Principal Program Manager

Nova Biomedical Corporation; Waltham (MA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Bonus program

Generous PTO and holidays

Hybrid work model

Professional development opportunities

Office cafeteria in MA offices

Job summary

Nova Biomedical in Waltham, MA is seeking a Program Manager to own end-to-end development and sustaining programs from proposal to launch and beyond. You will coordinate R&D, Quality, Regulatory, Operations, and Marketing to meet milestones, budgets, and quality gates across the lifecycle.

In this role you drive stage gates, manage risks and dependencies, and ensure cross-functional accountability with clear owners and dates, delivering on time and within scope in a regulated medical device

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, life sciences, or a related technical discipline.
• 7+ years in product development, program or project management, including 3+ years leading cross-functional programs end to end.
• Owned at least one product program from concept to commercial launch in a regulated medical device, IVD, or life science environment.
• Fluency with stage-gate medical device development, design controls, and risk management within an ISO 13485 / FDA QMSR system.
• Experience managing both new product development and sustaining/lifecycle programs with design changes and field actions.

Responsibilities

• Own the integrated program plan and cross-functional schedule across all stages of the product lifecycle.
• Drive milestone accountability, identify slippage, and implement recovery plans with named owners and dates.
• Lead core team meetings, document commitments, and escalate blockers to leadership.
• Maintain program status reporting for leadership and portfolio reviews.
• Develop and manage the program budget and forecast cost-savings opportunities.
• Manage stage gate deliverables and evidence at each gate with documented approvals.

Skills

Program Ownership

Cross-functional Leadership

Stage Gate

Risk Management

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering, life sciences, or related technical discipline

Job description

Nova Biomedical: One Global Brand. One Vision. Together under one name.

Advanced Instruments and Nova Biomedical are now united under one brand, Nova Biomedical, marking a major milestone in our journey to deliver greater value to our customers. By combining our strengths, we’re accelerating innovation, supporting critical workflows, and delivering world-class service across the biopharmaceutical and clinical markets.

Job Summary:

The Program Manager owns end-to-end execution of assigned new product development and product sustaining programs, from project proposal through commercial launch and post-launch surveillance. This role is the single point of accountability for program delivery: one integrated plan, one set of committed dates, and one credible view of program status.

The Program Manager does not own Voice of Customer, market requirements definition, or the NPV/business case — those responsibilities sit with Product Management. Instead, this role ensures that every functional leader — R&D, Product Management, Quality, Regulatory, Operations, Supply Chain, Service, Marketing, and Commercial — delivers their stage gate commitments on time, to the required quality, and in the right sequence. Success is measured by milestone achievement and gate readiness across the portfolio, not by coordination activity.

Responsibilities:

1. End-to-End Program Ownership

Own the integrated program plan. Build and maintain a single cross-functional plan covering scope, schedule, resources, deliverables, dependencies, and critical path across all stages of the product lifecycle. Manage the stage gate process from inception to launch.

Drive milestone accountability. Hold each functional representative accountable to their committed deliverables and dates; identify slippage early, force the trade‑off conversation, and drive recovery plans with named owners and dates. Ensure leadership alignment with key milestones and timelines.

Run the operating cadence. Lead core team meetings, drive decisions to closure, document commitments, and escalate promptly to functional leadership when a decision or resource is blocking progress.

Maintain a single source of truth. Own program status reporting for core team, leadership, and portfolio review — schedule health, risks, issues, dependencies, and decisions required.

Budget Responsibility: Develop and manage the program budget; track actuals and forecast financial performance. Identify current and future cost‑savings opportunities for the program.

2. Stage Gate Governance

Manage assigned projects through Nova's stage gate process, ensuring the required deliverables and evidence are complete and reviewed at each gate:

Prepare and lead gate reviews. Assemble the gate package, confirm deliverable completeness with each function, surface open risks and exceptions, and secure documented approval to progress.

Enforce tailoring with rigor. Where deliverables are tailored based on project classification, ensure the rationale is documented and approved — not assumed.

3. Sustaining and Lifecycle Programs

Execute the sustaining portfolio. Manage post‑release design changes, reliability and cost‑down initiatives, component obsolescence and cross‑product changes through implementation via the appropriate stage gated path.

Close the loop from the field. Ensure complaints, CAPA, service data, and post‑market surveillance findings are translated into prioritized, scheduled, and resourced sustaining work with clear ownership.

Manage product end of life. Coordinate discontinuation and transition planning across regulatory, service, spare parts, labeling, and customer communication obligations.

