Edtech.com's Summary

WGU is hiring a Product Manager to lead software product development within an agile environment. The role involves prioritizing product backlogs, collaborating with cross-functional teams, developing product roadmaps, and ensuring product quality and adoption to support WGU's mission of expanding access to higher education.

Highlights

Serve as Product Owner in an agile Scrum environment, refining and prioritizing product backlogs.
Engage with stakeholders, engineers, UX designers, and leadership to define and communicate product vision and requirements.
Develop and manage software product roadmaps aligned with strategic goals.
Lead sprint planning, user story creation, and acceptance criteria definition.
Conduct user research including interviews, focus groups, and surveys to gather product feedback.
Participate in vendor selection and manage product demonstrations and release activities.
Use data and metrics to inform prioritization and measure product health and success.
Required skills include Agile Scrum methodology, product management experience, strong communication, technical understanding of software development, and leadership abilities.
Minimum qualifications: Bachelor's degree plus 2+ years related experience or advanced degree without experience; preferred qualifications include a Master's or MBA, Scrum Product Owner certification, and change management certification.
Compensation range: $97,100 to $145,600 annually, with additional benefits including bonuses, healthcare, retirement plans, tuition discounts, and paid leave.

Product Manager Full Description

Product Manager

Salt Lake City Office

Full time

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:

Grade: Professional 311Pay Range: $97,100.00 - $145,600.00

Job Description

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

Work in an agile environment, fulfilling the role of Product Owner and continuously refining and prioritizing the backlog; balancing stakeholder priorities with product health needs to maximize value and minimize risk.
Engage a cross-functional team of stakeholders, end-users, engineers, UX designers, and product and portfolio leaders to understand the problems to solve, inform the product vision, and define software product requirements.
Develop and communicate the software product roadmap based on the strategy, problems to solve, and stakeholder priorities.
Collaborate with the Scrum team to translate the product roadmap into well-defined features and a deep product backlog of sprint-ready user stories with clear acceptance criteria to deliver on the roadmap.
Participate and present in quarterly planning activities and bi-weekly portfolio steering committees.
Define and surface risks, assumptions, and trade-offs associated with product features to guide prioritization decisions.
Gather feedback about the product capabilities needed using interviews, conducting focus groups, instrumenting surveys, partnering with UX on usability sessions, reviewing online communities, working with internal tech teams etc.
Knowledgeable on assigned product(s), including the technology used, integrations, and dependencies. Understand the latest relevant technologies, vendors, innovations, and forward-thinking trends.
Participate in the RFI and RFP vendor selection process.
Demo working software and facilitate effective sprint demos to stakeholders.
Ensure product quality by testing software features to ensure they satisfy the acceptance criteria and work with stakeholders and end users to coordinate user acceptance testing activities.
Provide support to product release activities, including documenting software release notes and coordinating change management to increase product adoption.
Actively participate in the urgent resolution of any high-impact production issues.
Understand and measure product health and use data to inform/defend prioritization decisions, and to ensure product quality and product service levels meet defined goals and measures of success targets.
Maintain and build relationships with business owners, stakeholders, team members, and key vendors.
Clearly communicates constraints, conflicts, requirements, compatibility issues, and items that could affect project outcome, final performance level, or product efficacy. Offers appropriate alternatives and contingency plans.
Performs other related duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skill, and Abilities:

Must be a professional, persuasive communicator, able to gain the respect of the team, external stakeholders, and management.
Excellent written, oral, presentation, and interpersonal skills.
Experience working in or with product management.
Experience working in the Agile Scrum framework and with project management methodologies.
Comfortable with ambiguity and prepared to act with incomplete information.
Thrives working collaboratively as part of a team in a fast-paced environment.
Strong attention to detail while not losing site of the larger goal.
Leadership skills with the ability to effectively influence, persuade and negotiate.
Understanding of technical concepts and ability to communicate them to non-technical audiences.
Analytical and quantitative skills to use data and metrics to back up assumptions, surface recommendations and drive decisions. Ability to clearly communicate these data insights to others.
Agile Methodology experience.
Deep knowledge of web/software development and related technologies.
Exhibits excellent judgment.
Has relentlessly high standards (is never satisfied with the status quo).
Strong attention to detail and a feeling of pride and ownership over the quality of our products.

Competencies:

Organizational Impact:

Works to achieve operational targets within job areas impacting department, function, or office results.
Work is performed independently on moderately complex projects and assignments, with some guidance required for direction and complex tasks. Sets objectives for oneself to meet the goals of projects or assignments.

Problem Solving & Decision Making:

Responsible for employing adjustments or recommended enhancements to systems and processes to solve problems or improve the job area’s effectiveness while leveraging a systems-thinking approach.
Problems faced may require an understanding of a broader set of issues and job areas.

Communication & Influence:

Collaborates with contacts typically within the job area to obtain or provide information requiring some explanation or interpretation.

Leadership & Talent Management

May provide guidance and assistance to entry-level professionals and or support employees.
Demonstrates the WGU leadership principles in all aspects of service to students, employees, and partners of WGU.

Job Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree and 2+ years of related experience, or an advanced degree without experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

Master’s degree or higher in a relevant field. MBA - Strongly Preferred.
Experience in higher education, education technology, custom eLearning development, R&D, or a relevant field.
Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) or other equivalent certification (e.g., Pragmatic Marketing).
Certified in change management.

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Position & Application Details
Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.

Original Job Description