Director – Data Product Management

Job Description

In this role, you will be responsible for driving the development and management of data products that drive insights, innovation, and value for our organization. As a change agent, you will lead transformative initiatives, fostering continuous improvement and a robust data culture. This position offers an exciting opportunity for a seasoned leader with a strong background in product management, analytics, and data strategy to shape the strategic direction of our data initiatives and drive business growth through data-driven decision-making.

Position location – This position is eligible for a hybrid schedule. You can expect to work Tuesday – Thursday onsite at one of our hub offices (Oak Creek, WI; Deerfield, IL; North Olmsted, OH; San Francisco, CA) while Monday and Friday are remote.

RESPONSIBLIITIES:

What you will be doing

• Strategic Leadership: Develop and communicate the strategic vision for our data products, aligning with the organization’s overall goals and objectives. Define and execute a roadmap for data product development, prioritizing initiatives that deliver maximum impact and value.
• Product Development and Delivery: Lead a team of data product managers and cross-functional experts to deliver high-quality data products that meet the needs of internal and external stakeholders. Oversee the end-to-end product development lifecycle, from ideation and requirements gathering to launch and iteration, ensuring timely delivery and adherence to quality standards.
• Agility with Business Value Focus: Support and advocate for agile methodologies to ensure flexible, iterative development processes that deliver incremental business value. Partner with scrum masters on agile ceremonies such as sprint planning, stand-ups, and retrospectives to keep the team focused on continuous improvement and rapid delivery of features.
• User Experience and Adoption: Champion the needs of our internal and external users, ensuring that data products are intuitive, accessible, and valuable. Gather feedback, conduct user research, and iterate on features to continuously improve the user experience and drive adoption of data products across the organization.
• Team Leadership and Development: Provide strategic direction, mentorship, and support to a team of data product managers, analysts and scrum masters, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous learning. Empower team members to excel in their roles, develop their skills, and achieve their career goals.
• Data Monetization and Business Growth: Identify opportunities to monetize our data assets through new products, features, or partnerships. Collaborate with business development and sales teams to package and market data products to external customers or partners, driving revenue growth and business expansion.
• Data Governance and Quality: Enforce data governance policies and processes to ensure the quality, integrity, and security of our data assets. Partner with the Master Data Management & Governance team to define standards and best practices for data management, documentation, and compliance, ensuring alignment with regulatory requirements and industry standards.
• Delivery Management: Ensure the timely delivery of data products, managing project timelines, scope, and resources effectively. Implement best practices for project management to track progress, mitigate risks, and ensure successful delivery.

Qualifications

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience: Minimum of 8-10 years of experience in product management across data, business intelligence and data science products. 
• Strategic Thinking/Visionary: Strategic thinker with a proven ability to define a long-term vision for data products and execute on short-term goals. Experience developing product roadmaps, business cases, and go-to-market strategies, with a focus on driving business growth and competitive advantage.
• Cross Functional Collaboration: Proven track record of successfully leading cross-functional teams to deliver data-driven solutions that drive business impact and innovation.  Strong record of demonstrating the value proposition to business stakeholders and engaging them in development of data products.
• Delivery Management Skills: Proven experience in project management and delivery, with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, meet deadlines, and ensure high-quality outcomes.
• Communication and Influence: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders in a clear and concise manner. Experience presenting to executive leadership and influencing decision-making at all levels of the organization.
• Technical Expertise: Strong understanding of data management principles, database technologies, and analytics tools. Experience with data visualization, data modeling, and SQL is highly desirable. Familiarity with cloud data platforms and data integration tools (e.g.,Snowflake, DBT, etc) is a plus.
• Analytical Mindset: Ability to analyze complex data sets, extract actionable insights, and translate them into product requirements and strategic recommendations. Comfortable working with both structured and unstructured data, and skilled at turning data into compelling narratives and recommendations.
• Leadership and Collaboration: Strong leadership and people management skills, with a track record of building and motivating high-performing teams. Proven ability to collaborate effectively across functions and departments, build strong relationships, and drive alignment towards common goals.
• Agile Expertise: Extensive experience with agile methodologies, including Scrum or Kanban, and the ability to implement agile practices to deliver value incrementally. Experience leading agile transformations and fostering an agile mindset within teams.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Business Administration, or a related field. Advanced degree (e.g., MBA) or relevant certifications (e.g., Certified Scrum Product Owner) are a plus.
• Digital Transformation: Experience leading data related digital transformation work for a large organization.
• Data Science: Data science product experience tied to delivering business value across varied functions of an organization.