Sr. Director Product Development

The Product Director oversees the development and management of system and/or technology products at CEO. This role is responsible for creating and implementing a technology product strategy that supports CEO's long-term mission, growth, and program goals. The product strategy will support operations across our 30+ sites and 600+ employees. It will create and enhance selection, integration, optimization, and usage strategies across key technology stacks utilized by our Program and Operational Teams. These include but are not limited to: our Customer Relationship Management system (Salesforce), HRIS, Learning Management System, Knowledge Management System, Financial Planning Software, Artificial Intelligence optimizations, and more.

The Product Director will streamline CEO technology systems, with success measured by alignment between technology strategy and departmental and organizational needs, efficiency created by our systems, streamlined and/or reduced system costs, strength of user experience, and enhanced organizational impact. They bridge the gap between business needs and technical feasibility, ensuring products align with strategic goals and user requirements.

As part of our mission, we strongly encourage individuals who have lived experience of incarceration or involvement in the justice system to apply for this role.

The Center for Employment Opportunities (CEO) provides employment services to people recently released from incarceration. Across the United States, 8,000-9,000 people participate in CEO each year, transitioning to employment that supports themselves, their families, and their communities.

What began as a demonstration project of the Vera Institute of Justice in the 1970s to address employment barriers facing the formerly incarcerated following release in New York City has grown into the leading reentry employment organization in the country, where over 30,000 formerly incarcerated individuals have secured full-time employment since 1996.

Who You Are

Education & Experience

• You have a degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field preferred; 8+ years experience in product management, developing and executing product strategies
• You are aligned with business goals, and 3+ years managing a team
• You have project management experience that necessitates collaboration from stakeholders outside of your reporting line
• You have proficiency in working effectively within a large, distributed, and segmented organization
• You have familiarity with user experience (UX) design and interface preferred
• You have certifications in PMP, Agile, or Product Management preferred

Competencies

• You have clear and confident communication skills to effectively communicate with technical and non-technical audiences and ability to align diverse stakeholders behind a shared product vision
• You have an analytical mindset and sound decision-making abilities that help prioritize work based on data, impact, and user needs, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions
• You have the ability to identify and solve complex problems related to product development and user experience
• You have strong collaboration skills with the ability to work seamlessly with IT, design, and business unit teams
• You have high effectiveness in project managing cross-functional teams
• You are a team player with a passion for building relationships and providing exceptional service
• You have the ability to maintain a keen attention to detail, manage competing priorities, and work well under pressure

What You'll Be Responsible For

Key responsibilities of the Director II, Product Development include but are not limited to:

Product Strategy

• Construct annual product strategy and roadmaps based on organizational goals that considers budget, organizational need, impacts on users and admins, potential constraints, and stakeholder priorities
• Monitor market trends, analyze competitor products, and identify opportunities for product innovation
• Pressure test, recommend, and adjust roadmap timelines and resource allocations to enable successful system implementations
• Develop an organizational approach to review of internal system requests, external Requests for Proposals, and procurement of new technologies - including user testing, feature assessment, and transition scoping
• Identify multi-year business and programmatic requirements for CEO
• Ensure limited to zero cross-over or duplication of functionality/data storage across multiple applications and technologies
• Identify roadmap risks and develop mitigation strategies to minimize potential issues and ensure success
• Build dashboards, methodologies, and rigorous, automated processes to track progress against strategy and roadmaps
• Discover variances from roadmap timelines and implement corrective actions
• Create a framework for decisions on timelines for product review, transitioning to a new product, or building a native product for CEO's needs
• Consult on the design of the Product Management Team

Product Development

• Collaborate with business unit leads and stakeholders to define project scopes, objectives, and deliverables in alignment with business goals and requirements
• Work closely with Legal, IT, and other teams to ensure well-coordinated development and delivery of platforms, upgrades, new needs, and enhancements
• Oversee end-to-end product development lifecycle, from ideation to release, collaborating with implementing teams and end users to ensure smooth system roll-outs
• Collect and analyze user feedback to inform decisions, coordinate, track, report on progress/issues/risks to stakeholders and Senior Leadership
• Engage and project manage cross-functional teams on development, design, and internal marketing of successful product launches
• Manage changes to project scope, timelines, and requirements, and assess their impact on project deliverables and resources
• Communicate project progress, updates, and status reports to stakeholders and senior management, ensuring transparency and effective decision-making
• Conduct regular project meetings and facilitate effective communication among team members and stakeholders
• Coordinate system training content to ensure accurate, updated resources are available to users prior to and after rollouts and system update

Technology Project Management

• Coordinate workstreams across multiple teams, products, platforms, and stages of planning/implementation/maintenance according to organizational priorities and availability of resources
• Directly manage a product when team resources require, and effectively plan for its long term ownership and maintenance
• Lead cross-departmental project teams by assigning tasks to team members and ensuring accountability to project schedules and milestones
• Ensure adherence to project management methodologies, best practices, and quality standards throughout the project lifecycle
• Monitor and assess the effectiveness of CEO's platforms, using user experience and feedback on an ongoing basis
• Manage project documentation, including project plans, status reports, and documentation of project-related decisions and changes
• Conduct cross-product quality assurance and testing to ensure correct and efficient integration across all platforms in the product

Organizational Leadership and Team Management

• Lead and supervise a team of direct reports, including recruitment, performance management, development, and mobility.
• Other duties as assigned

Compensation and Benefits

The salary range for this position is $130,000 - 180,000 annually. CEO's compensation philosophy considers a variety of factors including experience, internal equity, and the labor market associated with the city in which the position is located. This position can be located in any of the cities in which CEO operates. The labor markets associated with the cities in which CEO is based are variable, and the salary range included here reflects this. Our salary offer will fall within this range and will be reflective of the labor market of the city in which the position is based, as well the other factors named above.

We recognize that salary is a part of the overall compensation package and also provide a comprehensive benefits package, including medical and dental coverage, as well as professional development opportunities to our staff.

We also offer paid parental leave, participation in a retirement plan, sick and vacation leave, paid holidays and more. We are a workplace that promotes continual learning and teamwork, offering lunch and learns, team outings, holiday gatherings and more for our staff.

Center for Employment Opportunities believes that everyone deserves the chance to shape a stronger future for themselves, their families, and their communities. People who are justice involved are highly encouraged to apply for vacant positions at all levels. CEO is committed to the CROWN Act, and creating an open space where our employees can present as their true authentic selves.

All qualified applicants will be considered for employment without unlawful discrimination based on