About Us
Sage Bionetworks uses open science and collaboration to improve human health. We turn complex biomedical data into actionable insights through responsible sharing, strong governance, and innovative tools like AI. Our team values curiosity, diverse perspectives, and experimentation.
The Opportunity
Sage Bionetworks is looking for a Head of Product for Synapse.org and its ecosystem of biomedical tools, knowledge portals, and services. The ecosystem serves tens of thousands of individual scientists and the institutions and programs they work within. Serving this broad community well is at the heart of this role. The Head of Product will spend significant time in the field—with individual scientists, PIs, program officers, and institutional partners—and bring that ground truth back into every roadmap and portfolio decision.
This is a new, integrating role. Our product domains have owners and our engineering operation has leads, but no one today is responsible for making the portfolio add up across programs while holding the end-to-end experience of the people who actually use the ecosystem. The Head of Product will be that connector: partnering closely with the CTO, product owners, engineering leaders, and program teams to create clarity across the portfolio.
You will sit in real ambiguity: what we want to build, what we are already funded to build, how to prioritize across both, and how product strategy can help create new funding opportunities. You will help translate that ambiguity into decisions—a portfolio roadmap, build/no-build calls, and sequenced priorities. Reporting to Sage’s CTO, you will be accountable for outcomes, not just plans: the success of the products that serve our research programs, the balance between strategy and delivery, and the adoption and impact of what we build, both inside Sage and across the broader research community.
AI is rapidly reshaping how researchers work with data. The ecosystem already includes AI-powered tools and AI research partnerships, and a central part of this role is applying strong product judgment to identify where AI creates genuine value for researchers—and where it does not. Working closely with technical and research leaders, this role will help Sage build and evolve AI-enabled capabilities responsibly.
Most of our product portfolio is grant-funded and serves our research programs. A smaller, emerging part of the picture is helping the ecosystem grow more sustainably, including a modest and growing set of commercial offerings. That commercial dimension is a tiny slice today; we are looking for someone who can help shape and grow it carefully and thoughtfully, without losing sight of the much larger community of researchers the ecosystem exists to serve. Like the rest of our team, you will work in an AI-forward environment and prioritize productivity and impact over arbitrary processes.
Note: Please do not upload your resume as your cover letter (required)
Key Responsibilities
- Lead the product portfolio and its outcomes. In close partnership with the CTO, ensure the product portfolio meets the needs of our programs and users—not just that it is coordinated. Bring clarity to competing priorities, make tradeoffs visible, and drive the cross-portfolio prioritization, build/no-build, and sequencing decisions that no single domain owner can make alone. Ensure capabilities that serve multiple teams are thoughtfully aligned and built once, rather than duplicated across the ecosystem.
- Balance strategy with delivery. Partner with the CTO and engineering leadership to evolve the long-term product vision while maintaining focus on near-term execution. Translate strategy into actionable priorities and remain accountable not only for the roadmap, but for what gets built, delivered, and adopted.
- Drive adoption and impact, internally and externally. Measure success by whether products are genuinely used and create value: internally by Sage’s programs and teams, and externally by researchers, institutions, and partners. Establish a strong understanding of adoption and impact, and close the gap between what we build and what our users need.
- Stay close to users and funders. Build trusted relationships with researchers, principal investigators, program officers, and institutional partners. Maintain a direct listening cadence, bring user insights into product decisions, and partner with program teams to ensure the ecosystem continues to evolve around real research needs.
- Shape where AI fits in the product. Partner with the CTO, engineering teams, and research leaders to identify where AI-powered capabilities and partnerships create genuine value for researchers—and where they do not. Apply strong product judgment to help Sage build and deliver AI-enabled products responsibly, thoughtfully, and in alignment with our mission.
- Grow the ecosystem’s commercial offerings thoughtfully. Partner with leadership to shape a modest and growing set of commercial offerings, including their positioning, pricing, and user experience, helping the ecosystem become more sustainable while remaining grounded in Sage’s mission and research community.
- Connect product strategy to funding opportunities. Work closely with principal investigators, program leaders, and executive leadership to make product investments clear, compelling, and fundable. Identify opportunities where product strategy can support new research initiatives and partnerships, and help shape product concepts into proposals that can be carried forward.
- Lead and grow the Product Team. Provide direction and support for product managers and portfolio owners who define, validate, and steward products across the ecosystem. Partner with the CTO to continue evolving the product function, develop talent, establish effective product practices, and grow the team along the product career ladder.
- Champion product design and user experience. Partner with design leadership to establish product design principles, standards, and practices across the ecosystem. Ensure Sage’s products provide a coherent, intuitive experience for researchers and partners, with hands-on craft supported by senior design expertise.
- Partner with executive leadership on product direction. Serve as a strategic thought partner to the CTO and senior leadership team, helping translate organizational goals, research priorities, and technical opportunities into a cohesive product strategy. Collaborate across Sage to make thoughtful decisions about where to invest, where to experiment, and where to say no.
Qualifications
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Life Sciences, Business, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- Advanced degree in a relevant technical, scientific, or business discipline is a plus.
Experience
- 10+ years of progressive experience in product management and product leadership, including responsibility for defining strategy and delivering outcomes across multiple products or an enterprise product portfolio.
- Demonstrated success defining product vision and portfolio strategy, setting organizational priorities, and translating user needs into measurable product outcomes.
