Posted by: "Sarah Paterson" Sarah.Paterson@zed.COM
Date: Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:01 pm ((PDT))
Zed USA (www.zed.com
MISSION:
The Senior Product Manager has partial P&L accountability, empowered to lead and specify strategic and tactical direction for certain products, programs and services under their control. To fulfill this duty, he or she interacts with all departments in the organization functioning as a domain expert and leader, specifying direction and implementing department goals.
MAIN DUTIES / FUNCTIONS:
The Senior Product Manager may supervise up to 2 Product Managers or Associate Product Managers.
P&L Accountability.
Product Planning (positioning, market requirements definition, product roadmaps, use cases, release milestones).
Product Strategy (business cases, pricing, buy/build/partner decisions, product portfolio management).
Program Strategy (marketing plan support, customer acquisition and retention strategies, launch planning, success stories).
Sales and Channel Support (business development support, contractual review, collateral and sales tool development, presentation and demos, event support, customer care management, answer desk, troubleshooting).
Market Analysis (market research, defining market problems, technology assessment, competitive analysis).
Quantitative Analysis (operational metrics, market sizing, product performance).
The Senior Product Manager can be required to step in and support multiple activities within the organization due to their cross-functional capabilities and domain expertise. This can include more direct involvement in business development, marketing, and engineering. The frequency depends on the needs and priorities of the organization. The activities are typically an extension of their existing responsibilities and duties.
The Senior Product Manager can serve indirectly as a mentor to other members of the organization due to their domain knowledge and cross-functional capabilities.
The Senior Product Manager interacts regularly with all teams within the organization in the execution of their duties. Additionally, the Senior Product Manager interacts occasionally with customers, clients and partners of the organization both directly in the execution of their duties and indirectly in the support of other teams.
With P&L accountability, the Senior Product Manager has visibility into the financial performance of certain business units, visibility into some intellectual property, visibility into some contractual terms signed between the company and external partners, visibility into partner information that is covered by mutual NDA processes between the company and its clients and partners. As a result, the Senior Product Manager also has a responsibility to safeguard this information.
The Senior Product Manager must exhibit flexibility, vision and communication skills that are not normally required of most members of the organization. They must cultivate leadership without direct line of authority, understand the market and communicate their vision with clarity, translate that vision into specifics and switch gears frequently to support different needs.
Must balance product planning in the fulfillment of their duties while taking initiative to change direction where necessary and as directed to meet departmental goals. All job duties described for this role have planning and opportunistic facets.
The Senior Product Manager has the ability to define direction for products, services and programs with supervisor input. Specific tactical elements are under the direct control of the Senior Product Manager. It is necessary, though not required, to gain stakeholder buy in.
The Senior Product Manager is provided departmental goals and a product strategy and works to build a plan to implement those goals and strategy. Updates are two-way and provided weekly. Work instructions are usually broad though some instructions can be specific and tactical depending on the needs of the organization and the project at hand.
The Senior Product Manager builds and maintains relationships with all teams in the organization. A presentation has been developed (See Prod Mgmt Process – Swimlanes.ppt) that explains the role Product Management has towards different departments in the organization.
The Senior Product Manager is a domain expert and leader within the organization and provides mentorship, guidance and direction to other departments. A presentation has been developed (See Prod Mgmt Process – Swimlanes.ppt) that explains the role Product Management has towards different departments in the organization.
The Senior Product Manager travels approximately 5% to 10% during the year.
QUALIFICATION / KNOWLEDGE:
The Senior Product Manager is expected to hold a bachelor degree at a minimum
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
It is expected they will have 5+ years of experience with at least 3+ years of Product Management experience
MBA or previous experience in financial services is desired.
Familiarity with database design and output – previous experience with SQL server based db cubes is desired.
