Product Manager – Senior

Job Title: Product Manager Senior
Client: I&IT Strategy and Cyber Security
Ministry: Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement

Location: St. Catharines Ontario
Work Model: Hybrid

Security Clearance: CRJMC

Through ongoing product management monitoring and reporting services required to be performed by the product manager shall include:

Identifying strategic and operational requirements of specific product management environment for IT initiatives.

Providing ongoing advice on refinements and enhancements to the organizations 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.

Deliverables expected to be produced could include:

Product vision and road map (now near and future timeline)

Product strategy: target audience (end-users) problems youre 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 mitiga tion strategies

Communications to senior management level including executive summaries and product status updates as required.

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 Microsoft Whiteboard Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Teams

Knowledge of Backlog Management tools such as Azure DevOps

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

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 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

Ability to articulate and prioritize issues and risks at program management and senior executive level and recommend mitigation strategies for decision makers

Basic Knowledge in Microsoft Azure cloud platform

Knowledge of Backlog Management tools such as Azure DevOps

Nice to Have:

OPS or public sector exp.