Director of Product Programs & Lifecycle Management

Position Summary

Candid is a nonprofit that provides the most comprehensive data and insights about the social sector. We get you the information you need to do good. Candid currently has an opportunity for a Director of Product Programs to lead Product Lifecycle Management. We are seeking an individual deeply experienced in the process aspects of product management, product development and release management. This role provides organizing oversight, leadership and communication for the evergreen cycle of product ideation, specification, design, build and release. They work closely with product managers, product leaders, organizational leadership, engineering project management, product marketing, and growth to ensure timely two-way communication and delivery in the formulation of product goals, value propositions, user stories and feature requirements to implementation teams. The position requires a high degree of organization, excellent communication practices, curiosity, flexibility, and constructive engagement.

Position Title:Director of Product Programs & Lifecycle Management

Reporting to: VP of Product Management

Supervises: Project Manager

Schedule: 35-hour work week, Monday through Friday

Compensation: $130,000-$190,000 (this range is for the NYC area and will be adjusted for other localities; additionally, factors like skills and experience will be considered).

Location: Remote. In-person attendance is expected during our annual, weeklong all-staff summit. Additionally, in-person meeting participation is expected at least once per quarter. Staff that are not in NYC are expected to travel for these meetings.

Benefits: Health insurance (medical, dental, vision), retirement contribution with additional option for a match, paid life insurance and AD&D, paid leave time (PTO, compassionate leave, volunteer, holiday, parental), short-term and long-term disability, pre-tax transit, flexible spending accounts, supplemental insurance, summer hours, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program eligible employer.

Responsibilities

• Owns, drives, monitors and evolves Candid's Product Development LifeCycle (PDLC). This includes:
• Define and communicate the PDLC phases, phase transition criteria, documents, artifacts and ceremonies.
• Monitor and ensure cross-team compliance with PDLC obligations, especially with regard to alignment on build and release estimations.
• Aggregate, organize, track and archive PDLC-related documents and artifacts.
• Convene and preside over most PDLC ceremonies and the product steering committee.

• Release organization, planning, tracking and communication. Includes:
• Own, maintain, and publish the schedule of feature initiatives and supporting user-story Epics expected to be satisfied for in each sprint-cycle (minor) release.
• Own, maintain and publish the schedule, content, user value propositions and success metrics for of each milestone (major) release.
• Support Senior Directors of Product Management in assembling and maintaining and communicating accurate product feature roadmaps.
• Identify, flag, and resolve major risks, current long pole, and gaps.
• Work back from upcoming milestone releases to determine potential dependencies and coordinate teams to mitigate delivery risks.
• Report regularly to senior leadership (including the Executive Team) as to status and metrics for progress and whether teams are track.
• Raise any resource/priority/scope tradeoffs that should be considered. Ensure there is a "plan B" fallback for any major product deliverables which could be at risk.

• Work cross functionally and with senior leaders (including executive team) to facilitate and where necessary, negotiate alignment with organizational vision, stakeholder priorities, and team capacities.
• Create an organizing and access plan for a library of Product Management documents including PDLC artifacts.
• Develop and advocate for product management recommendations for Jira best practices, configuration and training.
• Organize, schedule, drive team preparation for, and host company-wide communications from the product management division. Includes communication of roadmaps, plans, PDLC updates, PM process metrics and product analytics and metrics.
• Evolve, maintain and publish a dashboard of product management related process metrics

Requirements

• 10 years' relevant experience in product management.
• Bachelor's degree in technical field or equivalent experience.
• Expert in Atlassian products, specifically Jira and Confluence.
• Proven experienced in software release planning and execution. Must include experience with release of a high-user-count SaaS product through multiple major and minor deployments and production launch.
• Highly organized, in planning, communication and execution.
• Outstanding communicator across written, verbal and presentation formats.
• Proactive and logical in their approach to problem solving, planning, change management, and communication.
• Familiarity with Feature flags to support feature roll-out - ideal if familiar with specifically the DevCycle tool.
• Highly collaborative in their formulation of plans, strategies, and solutions.
• Forceful, effective, and efficient negotiator.
• Highly accountable and dispassionate enforcer of rules, agreements and commitments.
• Willingness to perform other duties and special projects as needed/requested.
• Sensitivity and respect for racial, gender, sexual orientation, and cultural differences.
• Champions and represents Candid's core values: We're driven, direct, accessible, curious, and inclusive.

About Candid
Every year, millions of nonprofits spend trillions of dollars around the world. Candid finds out where that money comes from, where it goes, and why it matters. Through research, collaboration, and training, we connect people who want to change the world to the resources they need to do it. Our data tools on nonprofits, foundations, and grants are the most comprehensive in the world.

Candid's vision is an ambitious one. But we know that when we make investments in our talent, it translates to more access and better knowledge for those working for social good around the world.

On February 1, 2019, Foundation Center and GuideStar joined forces to become Candid, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Candid is a qualifying nonprofit organization as defined by the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. As such, Candid employees may claim their employment time on their PSLF application. We offer a competitive salary and excellent benefits. Due to the high volume of applicants, we typically receive, we regret that we can only contact candidates that we would like to interview.

For more information on positions available at Candid, please visit our website: Work with us

Candid is an equal opportunity employer. Candid provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training. We are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and especially encourage members of underrepresented communities to apply.