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Sr. Staff Product Manager

Illumina
10 days ago
Full-time
On-site
San Diego, California, United States
$155,600 - $233,400 USD yearly
AI Product Manager
What if the work you did every day could impact the lives of people you know? Or all of humanity?

At Illumina, we are expanding access to genomic technology to realize health equity for billions of people around the world. Our efforts enable life-changing discoveries that are transforming human health through the early detection and diagnosis of diseases and new treatment options for patients.

Working at Illumina means being part of something bigger than yourself. Every person, in every role, has the opportunity to make a difference. Surrounded by extraordinary people, inspiring leaders, and world changing projects, you will do more and become more than you ever thought possible.

We are actively seeking an experienced Senior Staff Product Manager to join our High-Throughput Platforms team. In this key role, you will drive product strategy, definition, and cross-functional execution for a major next-phase platform initiative within Illumina’s high-throughput sequencing portfolio. 

This position is ideal for a seasoned product leader with deep experience in Next-Generation Sequencing who can connect customer workflows, technology capabilities, and sequencing economics to guide complex, multi-year platform programs. You will collaborate across R&D, Operations, Commercial, and strategic partners to help deliver the next wave of innovation in high-throughput sequencing—grounded in a clear, customer-first perspective. It is critical that you think beyond the sequencer and develop product strategies that meet customer needs in emerging high intensity sequencing applications.  

 

Responsibilities 

  • Provide product leadership for a complex, multi-year platform program, including business case framing, customer and market analysis, requirements definition, and strategic decision support. 

  • Lead market input to design decisions by understanding workflow needs, application requirements, competitive trends, and ecosystem dynamics (library prep, automation, informatics). 

  • Represent the customer as a critical member of the development core team, by advocating for their needs and ensuring trade off decisions do not impact Illumina’s ability to serve our customers.  

  • Engage directly with high-throughput customers—genome centers, clinical labs, research institutes, and service providers—to bring a deep, workflow-informed voice of customer into product strategy and development. 

  • Anchor product decisions in a customer-first understanding of operational constraints, workflow bottlenecks, application needs, and adoption drivers. 

  • Partner closely with R&D teams to translate customer needs and workflow insights into clear, testable product requirements and acceptance criteria. 

  • Drive cross-functional execution across chemistry, hardware, software, operations, and commercial stakeholders to ensure program alignment and readiness. 

  • Support cross-functional teams in modeling adoption patterns, sequencing volume drivers, workflow considerations, and platform economics to inform platform and portfolio decisions. 

  • Collaborate with Regional Marketing, Product Management, and the Commercial Organization to align on messaging, positioning, launch plans, and customer engagement strategies. 

  • Develop clear materials and frameworks to support executive decision-making, including product trade-offs, opportunity assessments, and roadmap recommendations. 

  • Work with commercial teams to create and deliver sales tools, positioning guidance, objection handling, and customer-facing content. 

  • Build strong relationships with internal and external partners, key opinion leaders, and ecosystem stakeholders to stay ahead of emerging customer and technology trends. 

  • Represent the platform strategy across internal teams and drive clarity on product direction, customer value, and business impact. 

Requirements 

  • Typically requires a minimum of 12 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 12 years and a Master's degree; or a PhD with 8 years of experience; or equivalent experience

  • Strong technical knowledge of NGS platforms, workflows, and high-throughput sequencing applications. 

  • Demonstrated ability to integrate customer insights, technical constraints, and business drivers into clear product strategy and requirements. 

  • Demonstrated ability to operate as a customer-first product leader, grounding product decisions in real customer workflows, technical realities, and long-term adoption dynamics. 

  • Experience working in highly cross-functional, matrixed environments with R&D, Operations, Finance, and Commercial teams. 

  • Proven analytical strength, with the ability to interpret complex data, model businesses cases and link analysis to strategic decisions. 

  • Strong communication and executive-level presentation skills. 

  • Experience supporting or launching products in clinical genomics, high-throughput research, or sequencing operations is highly desirable. 

  • Demonstrated understanding of ecosystem dependencies (workflow integration, automation, informatics, sample logistics) and how they influence customer adoption. 

  • Up to 30% travel may be . 

 

 

The estimated base salary range for the Sr. Staff Product Manager role based in the United States of America is: $155,600 - $233,400. Should the level or location of the role change during the hiring process, the applicable base pay range may be updated accordingly. The range reflects long‑term growth in the role; therefore, most candidates are hired between the minimum and middle of the range. Placement depends on experience, skills, location, and internal equity. Additionally, all employees are eligible for one of our variable cash programs (bonus or commission) and eligible roles may receive equity as part of the compensation package. We offer a wide range of benefits as innovative as our work, including access to genomics sequencing, family planning, health/dental/vision, retirement benefits, and paid time off.


We are a company deeply rooted in belonging, promoting an inclusive environment where employees feel valued and empowered to contribute to our mission. Built on a strong foundation, Illumina has always prioritized openness, collaboration, and seeking alternative perspectives to propel innovation in genomics. We are proud to confirm a zero-net gap in pay, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or race. We also have several Employee Resource Groups (ERG) that deliver career development experiences, increase cultural awareness, and offer opportunities to engage in social responsibility. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to providing employment opportunity regardless of sex, race, creed, color, gender, religion, marital status, domestic partner status, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, pregnancy, military or veteran status, citizenship status, and genetic information. Illumina conducts background checks on applicants for whom a conditional offer of employment has been made. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable local, state, and federal laws. Background check results may potentially result in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment. The background check process and any decisions made as a result shall be made in accordance with all applicable local, state, and federal laws. Illumina prohibits the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the application and interview process. If you require accommodation to complete the application or interview process, please contact [email protected]. To learn more, visit: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf. The position will be posted until a final candidate is selected or the requisition has a sufficient number of qualified applicants.