Manager, Product Development Lifecycle- Hybrid in Cary, NC or Remote in NC
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About the job
The Product Management division is looking for a manager to lead the Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC) to ensure consistent, transparent, and efficient delivery of SAS offerings from idea through commercial release. Our team defines and runs the PDLC for how SAS turns ideas into successful, commercially ready offerings, bringing cross-divisional structure, clarity, and momentum so teams can move faster with confidence.
In this role, you’ll quickly learn complex software products and technologies, synthesize inputs across Product, Engineering, Compliance, and Commercialization, and translate them into clear, decision-ready executive materials that drive alignment and gate readiness. You’ll also lead ongoing optimization of PDLC workflows, gates, and tooling as the SAS PDLC becomes more scalable and data-driven—helping teams deliver with speed, confidence, and commercial rigor.
As a Manager, Product Development Lifecycle, you will:
- Lead and govern the end-to-end PDLC, ensuring quality and on-time completion of required deliverables (e.g., business cases, delivery plans, release readiness, gate approvals) across all phases: assess, plan, build, comply, commercialize, and release.
- Drive new-idea business case development and executive approvals, aligning cross-functional stakeholders and producing decision-ready gate materials that enable commercially ready releases.
- Manage and develop a team of Product Release Managers, accountable for commercial readiness and successful transaction/fulfillment across delivery types (SaaS, hosted managed service, enterprise, and marketplaces).
- Own PDLC operations and lifecycle tracking in ServiceNow, maintaining data integrity, completeness, and end-to-end traceability.
- Provide cross-functional leadership across all contributing functions (Product, Engineering, Marketing, Pricing/Packaging, Legal, Finance, Sales, Support, Customer Success, etc.) to drive coordinated execution to market.
- Ensure consistent readiness and quality of PDLC gate outputs, including business cases, gate presentations, and go/release sign-offs; verify required build and commercialization activities are complete prior to release.
- Own PDLC reporting and executive communications, delivering dashboards and lifecycle insights; communicate status, risks, trends, and escalations, and drive continuous improvement through retrospectives
- Embrace curiosity, passion, authenticity and accountability. These are our values and influence everything we do.
Required qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, business administration, or a related field.
- 8+ years of experience leading commercial software releases
- Product lifecycle / delivery leadership: Experience leading product development lifecycle or product delivery processes in complex, cross-functional environments.
- Executive-ready business cases: Demonstrated ability to guide business case development for complex technical offerings and represent recommendations for senior/executive review.
- Technical + business fluency: Strong technical acumen with the ability to quickly understand product concepts and evaluate products from a business perspective.
- Influence, execution, and communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills, with proven ability to drive execution, influence without authority, and balance operational rigor with business outcomes.
- Equivalent combination of related education, training and experience may be considered in place of the above qualifications.
Additional competencies, knowledge and skills
- Create a culture of trust — Foster integrity and respect so people feel safe sharing ideas and collaborating in a high-trust environment.
- Delegation and empowerment — Assign work and decision rights with clear expectations, boundaries, support, and follow-up to accelerate results and build capability.
- Lead change — Drive organizational and cultural change to achieve strategic objectives by introducing new approaches, improving systems/products, and helping others overcome resistance.
- Experience in product and/or release management, including program and project delivery.
- Experience supporting enterprise-scale product portfolios and multi-team delivery environments within formal governance or lifecycle frameworks.
- Hands-on experience with delivery and workflow tools (e.g., ServiceNow, Jira, or similar platforms).
World-class benefits
Highlights include...
- Comprehensive medical, prescription, dental and vision plans.
- Medical plan options include:
- PPO with low annual deductible and copays.
- HDHP combined with a health savings account with a contribution from SAS (no access to on-site health care center).
- Onsite Health Care Center (HQ) that’s free to employees and family members enrolled in the PPO plan. There's a pharmacy too! Not local to HQ? The pharmacy will ship prescriptions for no additional charge!
- An industry-leading 401k plan.
- Tuition Assistance Program and programs and resources to support your development
- Generous time away including vacation time, a variety of paid holidays, and our much-loved U.S. Winter Wellness Break between December 25 and January 1.
- Volunteer Time Off, parental leave and unlimited paid sick days.
- Generous childcare benefits for all full-time employees.
You are welcome here.
At SAS, it’s not about fitting into our culture – it’s about adding to it. We believe our people make the difference. Our inclusive workforce brings together unique talents and inspires teams to create amazing software that reflects the diversity of our users and customers.
Additional Information:
To qualify, applicants must be legally authorized to work in the United States, and should not require, now or in the future, sponsorship for employment visa status. SAS is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to any characteristic protected by law. Read more: Know Your Rights.
Resumes may be considered in the order they are received. SAS employees performing certain job functions may require access to technology or software subject to export or import regulations. To comply with these regulations, SAS may obtain nationality or citizenship information from applicants for employment. SAS collects this information solely for trade law compliance purposes and does not use it to discriminate unfairly in the hiring process.
SAS only sends emails from verified “sas.com” email addresses and never asks for sensitive, personal information or money. If you have any doubts about the authenticity of any type of communication from, or on behalf of SAS, please contact Recruitingsupport@sas.com.
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