Senior Manager, Technical Product Management

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The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:
 

Grade: Management Technical 714

Job Description

The Senior Manager for Technical Product Management is responsible for bringing the portfolio vision to life and delivering business value through the shared execution of product roadmaps in their portfolio. They are responsible for leading a team of product managers and working closely with business and technology leaders to develop, communicate and deliver portfolio outcomes and KPIs.

 

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Leads a team of product managers to execute on the vision/roadmaps for the portfolio, ensuring delivery goals and quality goals are met.
• Collaborates with senior leaders on product strategy and the long-term roadmap for the platform and the portfolio.
• Hires, develops, and inspires each individual to do their best work and foster team collaboration and enforce best practices.
• Collaborates with key stakeholders, product managers, engineering directors and other leaders on portfolio prioritization, balancing stakeholder initiative level priorities with portfolio health needs to maximize value and minimize risk.
• Leads portfolio planning including balancing intra-portfolio priorities with dependencies from other portfolios to sequence upcoming work.
• Leads portfolio Steering Committees with key stakeholders to provide transparency and elevate key decisions and issues to “steer” the portfolio in the best direction possible
• Actively works to resolve blockers and risks for the portfolio and leads teams to validate assumptions and analyze and communicate trade-offs to guide portfolio decisions.
• Be the domain expert on the portfolio, including the technology used, integrations and dependencies. Knowledgeable on how the associated products are used in the industry and understand the latest relevant technologies, vendors, innovations, and forward-thinking trends.
• Collaborates with engineering and business leaders on buy/build decisions, the selection and sourcing of WGU software and provides leadership to the RFI and RFP vendor selection process.
• Utilizes customer feedback, market research and industry data to inform product technology strategy.
• Leads in the development and launch of products and services for students and staff-facing solution.
• Maintains and builds relationships with business owners, stakeholders, team members and key vendors.
• Accountable for ensuring portfolio KPIs and service levels meet defined goals and measure of success targets and uses data to inform/defend prioritization decisions.
• Shared accountability with engineering for portfolio health and product quality and leading team in product stabilization, performance, and proactive monitoring and improvements
• Participates in product management leadership meetings and decision making.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skill and Abilities:

• Expertise in setting strategic direction and synthesizing multiple initiatives and products together to deliver on outcomes.
• Demonstrated experience working in the Agile Scrum framework with complex products and multiple teams.
• Comfortable with ambiguity and prepared to act with incomplete information.
• Excellent communication and people skills
• Thrives working collaboratively as part of a team in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to effectively influence, persuade and negotiate with multiple levels including executive leadership.
• Understanding of technical concepts and ability to communicate them to non-technical audiences.
• Analytical and quantitative skills to use data and metrics to back up assumptions, surface recommendations and drive decisions. Ability to clearly communicate these data insights to others.

Competencies:

Organizational Impact:

• Develops plan to accomplish division or job area responsibilities that align with department.
• Performance may affect department results.
• Work requires some knowledge of the University to recognize impact of decisions made.
• Compiles data to prepare budgets.
• Problem Solving and Decision Making:
• Responsible for making improvements of processes or systems to enhance performance of the job area.
• Accountable for coordinating activities and maintaining relationships with internal (and occasionally external) parties.
• Assignments received and problems faced are broad and undefined, and require use of analytical concepts, investigation, and knowledge from prior experience.

Communication and Influence:

• Communicates within job area and often with external groups and external facing professionals (i.e. Admissions)
• Communicates frequently with external groups on routine and more complex matters.
• Ensures compliance with university policies and procedures within job area and may influence others outside of job area to justify and gain cooperation for policies, practices, and procedures.

Leadership and Talent Management:

• Manages a team of professionals. Manages the work of assigned employees and/or supervisors who generally exercise some latitude and independence in their assignments.
• Ensures proper training of team members, and actively participates in hiring, firing, and promotion decisions. Conducts performance reviews and recommends salary reviews.
• Primarily achieves goals through leading a team.

Job Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
• 7 years of demonstrated experience as a software Product Manager, Product Owner, or Group Product Manager.
• Requirements for specific software experience will vary based on available product positions.
• Experience directly leading and managing a team.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree
• Experience in Education technology, higher education, or related market.
• Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) or other equivalent certification (e.g. Pragmatic Marketing)
• Certified in change management.

This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year). Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed. Additional travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements.

Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.