We are seeking a hands-on Director of Product Management to join our dynamic team. This key leadership role reports directly to the Senior Vice President of R&D and will be pivotal in shaping the future of cell therapy manufacturing by collaborating with leadership and cross-functional partners to create a portfolio of groundbreaking products that drive Cellares' growth and impact.
The ideal candidate will be a strategic thinker who is also ready to roll up their sleeves and execute. With a small, agile team, this role requires someone who can seamlessly transition between high-level strategy and detailed, hands-on work. The ability to communicate effectively with senior leadership and across all levels of the organization is crucial for success in this position.
We're looking for someone who thrives in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment, is comfortable wearing multiple hats, and is ready to tackle diverse challenges as our company grows.
Responsibilities
- Serve as the primary product owner, directly managing all aspects of the product lifecycle
- Actively participate in day-to-day product development activities, from ideation to launch
- Be prepared to take on various tasks as needed, given the lean team structure
- Regularly present product strategies, roadmaps, and progress updates to senior leadership
- Collaborate effectively with the Senior VP of R&D and other executives to align product direction with overall company strategy
- Articulate complex technical and market concepts clearly to diverse audiences, including non-technical stakeholders
- Analyze the Cell and Gene Therapy marketplace to identify trends, opportunities, and unmet needs
- Gather insights from clients and assess competitors to inform product direction
- Translate market needs into clear product requirements and use cases
- Develop an in-depth understanding of target users' needs and usage profiles
- Prioritize solutions that address critical user pain points and drive value
- Conduct user interviews and synthesize feedback to inform product decisions
- Develop and implement product roadmaps that balance short-term customer needs with long-term scalable technology development
- Maximize portfolio potential through strategic prioritization
- Personally manage and update roadmaps as market conditions evolve
- Partner closely with engineering and process sciences teams to scope product delivery, evaluate development alternatives, and support build/buy decisions
- Work directly with marketing to create compelling go-to-market strategies and product positioning
- Facilitate cross-functional meetings and drive decision-making processes
- Actively monitor product progress throughout the development lifecycle
- Identify and mitigate risks while capitalizing on emerging opportunities
- Be prepared to step in and address issues hands-on when necessary
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree or higher in a relevant field (e.g., Business, Engineering, Life Sciences)
- 10+ years of experience in business strategy or product strategy roles, with substantial customer-facing experience
- Proven track record of successfully setting product vision and defining products, including target customer identification, core value proposition articulation, and business model development
- Leadership experience in at least one successful new product development initiative from conception to launch
- Strong analytical skills combined with creative intuition, enabling data-driven and insight-driven strategy development
- Excellent presentation and communication skills, with demonstrated ability to effectively interact with senior leadership and diverse stakeholders
- Experience presenting complex technical and market concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate with and influence cross-functional teams and leadership
- Capability to participate in client meetings as a product expert
- Prior experience with full project ownership and hands-on execution of product management tasks
- Comfortable working in a lean team environment and taking on diverse sets of responsibilities
- Passion for innovation in the life sciences and healthcare industries
Preferred Qualifications
- Advanced degree (MBA, MS, or Ph.D.) in a relevant field
- Experience in the cell and gene therapy industry
- Familiarity with regulatory requirements in the medical device or biotechnology sectors
- Experiencer leading small, agile teams in a startup environment
- Track record of successful collaboration with C-level executives and board members
This is Cellares
Cellares is the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO) and takes an Industry 4.0 approach to mass manufacturing the living drugs of the 21st century. The company is both developing and operating integrated technologies for cell therapy manufacturing to accelerate access to life-saving cell therapies. The company’s Cell Shuttle integrates all the technologies required for the entire manufacturing process in a flexible and high-throughput platform that delivers true walk-away, end-to-end automation. Cell Shuttles will be deployed in Cellares’ Smart Factories around the world to meet total patient demand for cell therapies at global scale. Partnering with Cellares enables academics, biotechs, and pharma companies to accelerate drug development and scale out manufacturing, lower process failure rates, lower manufacturing costs, and meet global patient demand.
The company is headquartered in South San Francisco, California with its commercial-scale IDMO Smart Factory in Bridgewater, New Jersey. The company is backed by world-class investors and has raised over $355 million in financing.
Leveling will be based on overall experience, education, and demonstration of knowledge throughout the interview process.
What We Do
Cellares is revolutionizing cell therapy manufacturing. We are developing a one-of-a-kind solution, The Cell Shuttle, to overcome the challenges associated with manufacturing so these life-saving therapies are affordable and widely available to patients who can benefit.
The clinical impact of cell therapy in treating cancer has been proven, but this therapeutic approach has several limitations, especially in manufacturing, leaving extremely sick patients waiting for treatment and desperate for hope.
Since cell therapy is currently produced for a single patient at a time, it is expensive to manufacture, requiring significant time and resources, and is difficult to scale.
Preclinical and clinical scientists, as well as commercial cell therapy manufacturers also lack the options to fully automate their manufacturing process quickly, safely, cost-effectively and at the scale they need.
The Cell Shuttle is an automated and closed end-to-end manufacturing solution that is flexible and scalable, enabling customers to run exact processes specified for their cell therapy. Compared with the current manual manufacturing processes for cell therapy, the Cell Shuttle’s next-generation automated manufacturing solution has 10 times the scalability (meaning 10 times more patient doses can be produced simultaneously), enables a three-fold reduction in process failure rates and will reduce the per-patient manufacturing cost by up to 70 percent for most processes.
