Project Manager / SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE)

About the Role

Client is seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager with deep SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE) experience to lead the delivery of the Experiment Manager project within the Biopharmaceutical Development organization. This role will provide end-to-end delivery leadership across multiple Agile teams, product and engineering organizations, data teams, and external COTS/SaaS vendors. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience leading complex IT programs, managing SaaS/COTS platforms, facilitating Agile Release Trains, and working within highly regulated Life Sciences / Biopharmaceutical environments.

The successful candidate will drive execution, governance, stakeholder alignment, vendor management, risk mitigation, and continuous delivery improvement while ensuring compliance with enterprise architecture, data, cybersecurity, and quality standards.

Responsibilities

• Project & Program Leadership
  • Own end-to-end delivery of the Experiment Manager project from planning through implementation and adoption.
  • Develop and manage integrated roadmaps, milestones, dependencies, budgets, resources, and delivery plans.
  • Coordinate execution across product, engineering, data, QA, architecture, security, business, and vendor teams.
  • Establish clear delivery metrics, dashboards, reporting, and executive communications.
• SAFe / Release Train Engineer Leadership
  • Serve as the primary RTE for the Agile Release Train.
  • Facilitate and lead key SAFe ceremonies, including:
    • PI Planning
    • Scrum of Scrums
    • ART Sync
    • System Demos
    • Inspect & Adapt
  • Manage ART readiness, PI execution, objectives, dependencies, risks, and impediments.
  • Coach Agile teams, Product Management, and leadership on SAFe practices.
  • Drive continuous improvement and delivery predictability across the ART.
• Multi-Team Delivery & Dependency Management
  • Identify, track, and resolve cross-team dependencies and delivery blockers.
  • Establish transparent reporting around milestones, PI objectives, risks, issues, capacity, and delivery performance.
  • Use Agile metrics such as predictability, flow, lead time, throughput, cycle time, and quality to improve delivery outcomes.
  • Promote accountability and transparency across distributed teams and stakeholders.
• COTS / SaaS Vendor Management
  • Lead relationships with COTS/SaaS technology vendors and implementation partners.
  • Manage vendor delivery, contracts, SLAs, integration planning, operational readiness, and performance.
  • Establish effective joint operating models between internal teams and external vendors.
  • Monitor vendor risks, quality, timelines, costs, and value realization.
• Stakeholder & Executive Engagement
  • Partner with Product Management, Enterprise Architecture, Engineering, Data, Security, QA, Compliance, and business sponsors.
  • Align stakeholders on scope, priorities, timelines, budgets, dependencies, and expected outcomes.
  • Provide concise executive-level status reporting, decision support, and escalation management.
  • Build strong relationships across technical and business organizations.
• Governance, Compliance & Quality
  • Establish and maintain program governance and delivery controls.
  • Ensure solutions comply with enterprise architecture, data governance, cybersecurity, quality, and regulatory standards.
  • Support high-quality, compliant releases within a regulated Life Sciences environment.
  • Drive defect reduction, reliability, operational readiness, and continuous improvement.
• Financial & Resource Management
  • Manage program budgets, forecasts, vendor spend, and resource/capacity planning.
  • Develop investment cases and support prioritization decisions.
  • Track financial performance against approved budgets and forecasts.
  • Ensure resources are aligned to critical delivery priorities.
• Agile / DevOps Delivery Excellence
  • Apply Agile-at-scale, DevOps, CI/CD, and platform operations best practices.
  • Partner with engineering and operations teams to improve release quality, reliability, and delivery velocity.
  • Drive improvements in cycle time, throughput, predictability, defect rates, and overall delivery performance.
  • Support continuous improvement across teams and the broader ART.
• Change Management & Adoption
  • Lead organizational change and adoption activities associated with the Experiment Manager platform.
  • Develop rollout, training, communications, and stakeholder-readiness strategies.
  • Ensure successful implementation, user adoption, and sustained business usage.
• Risk & Issue Management
  • Proactively identify, assess, and mitigate program, technical, vendor, operational, and delivery risks.
  • Maintain RAID logs and appropriate escalation mechanisms.
  • Remove blockers and facilitate timely resolution of critical issues.
  • Maintain a culture of ownership, accountability, and transparency.

Requirements

• 20+ years of IT delivery/project management experience with a proven record of delivering complex technology initiatives.
• 10+ years of experience managing delivery across multiple IT teams as a Project Manager, Program Manager, RTE, or equivalent.
• Extensive hands-on experience as a SAFe Release Train Engineer (RTE).
• SAFe certification such as RTE, SPC, or equivalent; multiple SAFe certifications strongly preferred.
• Proven experience leading Agile Release Trains (ARTs) and facilitating PI Planning and other SAFe ceremonies.
• Strong experience managing COTS/SaaS platforms and technology vendors.
• Experience managing vendor contracts, SLAs, integrations, delivery commitments, and operating models.
• Demonstrated experience within the Life Sciences / Pharmaceutical / Biopharmaceutical industry.
• Familiarity with CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls) processes, scientific workflows, or biopharmaceutical development environments.
• Strong understanding of Agile, SAFe, DevOps, CI/CD, and SaaS/COTS delivery models.
• Experience using Agile delivery metrics and tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps (ADO), or similar platforms.
• Strong financial, resource, risk, dependency, and program governance experience.
• Excellent written, verbal, stakeholder management, and executive communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively with technical teams, business leaders, vendors, and executive stakeholders.
• Must be able to work onsite in Gaithersburg, MD, and support US Eastern Time hours.

Preferred Qualifications

• SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) certification.
• Multiple SAFe certifications and demonstrated experience coaching Agile teams and leaders.
• Experience delivering technology platforms supporting scientific, laboratory, research, or biopharmaceutical workflows.
• Experience with regulated environments and enterprise compliance requirements.
• Strong understanding of platform reliability, SaaS operations, DevOps, and CI/CD practices.
• Experience leading enterprise-scale transformation or platform implementation initiatives.
• Experience driving measurable improvements in Agile delivery predictability, flow, throughput, lead time, and quality.