- Experience building and leading high-performing product teams, developing product leaders, and establishing scalable product practices that enable teams to move quickly and make sound decisions.
- Strong user-centered product judgment. You know how to listen to a broad community of users—from individual researchers to institutional stakeholders—and turn what you hear into clear product decisions.
- A track record of influencing executive leaders and aligning engineering, design, science, and business stakeholders around difficult prioritization decisions and strategic tradeoffs.
- Comfortable operating in ambiguity and turning competing priorities, incomplete information, and funding constraints into clear direction, sequencing, and execution.
- Experience leading product strategy in a rapidly evolving AI landscape, with sound judgment about where AI creates genuine value for users—and where it doesn't.
- Experience bringing AI-powered products, platforms, or strategic partnerships to market, with an appreciation for responsible AI development and governance.
- Demonstrated accountability for product outcomes—not just roadmaps—including adoption, customer value, and organizational impact.
- Excellent communication skills with the executive presence and credibility to influence senior leaders, represent product strategy with funders and external partners, and confidently make difficult prioritization decisions.
Nice to Have
- Experience growing or scaling commercial products, including pricing, packaging, monetization, or taking products from free to paid while maintaining a strong user experience.
- Experience balancing mission-driven impact with business sustainability in a nonprofit, research, academic, or grant-funded organization.
- Experience in scientific research, biomedical data, healthcare, life sciences, or other data-intensive technical domains.
- Familiarity with open science, research data platforms, data-sharing ecosystems, or open-source software communities.
- Experience partnering with principal investigators, research institutions, government agencies, or funding organizations to shape product investments and support new funding opportunities.
- Experience establishing product operating models, portfolio governance, and organizational product strategy across multiple teams.
- Product design leadership experience, with a strong appreciation for usability, accessibility, and creating cohesive experiences across an interconnected product ecosystem.
Job Functions and Physical Requirements
The following cognitive and physical activities outline the essential functions required for successful job performance. Reasonable accommodations may be provided to enable individuals with disabilities to fulfill these functions.
Physical Demands
- Extended periods of sitting at a desk and using a computer.
- Repeated wrist, hand, and finger movements.
- Requires clear vision for tasks like data analysis, transcribing, computer use, and reading.
- Occasionally lifting or moving objects weighing up to 10 pounds.
Cognitive Demands
- Able to work effectively under deadlines.
- Strong problem-solving and analytical skills.
- Attention to detail and accuracy.
- Flexibility to adapt to changing environments, priorities and multitask.
Additional Functions
- Travel two times per year for on-site events in Seattle, WA.
- Effective verbal and written communication skills.
- Works well in a team and maintains professionalism.
- Follows company policies, procedures, and relevant laws and regulations.
Note: This list is not exhaustive and may be subject to modification as job duties evolve.
Compensation & Total Rewards
Sage Bionetworks implements equitable workplace strategies to ensure fair pay. Actual compensation is determined by market data, specific experience, and internal parity.
- Job Level: Senior Director
- Annual Salary Range: $172,900-$231,900
- Note: New hires typically receive an offer between the minimum and the midpoint of the range to allow for future growth within the role. Higher offers may be considered for exceptional experience or specific market conditions.
- Comprehensive Benefits: We offer a package competitive with both commercial biotech and nonprofit sectors:
- Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life, AD&D, and long-term disability.
- Future Security: Robust retirement plan and flexible spending accounts (FSA).
- Work-Life Harmony: Paid time off and flexible work arrangements.
- Learn more at: Benefits – Sage Bionetworks
Equal Opportunity & Inclusion
Sage Bionetworks is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.
Accommodation Request: If you require a reasonable accommodation during the application or interview process, please contact HR during the scheduling process.
Modern Hiring & Responsible AI
We value your talent and your time. To ensure a fair and inclusive experience, we operate with the following principles:
- Responsible AI in Recruiting: To help us find the best talent, we may utilize AI tools within our recruiting platforms. We use these technologies responsibly to avoid the pitfalls of bias and discrimination. We believe technology should enhance human judgment, not replace it, and we regularly audit our processes to ensure every candidate is evaluated fairly based on their unique skills.
- Work from (Almost) Anywhere: We are a distributed workforce and support remote or hybrid arrangements within the United States.
- Virtual-First Interviews: All interviews are conducted virtually to ensure accessibility and flexibility for all candidates.
About Sage Bionetworks: Science for the Common Good
At Sage Bionetworks, we believe the greatest barriers to medical progress aren't just biological—they are structural. Since 2009, our Seattle-founded nonprofit has been on a mission to tear down the "silos" of traditional science. We don’t just conduct research; we redefine how it’s done through open science, radical collaboration, and ethical data sharing.
When you join Sage, you aren't just taking a job; you’re joining a bold collective of scientists, engineers, governance experts, and visionaries. We empower patients to be partners, not just data points, and we provide the platforms that allow the global scientific community to accelerate life-saving discoveries.
The Sage Way: Our Core Values
We don’t just talk about change; we live it through these five pillars:
- Science Driven: We use data and evidence to ensure our work creates a measurable, positive impact on human health.
- Accountable: We deliver on our promises through a foundation of trust and radical transparency.
- Growth Oriented: We stay curious, seek out the hardest challenges, and constantly aspire to improve ourselves and our field.
- Empathetic + Inclusive: We embrace our differences and build environments where every voice is empowered.
- Radically Collaborative: We believe the best solutions come from teamwork and building diverse, global communities.
