Senior Product Manager

Senior Product Manager – Community Engagement Web Community Manager

Blackboard helps shape the future of education by delivering technology and services solutions that transform the learning experience.  We continually innovate to better enable educators, parents, and learners of all types to teach, learn, connect and communicate whenever they want and wherever they are.  We partner with educational institutions globally in the higher education, K-12 and professional education markets to improve the education experience both inside and outside the classroom by facilitating access to information, enabling stronger student engagement and collaboration, enhancing communication, and supporting student safety, success and institutional effectiveness.  Most importantly, we help every student achieve their full potential through access to lifelong learning.

Blackboard’s Community Engagement Solutions are designed to increase parent involvement and community engagement. Our solutions help districts, schools and teachers share student specific information, relevant news, and timely updates with families and community members to create a positive and supportive learning environment for every student. The Blackboard Community Engagement Solutions include:

  • Web Community Manager: Allows parents to play an active role in their child’s success with a dashboard full of personalized student data. And give community members the chance to engage with the district by checking out news and upcoming events on a modern, mobile friendly website.
  • Mobile Communications App: A district branded mobile app that provides all the information parents need—grades, calendars, homework and more—complete with instant notifications to keep everyone informed.
  • Mass Notifications: Enables districts and schools to reach anyone, anytime, for more effective community outreach.
  • Social Media Manager: Helps district truly integrate social media in their schools, and connect students, parents, and community members with the information they need.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

Blackboard is looking for a knowledgeable, innovative product manager to join our K12 Community Engagement Product team.  Based in State College Pennsylvania and Provo, Utah, Blackboard’s Community Engagement solutions are deployed throughout America’s Public and Private K-12 Schools.

This position will focus on the management of web-based communication solutions within our Community Engagement portfolio.  This will involve the management and enhancement of current capabilities and initiatives, as well as the development of new offerings.

This individual will need to be a self-starter with a keen intellect, strategic and analytic skills, and strong ability to collaborate.  S/he will need to have a strong understanding of agile development and work closely with highly technical development resources, but also be able to provide strategic vision to senior executives.

The Senior Product Manager will need to develop a deep understanding of the market problems for this market.  S/he maintains relationships across a variety of channels externally and across Blackboard to gain and synthesize market insight to build detailed business requirements in the form of themes and epics. S/he is the primary owner to build and maintain a solutions roadmap for his/her product. A key responsibility will be to work closely with the Product Owner(s) to ensure business and market needs are successfully designed and developed. S/he must be adept at collaborating with strong and differing personalities across the organization.

The Senior Product Manager will play an integral role in the success of the Community Engagement solutions.  Specific responsibilities include:

  • Eliciting market problems through research, productive relationships with customers across Blackboard’s client base, and internal sources of market knowledge and expertise; prioritize those problems against market and business needs; and own requirements definition in support of solving those market problems.
  • Managing offerings through their full lifecycle from concept to end of support.
  • Collaborating daily with product design and development teams to ensure projects are clearly defined and properly phased to facilitate timely delivery of products.
  • Driving solution definition and go-to-market activities in support of achieving revenue goals for the products and services.
  • Performing competitive analyses for responsible products.
  • Owning and developing multi-quarter product roadmap for the solution area working with other Solutions Product Managers to ensure that solution and services themes and roadmaps take into consideration market needs.
  • Leading and working with the operational services and delivery teams across Blackboard to ensure operational readiness including developing delivery materials and training delivery resources on new services.
  • Hosting customer focus groups to test and refine product ideas and strategies.
  • Representing Blackboard in key industry events and initiatives.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

REQUIRED SKILLS:

  • Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent professional experience including 8+ years of applicable product management experience.
  • Pragmatic Marketing Certification
  • Experience in K-12 education technology.
  • Quick learner, organized, and self-motivated.
  • Experience working and managing in an environment focused on the development, sales, or distribution of educational content or educational tools.
  • An aptitude and interest in both business strategy and considerations, the latest concepts in product design, and an understanding of the latest technologies in the web and cloud computing areas.
  • Ability to conceptualize features and functionality from idea stage to implementation, and communicate complex information to different target audiences.
  • Ability to think strategically and find creative solutions to problems.
  • Outstanding written and verbal communications skills.
  • Outstanding active listening skills.
  • Demonstrated communication, analytical and problem-solving skills, and short term and long term planning skills.
  • Strong customer focus, identifying business problems through a variety of techniques including face to face interviews, surveys and customer advisory boards and the skills to be able to communicate how these capabilities contribute to solving Institutions larger business challenges.
  • Superior communication and presentation skills, both written and oral.
  • Independent, self-starter with strong prioritization, project management and coordination skills; and ability to excel in a fluid, cross-functional team environment.
  • Ability to travel 20-30% of time

This job description is not designed to contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required. Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities at any time.

Blackboard is an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action employer and considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national original, age, religion, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, military/veteran status, or any other protected factor.