Senior Product Manager

Basic Function

As the product champion, primary subject matter expert and voice of the customer for designated product, the Senior Product Manager role is responsible for developing and executing the overall product and business plans during the full product lifecycle, managing the profit/loss of each product, defining the content, processes and functionality of product enhancements for existing products, identifying new opportunities for growth and successfully launching them in the marketplace. The Senior Product Manager is responsible for overall product management, strategic vision/focus, and execution of growth plans for the product. This position works independently toward long-range goals and objectives with assignments being self-initiated and self-directed.

Essential Duties and responsibilities

• Generate viable new product and service concepts to support the business strategy and market position goals of the assigned product areas
• Develop business cases for each approved new product concept by describing the concept and how it will be used by customers in comprehensive terms
• Build a deep expertise of the customer needs and the problems they are looking to solve.
• Lead product development efforts; conduct research to determine true market demand/size for the concept as defined; develop and present business cases and financial models for new product offerings; marshal approved product development projects through the definition, development, testing and pre-launch phases by collaborating with the development teams to create wireframes, prototypes and functional specifications/requirements for the product; partner with Marketing, Sales and Support teams to conduct alpha and beta testing
• Define, communicate, maintain and gain consensus on product roadmap, ensuring alignment with business objectives and supported by business cases, market research, customer data and competitive analysis
• Prepare user stories with detailed requirements, work with developers and quality assurance to ensure requirements are understood, perform acceptance testing on stories, and demonstrate the value of those features to internal stakeholders and external clients
• Work closely with internal stakeholders to understand how our products are perceived in the market and recommend enhancements to build better solutions for our existing and future clients
• Ensure successful product launches by securing necessary marketing resources to build the initial go-to-market; serving as the subject matter expert in relation to the new product's value proposition and Wolters Kluwer competitive position; assisting with the training of sales teams on how to prospect and qualify target customers, demonstrate value and close sales; and assisting sales leadership with plans that drive sales results consistent with the business plan
• Direct product management responsibilities throughout a product's lifecycle, from the launch and introduction stage, through the growth and maturity stages, and as the product reaches saturation and the decline stage
• Conduct ongoing research and analysis on each assigned product; staying abreast of changing customer needs and industry trends and map existing products and services to those needs; monitoring secondary research and market data; studying the competition to gain an understanding of the strengths, weaknesses and competitive advantages of each product and identify gaps in the current product portfolio
• Perform in-depth customer and market research to understand customer needs and pain points related to their specific jobs and workflows
• Maximize the business goals of each assigned product by ensuring adequate sales and marketing efforts are expended to meet profitability and market share forecasts; developing extension strategies to prolong the growth and maturity stages of each product and maximize Wolters Kluwer's ROI
• Collaborate with the sales and support teams to create or update tools and training which maximize sales
• Interact with target markets on an ongoing basis through customer visits/calls, participation in select sales opportunities, meetings with other industry stakeholders, and attendance at industry events

Other Duties

• Performs other duties as requested by Supervisor.

Job Qualifications

Minimum:   Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing or related field or equivalent experience.

Minimum Experience: 

• A minimum of 5 years' product management experience of software products
• Agile Methodologies and software development lifecycle experience
• Go-To-Market experience
• Tasked with becoming a subject matter expert in a field with limited prior knowledge/experience

Preferred Experience (includes minimum):

• Banking / Commercial Lending Solutions industry experience with relevant practice areas and workflows
• B2B product management or marketing experience

Other Knowledge, Skills, Abilities or Certifications:

• Strong project management skills, including the ability to plan and complete work on tight deadlines and budgets; ability to work in an atmosphere of multiple projects and shifting priorities
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to interact effectively with professional and technical staff, outside prospects, customers, salespersons, and third-party partners
• Ability to lead cross-functional teams
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including strong professional presentation skills and the ability to develop written proposals and client presentations
• Advanced Excel and PowerPoint skills

Travel requirements

• National travel for customer visits about 10% of work time.

Physical Demands

• Normal office environment

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by most people assigned to this job.  They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties and responsibilities and requirements.