Job Title: Product Manager/Product Owner

Department: Information Technology

Reports To: Director of Technology

Location: Woodbridge, GTA

Industry: Information Technology

This is a hybrid role in a duel-capacity of Product Manager (PM) and Product Owner (PO).  In most cases, the PM will also act as the PO for one of their product streams.  The ideal candidate will have a background in PM with experience in IT delivery as a PO.  A background in business analysis would also be beneficial. 

As a Product Manager:

• responsible for strategically prioritizing and managing current or proposed features/solutions across one or more interrelated domains within a domain group.
• The PM is charged with acting as a domain champion who is responsible for considering the domain holistically, ensuring that solutions are considered beyond the context of the project/s that they are conceived for.
• The PM must determine the best sequencing of projects in order to achieve business goals and provide hands-on support and guidance to seeing them through from concept to completion. The PM must possess the capability to clearly articulate the increments required to deliver on higher-level initiatives and works with stakeholders across the organization to create, manage, and prioritize the resulting product backlogs and roadmaps.
• The PM may work collaboratively with one or more Product Owners to ensure the effective day to day management of one or more backlogs. They are also required to collaborate with Enterprise Architects to ensure that the strategies and technologies employed are in alignment with the organization’s enterprise architecture, goals and strategies.  This necessitates knowledge of end users’ needs, domain knowledge of the space itself, and the longer-term technology roadmap owned by IT.
• The PM will work with agile implementation teams and/or third-party vendors and contractors in order to deliver on IT strategies and solutions. As a result, experience working in an Agile environment is a must and managing vendor contracts /executing on contract negotiations is considered an asset. The PM must be well versed in creating and delivering business cases and solution-centric financial models in order to support product roadmaps and decisions. 
• The PM will be responsible for tracking and reporting on the full cost of each initiative in their domain group.  This information will be used to make and communicate decisions on the inclusion or exclusion of features, technologies, and underlying automation, taking into account the full operational life of the product or features.  The PM will also provide tracking and reporting on the cost, performance, and effectiveness of each product/feature in their domain group.

As a Product Owner:

• responsible for the Product Backlog for a specific development effort. The PO works with stakeholders across the organization to create, manage, and prioritize the product backlog. This necessitates knowledge of end users needs, domain knowledge of the space itself (e.g., BPM, CRM), and the longer-term technology roadmap owned by IT.
• The PO must break down backlog items – from large epics and features groups, to specific/granular user stories. The ideal candidate will have a background in product management as well as customer relationship management. A background in business analysis would also be beneficial.

As a Product Manager:

• Develop a deep and broad understanding of the entire business, with an emphasis on expertise within a Domain Group 
• Domain Ownership:  Manage solutions that span multiple projects/initiatives in order to build scalable solution sets that do not just simply meet the ‘one-off’ needs of a given IT project or initiative
• Thought leadership: Think beyond the immediate short-term requirements to delivery of a broad set of interrelated solutions that fit the long-term needs of the organization
• Process Leadership: Work with Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and delivery teams to ensure that the process to delivery is scalable, repeatable and reliable
• Work with business stakeholders, senior management and internal IT stakeholders in order to build strategic, solution focused product roadmaps that deliver on higher level business objectives
• Collaborate with Enterprise Architects to ensure that the strategies and technologies employed are in alignment with the organization’s enterprise architecture, goals and strategies. 
• Communicate constantly with other Product Managers and Product Owners to align roadmaps and provide complimentary products and Liaise with business, IT and management stakeholders to garner agreement on initiatives and solutions
• Effectively manage and balance large-scale initiatives, enhancements, and maintenance activities
• Estimate, communicate, and defend an annual budget for each domain in product group and provide accurate quarterly actuals and forecasts
• Track, communicate, and be accountable for scope, timelines, and financials to IT Management, Business Stake Holders and Senior Management
• Track, communicate, and be accountable for the operational cost, quality, stability, and effectiveness of domain to IT Management, Business Stake Holders and Senior Management.
• Maintain and communicate changes to Product Domain Documents for each product in domain group
• Work collaboratively with one or more product owners to ensure the effective day to day management of one or more backlogs
• Product roadmap management
• High level and detailed requirements gathering
• Research & analyze a broad range of products and services and industry trends
• Manage customer, internal stakeholder, and vendor expectations
• Manage/oversee vendor relationships, overseeing & managing RFP/RFI efforts as well as contract & pricing negotiations
• Foster open communication/transparency using frequent & regular reporting

As a Product Owner:

• High level and detailed requirements gathering
• Ability to story map and visually depict requirements
• Product roadmap management
• Gather customer satisfaction data and recommend changes for improvement
• Engage Business users to define priorities requiring the support of IT
• Research & analyze a broad range of products and services and industry trends
• Manage customer, internal stakeholder, and vendor expectations
• Manage/oversee vendor relationships, overseeing & managing RFP/RFI efforts as well as contract & pricing negotiations
• Foster open communication/transparency using frequent & regular Reporting

• 3+ years of Product Management experience in software and IT services industry
• 3+ years of Product Owner experience in an Agile Scrum organization
• 10+ years of Information Technology experience delivering enterprise software solutions
• Must have training and/or direct experience with Agile Scrum
• Technically literate, familiar with emerging technologies and trends in information architecture
• Strong knowledge and/or aptitude for market & product analysis, business analysis & requirements gathering
• Experience with backlog/portfolio management tools
• Business Process Modelling experience an asset
• Must be comfortable with a user centric design approach, driving requirements through use case modelling and storyboarding
• Must be able to author/drive creation of Business Cases and product centric financial models 
• Knowledge of Enterprise Architecture and IT governance
• Mid level to senior knowledge of Business Analysis standards/tools and methodologies
• Must have experience with vendor management, procurement management, and contract negotiation
• Highly motivated, natural leader with initiative and passion to succeed in an informal, fast paced environment
• Strong communication skills. (Presentation skills, written and verbal)
• Ability to build effective relationships with a range of stakeholders and partners
• Strong abilities to garner trust and credibility from stakeholders and team members. Display a sense of ownership, and exhibit flexibility, resilience, and resourcefulness
• Relevant university degree/college diploma