4. Quality, Design Control and Regulatory Readiness

Ensure quality and compliance by design. Execute programs in accordance with the design and development procedure, design controls, risk management, and software lifecycle/cybersecurity requirements and applicable regulations.

Own documentation completeness. Drive DHF index completeness and audit readiness throughout the program; confirm records are current at each gate rather than reconstructed at the end.

Partner with Quality and Regulatory. Align documentation level, classification, submission timing, and evidence requirements to the program schedule and target markets.

5. Risk, Issue and Dependency Management

Manage risk actively. Maintain the program risk register covering technical, supply, regulatory, resource, and launch risks with mitigation and contingency plans.

Own cross‑program and intra‑program dependencies. Identify shared resources, shared platform elements, and sequencing conflicts across programs; elevate resource contention to portfolio leadership with options and impact.

Escalate with a recommendation. Bring leadership a clear problem statement, options, impact, and a recommended path — not status alone.

6. Cross‑Functional Leadership

Lead without direct authority. Set direction, resolve conflict, and hold peers, cross‑functional representatives and senior functional leaders accountable to their commitments in a matrixed organization.

Build execution discipline. Improve program management practices, templates, metrics, and reporting standards; coach functional leads and project managers on gate expectations.

Inform portfolio decisions. Provide leadership with clear visibility into program health, capacity constraints, trade‑offs, and prioritization recommendations.

Experience Requirements:

Bachelor's degree in engineering, life sciences, or a related technical discipline.

7+ years in product development, program or project management, including 3+ years leading cross‑functional programs end to end.

Demonstrated ownership of at least one product program from concept through commercial launch in a regulated medical device, IVD, diagnostics, or life science instrumentation environment.

Working fluency in stage gate medical device and/or diagnostic development, design controls, and risk management within an ISO 13485 / FDA QMSR quality system.

Experience managing both new product development and sustaining/lifecycle programs, including design changes and field corrective actionsmanaging change implementation across the global regulatory landscape.

Proven ability to hold senior cross‑functional leaders accountable to commitments without direct reporting authority.

Strong command of program management tooling, schedule and critical path management, and executive‑level status reporting.

Preferred

PMP, PgMP, or equivalent program management certification.

Experience with instrumentation, consumables, and software combination programs.

Experience managing a portfolio of concurrent programs with shared resources.

Exposure to design transfer, process validation, and manufacturing scale‑up.

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions:

Ability to work at a computer for extended periods.

Ability to lift and carry up to [25–50] pounds as required

Ability to communicate effectively via phone, video, and written communication.

Ability to occasionally move about the office to access meetings or resources.

Why Work for Nova Biomedical

Competitive 401k company match

Bonus Program, Generous PTO and paid holidays

Hybrid and flexible work arrangements

Professional development, engagement and events

Company marketplace for lunch and snacks in our Norwood, MA, Billerica, MA and Westbrook, ME offices

Company subsidized cafeteria in our Waltham, MA office

Work Location: Onsite in Waltham, MA

Targeted Salary Range: $190,000-$250,000/year

About the company

At Nova Biomedical, we’re not just building instruments, we’re powering breakthroughs that improve lives. Our smart, science‑driven solutions are trusted in over 100 countries to speed drug development and enhance patient care.

Our integration brings together more than 70 years of scientific excellence with Nova’s cutting‑edge innovation, forming a powerhouse of precision, purpose, and possibility. With FDA‑registered, ISO‑certified manufacturing, more than 125 FDA approvals, and industry‑trusted diagnostics, we’re setting new standards in quality and reliability. Nova Biomedical is proud to be a global leader in osmolality testing and biotechnology and in vitro diagnostic (IVD) instrumentation, dedicated to advancing patient care and scientific discovery with a legacy that continues to shape the future of life sciences.

With headquarters in Norwood and Waltham, Massachusetts, and a global team of nearly 2,000 employees, we’re building a collaborative, empowered culture grounded in shared values: Customer Centricity, Ingenuity, Ownership & Accountability, Collaboration, and Integrity.

Working at Nova Biomedical means joining a mission‑driven organization where your contributions matter. Whether you're in engineering, science, manufacturing, or support, you’ll be part of a team that values innovation, invests in your growth, and is committed to making a real‑world impact on global health.

Nova Biomedical takes pride in being an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse and inclusive workforce. As a part of our commitment to a diverse and inclusive workforce, Nova Biomedical will continue to take steps to assure that recruitment, hiring, assignment, promotion, compensation, and all other personnel decisions are made and administered without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, age, mental or physical disability, genetic information or any other protected class.