Manager of Product - Data

Job Responsibilities

• Thoroughly understand the company’s data assets, customer needs, and the market to create and drive effective product strategy to support the company’s overall strategy and goals. 
• Work with sales and marketing teams to develop product pricing and positioning strategies.
• Manage the product lifecycle from planning through development, launch, and ongoing product enhancements.  Support the definition, development, and delivery of the product(s) following the RouteOne systems lifecycle process. 
• Identify dealership and finance source problems through market research including visits to dealer and finance source customers.  Communicate dealer and finance source needs via clearly defined and detailed problem statements.
• Translate dealer and finance source needs into clearly defined and detailed product requirements.Identify and resolve issues with key internal, customer, and partner stakeholders. 
• Define the solutions for validated and known market problems by writing detailed requirements, user stories, and maintaining a product backlog.
• Work with development team(s) to groom and refine the product backlog to ensure the development team works on priority items from the perspective of the stakeholders.
• Interact with customers to deliver enhancements to their specifications when custom functionality is required. Work with user experience designer to define how users will interact with the product(s). 
• Understand the competitive landscape and expectations of persons (users and buyers) interacting with the product.
• Ensure acceptance criteria are met.
• Coordinate, facilitate, and conduct regular product updates. 
• Develop and maintain the long-term product roadmap.
• Create and maintain competitive / strategic analysis matrix for assigned products.  
• Develop business plans for new products and product enhancements to ensure they align with the goals of the organization.
• Ensure profitable decisions for the organization by providing support for the financial aspects of product development.
• Ensure product objectives are met across organization through management of a team of Product Owners, including monitoring workflow, meeting deadlines, and addressing issues, as well as identifying and mitigating risks.
• Responsible for appropriate communication and coordination across products and departments and within the organization. Coordinate, facilitate, and conduct regular project reviews with each stakeholder across the organization. 
• Coordinate with Legal and Security department to ensure any legal- or security- specific requirements are contemplated and addressed.
• Develop and implement go-to-market plan, coordinating with all departments to achieve a successful launch.
• Support dealer and finance source sales efforts as needed for assigned projects (including creation of sales materials and delivery of presentations).    
• Manage vendor relationships and support contract negotiations when necessary.
• Act as subject-matter expert for functional product area(s).
• Maintain safety, security, and privacy standards throughout all areas of responsibility.

Knowledge

• Strong knowledge of automotive financing dealer and finance source processes.
• Knowledgeable in technology (specifically software).
• Familiar with agile software implementation methodologies.

Skills

• Proficient in Microsoft Office products including but not limited to Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, and Visio.
• Experience with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms.
• Familiarity with software mockup and prototyping tools such as Axure or Balsamiq.
• Familiarity with issue tracking tools such as JIRA.

Abilities

• Ability to think critically.
• Ability to work in a team environment.
• Time management.
• Experience in owning and managing projects as well as displaying strong leadership and facilitation skills.
• Ability to lead, mentor and develop team members.
• Effective verbal and written communication skills, including presentation skills.
• Problem solver with a strong solution / implementation focus.
• High degree of flexibility and adaptability and conflict management capability.
• Self-motivated, self-directed, and politically astute; able to communicate effectively with all levels of enterprise and partner organizations. 

Other Essential Requirements

• Experience managing data products and/or SaaS analytics products.
• B.S. in Computer Science or related work experience in a software development environment.
• 7+ years of overall experience and 4+ years in Product Management.
• Sales and Marketing experience, specifically focused on new Product Development.
• Pragmatic Marketing certification a plus.
• Willingness to travel - This position requires occasional travel to customer sites in North America (10%).