Product Manager - (Immediate Opening)

Role Mission: The Product Manager is responsible for managing the IDEA software development product development cycle from the concept to the production stage.  The ideal candidate will provide optimization of the development process by establishing the “what” and “why” of a development sprint by gathering user input to prioritize software requirements, regularly review correct implementation, aid with training tasks for the support team, and create innovative strategies to adapt to newer technologies.

Additionally, the role serves to maximize product success by foreseeing stakeholder and end-user demands based on their business needs and serves as a liaison between stakeholders and the development/implementation teams. This role is responsible for ensuring that best practices are followed, goals are met, and projects and related operations are conducted effectively during development. The Product Manager is often in charge of coordinating product-implementation strategies to ensure that operations are properly conducted.

This is a full-time (remote or on-site) position based in Texas with preference given to candidates who live in (Austin, El Paso, Greater Houston, Permian Basin, Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, Tarrant County), or who are willing to relocate. This team member will be a part of the national IDEA Software Development Team and will report to the Lead Product Manager. Minimum travel is expected or required to complete expected responsibilities.

Compensation & Benefits:

Salaries for people entering this role typically fall between $66,626 and $80,618, commensurate with relevant experience and qualifications and in alignment with internal equity. This role is also eligible for a performance bonus based on individual and organizational performance and goal attainment. 

Additionally, we offer medical, dental, vision, and supplemental benefits as well as retirement plans and a generous vacation package. You can find more information about our benefits at https://ideapublicschools.org/careers/benefits/.

* IDEA may offer a relocation stipend to defray the cost of moving for this role, if applicable.

In this role you will:

• Develop product vision, strategy, and roadmap for new software initiatives
• Create, prioritize, and evangelize the product roadmap to inspire internal teams and end-users
• Establish strong relationships with business partners and executive leadership
• Partner with key stakeholders to define business requirements, product design, deployment, and adoption
• Determine the demand for instructional oriented software products and services within IDEA Public Schools
• Draw on educated assumptions and strong analytics to inform the roadmap
• Gather business requirements in collaboration with upper management
• Oversee product development and monitor trends that indicate the need for new products and services
• Closely collaborate with development team to ensure that deadlines are met and/or slippage is proactively communicated
• Build backlog for new and existing products according to IDEA standards in place
• Assist in the deployment activities with marketing, stakeholders, and development team(s)
• Partner with the development team in creating estimates for the time necessary to complete work
• Partner with the development team in calculating risks and measuring feasibility with allocated resources
• Ensure product documentation and training materials are kept up to date

Required experience:

• Education: Bachelor's degree from four-year college or university in Information Technology/Computer Science
• Certifications (One or more preferred)
  • Certified Product Manager (CPM)
  • Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
  • Project Management Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)
• Year of Experience
  • Minimum of 2 years of product/project management experience in the software industry
• Required technology
  • Working knowledge of Agile/Scrum
• Preferred experience
  • 5+ year of product/project management experience in the software industry within an Agile organization

Goals:

As a part of the Software Development Product Management team, you will contribute to reaching the following ambitious goals:

100% of all Software Development agile development will be tracked, monitored and reported to achieve 80% overall averaged planned-to-done ratios.  Support for this departmental goal includes the following activities:

• Management of central product management system (Wrike).
• Cycle Time will be evaluated based on developer time entry in Wrike on a monthly basis and reported through the Wrike platform. Support for internal developers on time entry would be needed.
• In collaboration with end-users and stakeholders, develop user stories, capturing needs and requirements to then enter on Wrike. .
• When appropriate, facilitate focus groups during the requirements phase(s).
• In collaboration with primary stakeholders and the internal software development team, confirm and facilitate prioritized monthly sprints across products.
• Develop areas of needed clarity with stakeholders/end-users and communicate needed changes organized within sprints to the development team in a timely manner.

100% of all Software Development agile development will be tracked, monitored, and reported to achieve specific trends in the areas of cycle time (negative trend).  Cycle time is highly correlated to fluid communications.

Support for this departmental goal includes the following activities:

• Execute and follow document deployment best practices and protocols, administration processes, emergency protocols for all core projects.
• Collaborate with the Managing Director of Software Development, Scrum Master, and Lead Product Manager to develop areas of needed clarity with stakeholders/end-users and communicate needed changes organized within sprints to the development team in a timely manner.
• Collaborate with the Managing Director of Software Development, Scrum Master, Lead Product Manager and developers to organize work streams and develop end to end story points (i.e., story points which include the quality assurance process) to ensure estimate accuracy based on available information.

100% of cycle-based products and new region launches are successfully launched by the first day of school (FDOS), first day of physical return to classrooms (FDPR), and/or start of initiative

• Areas for evaluation include data warehouse, custom application, and business intelligence roll-overs, archival, and new student information system data platform integrations.

80% market share for dashboards with an average net promoter score growth of 5 or more across surveyed, mature dashboard products.

• Seasonal dashboards without an end of year result based on the COVID impact will be surveyed for market share but not included in averages.
• Year-round dashboards will be surveyed for market share and net promoter score averages from beginning to end of year. To be included, the dashboard must be surveyed at least 3 times, preferably beginning, middle, and end of year.
• Developing or new product surveys will be surveyed as a minimal viable product and that data used for strategy purposes but will not be included in market share or net promoter score averages.
• Market share users will be surveyed if they have accessed and used the product. A follow-up question will be given as to why they’re not using it and the other product they are potential replacements.

85% of 30-day backlog is ready before monthly sprint retrospective ceremonies

• Backlog review meetings are held at a weekly basis and will discuss 30- and 90-day backlog being built by Product Managers. A backlog report will be conducted at a monthly basis using Wrike in determining the monthly percentage.
• The “Pre-Dev Status” field within Wrike will be leveraged for reporting purposes. The status of “Ready to Develop” will determine completion rate of backlog.
• Besides the completion status the criteria needed for completion is as follows: / Intended Audience/ Stakeholder Champions/ Request Rationale /Request Details/Success Criteria.

We look for Team and Family who embody the following values and characteristics: 

• Believes and is committed to our mission and being an agent of change: that all students are capable of getting to and through college  
• Has demonstrated effective outcomes and results, and wants to be held accountable for them 
• Has a propensity for action, willing to make mistakes by doing in order to learn and improve quickly 
• Works with urgency and purpose to drive student outcomes 
• Thrives in an entrepreneurial, high-growth environment; is comfortable with ambiguity and change 
• Seeks and responds well to feedback, which is shared often and freely across all levels of the organization 
• Works through silos and forges strong cross-departmental relationships in order to achieve outcomes 
• We believe in education as a profession and hold ourselves to high level of conduct, professionalism and behaviors as models for our colleagues and students. 

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

At IDEA we recognize that racism, bias, and privilege exist in society. We are committed to an organizational culture that promotes awareness, kindness, and inclusivity for our students and staff, and supports their path to positively impact our broader society. We are committed to recognizing the impact of racism and privilege, and commit as an organization to have equitable practices, policies, and structures.

Visit https://ideapublicschools.org/dei/ to learn about IDEA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Anti-Racist and Anti-Bias commitment.

Learn more about IDEA

• https://ideapublicschools.org/our-approach/
• https://ideapublicschools.org/our-story/impact-magazine/
• https://ideapublicschools.org/our-story/history/
• https://ideapublicschools.org/blog/introducing-our-revised-core-values/