Product Manager

Project Overview

Key Responsibilities

• Identifying strategic and operational requirements of specific product management environment for IT initiatives.
• Providing ongoing advice on refinements and enhancements to the organization’s product management delivery processes.
• Developing product design criteria, planning activities, business objectives, communication and reporting protocols, implementing planning, product prioritization and phasing strategies, issues management, quality assessment and transition requirements.
• Directing, coordinating and monitoring product management activities to ensure timely, cost-effective and high-quality business and customer-focused results
• Articulate the product vision and product strategy - so the product team knows why they are undertaking the effort of building the product, and what the plan for doing so is.
• Prioritize features & manage the backlog - So the product team has a shared focus across tactical design and development work.
• Establish and track against measurable objectives - So the product team knows whether they are on the right path or not.
• Decide when to ship software - So customers can experience the benefits of the product as soon as possible, and the product team can continue to gather valuable feedback about how to iterate on the product.
• Continually de-risk product direction - So the product team only builds the features they should build, based on validated customer problems and business opportunities, and increase the likelihood that the product will be successful in the market
• Communicate effectively - So the product team, stakeholders and sponsors are all aligned, and momentum is maintained.
• Product vision and road map (now, near, and future timeline)
• Product strategy: target audience (end-users), problems you’re trying to solve, value propositions
• Customer discovery insights through end-user research activities
• Product features and functions through product management backlog and the authoring of user stories with the business product owner
• Product key performance Indicators (KPIs) or success criteria including a metrics dashboard
• Product decision and direction rationales
• Product wins (success stories)
• Continuous shipping of product features to improve upon the minimal viable product produced by the product team through user-centred design processes and agile (scrum) delivery methodologies
• Product risk mitigation strategies
• Communications to senior management level including executive summaries, and product status updates as required.

Qualifications & Requirements

REQUIRED

• Must be able to work onsite
• 10+ years of exp
• Demonstrated experience in communication and mediation skills with business teams and core team members to ensure Client products are progressing according to schedule or product road map
• Experience with identification to risk events and issues before they occur so that proper mitigating strategies can be developed.
• Ability to delivery on a product with a balanced team (product owner, user experience designers, developers) utilizing Agile (SCRUM) delivery methodologies. Scrum master experience is preferred.
• Strong interpersonal and negotiation skills
• Strong presentation, verbal and written communication skills

NICE TO HAVE

• OPS experience

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Relationship Management - 35%

• Demonstrated experience in communication and mediation skills with business teams and core team members to ensure Client products are progressing according to schedule or product road map
• Demonstrated experience in team building, consensus building and relationship management skills
• Experience with strategies and actions to overcome resistance to change and capitalize on forces in support of change during all stages of products – Discovery, Alpha, Beta, Live or similar delivery methodologies

Product Management – Knowledge, Risks, Issues, Scheduling & Reporting - 35%

• Experience with identification to risk events and issues before they occur so that proper mitigating strategies can be developed.
• Ability to articulate and prioritize issues and risks at program management and senior executive level and recommend mitigation strategies for decision makers
• Ability to create and maintain a product road map which describes how your product is likely to evolve over time.
• Ability to delivery on a product with a balanced team (product owner, user experience designers, developers) utilizing Agile (SCRUM) delivery methodologies. Scrum master experience is preferred.
• Experience gathering and developing requirements in order to create and maintain a detailed product schedule and/or integrated plan
• Experience with product program, and/or portfolio reporting to multi-stakeholders at senior executive levels;
• Experience with participating in steering committee and stakeholder forums.

Technical Skills - 10%

• Basic Knowledge in Microsoft Azure cloud platform
• Knowledge of online collaboration tools such as MIRO, Atlassian Confluence and Trello, Microsoft Office 365, Google Drive, Zoom, Slack and Microsoft Teams
• Knowledge of Backlog Management tools such as JIRA, Azure DevOps, Pivotal Tracker

Soft skills - 20%

• Strong interpersonal and negotiation skills
• Strong presentation, verbal and written communication skills
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving and decision-making skills
• A team player with a track record for meeting deadlines and delivering high profile, high risk, complex initiatives

Key Skills & Competencies

Microsoft Azure, MIRO, Atlassian Confluence, Trello, Microsoft Office 365, Google Drive, Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, JIRA, Azure DevOps, Pivotal Tracker, Agile, Scrum