Champion internal IT standards and best practices during the design/implementation phase of a project.
• Provide analytical support for multiple complex projects; establish work plans and timelines; coordinate with internal and external sources.
• Organize technical requirements gathering and solution design sessions with customers, partners, and other technical resources of all levels.
• Develop and implement a support plan ensuring smooth turnover of operations.

System Administration

• Responsible for managing, administering, configuring, and maintaining business application operations through the System Development Lifecycle.
• Manage Vendors and Service Providers to ensure system support needs are met.
• Provide technical guidance to peers, contingent staff, and support vendors.
• Communicate system outages, changes, and overall status to key business stakeholders.
• Maintain systems under department control in a qualified state by establishing and enforcing platform standards aligning with QA and Computer System Validation policy, and Health Authority regulations.
• Develop and administer system procedures for installation, monitoring, performance utilization, upgrades, backups, recovery, and overall operations in a validated environment.
• Develop and maintain reports, scorecards, and tools for regular business monitoring of system key indicators.
• Provide tier 3 developer support for your systems, e.g., root cause analysis, working with IT peer technology SMEs, and vendor support to resolve issues.
• Prioritize and support R&D related incident/service tickets related to owned systems.
• Continuous improvement of support processes.
• Track, prioritize, and fulfill all system enhancement requests.
• Plan, build, deploy, secure, integrate, and support application solutions for R&D.
• Work schedule may include out-of-normal hours for IT support and maintenance.

Skills and Attributes

• Decision Making: Ability to make sound and effective decisions from all available information.
• Collaboration: Partner with others across and outside the organization to reach shared goals.
• Agility and Problem Solving: Flexible and adaptable; strong problem-solving skills.
• Leadership: Strong leadership in project definition, mitigation, and delivery; ability to set technical direction for project teams and management.
• Organization: High level of organizational skills in managing systems from build to financial forecasting.
• Communication: Effective written and verbal communication with team members at all levels.
• Technical: Deep SAS architecture knowledge (SAS Grid, SAS Viya, SAS 9.4), Linux/Unix and Windows server environments; scripting; SQL and database connections; ETL and data warehousing concepts; security and compliance; disaster recovery; automation with shell, Python, or SAS macros; job scheduling tools.
• Project Management: Strong organizational and time management skills to move projects from start to finish.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor of Science or greater in Computer Science, Business Administration, Information Technology, Biology, Chemistry or related field, or significant experience supporting research systems in the pharmaceutical industry.
• Desire to have a minimum of 5 years’ experience in a technical or business analyst role focusing on R&D functional systems and/or IT.
• Experience in computer database management, programming, or software development; familiarity with Power Apps and Power Automate.
• Experience with Pharma/BioTech R&D systems such as SAS 9.4, SAS Viya, R-Studio, Phoenix WinNonLin, PumasAI, etc.
• Data analysis expertise with SQL, Oracle, Excel, Power BI, etc.
• Delivering mid-to-large size projects with teams of 5 to 15 members on time and within budget.
• General knowledge of the underlying scientific principles applied to biopharmaceutical development and manufacture.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Veterans/Disabled. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability.