Sr Manager Technical Product Platform

Ascend Learning - Leawood, KS

Full-time - Senior

Remote - Leawood, KS

Management of Companies and Enterprises

About the position

As a Sr Manager Technical Product Platform at Ascend Learning, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the strategic direction and operational effectiveness of our platform offerings. This position is designed to enhance the end-to-end customer experience by aligning high-value capabilities with a user-focused approach. You will be responsible for developing and managing a long-term platform strategy and roadmap that supports a strategic category of business within Ascend. Your role will involve collaborating closely with the Director of Technical Product Management (TPM) to formulate aggregate platform strategies that simplify technology prioritization and minimize hand-offs across Product and Tech teams. This will ensure a seamless transition of business requirements into the development phase of the product lifecycle. In this role, you will develop and execute a long-term strategic platform roadmap that aligns with Ascend's overall strategy and market trends. You will analyze and synthesize data points to make informed decisions about the platform's direction. Your responsibilities will include conducting research to achieve a high-value platform roadmap vision in partnership with Business Product Managers (BPM). You will also be tasked with effectively communicating and driving alignment to the platform vision across various teams, ensuring that training, documentation, and overall alignment to value are prioritized in every collaboration. As a trusted partner and technical Subject Matter Expert (SME), you will represent the Technology teams within core Product Delivery Teams (PDTs), bridging the gap between technology and other stakeholders. You will convey product requirements to development teams and provide regular updates on platform health and development. Additionally, you will provide technical guidance to development teams, orchestrate the implementation of tracking mechanisms to gather insights on platform usage, and manage a team of high-performing platform product managers to support the business category. Your leadership will be crucial in driving thoughtful advancements to the platform in partnership with product and technical leadership.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute long-term strategic platform roadmap in alignment with overall Ascend and Category strategy.
• Analyze and synthesize data points to make decisions about overall platform direction.
• Identify, perform, and oversee research to achieve high-value platform roadmap vision in partnership with BPM.
• Effectively communicate, educate, and drive alignment to platform vision.
• Establish clear partnerships with business product and content managers in product delivery team.
• Collaborate with product, UX, content, and development teams to define platform requirements.
• Drive informed, data-driven trade-offs between product and core platform enhancements.
• Ensure training, documentation, and overall alignment to value are prioritized in collaborations.
• Represent Technology teams as part of applicable core Product Delivery Teams (PDTs).
• Convey product requirements effectively to development teams and provide regular updates on platform health.
• Provide technical guidance to development teams responsible for platform build and maintenance.
• Orchestrate implementation of tracking mechanisms to gather insights around platform usage, user behavior, and effectiveness.
• Plan, manage, and prioritize features and PIs for agile development as needed.
• Direct management responsibility for a team of high-performing platform product managers.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in related fields such as Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration, or other areas combined with relevant work experience; MBA or Master's degree preferred.
• 8+ years of combined experience in product management, business management, or consulting, preferably in a technical or software-related environment.
• Experience working in an agile environment is strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with data analysis, market research related to SaaS/technology trends, and customer feedback methodologies to inform platform decisions.
• Proven ability in managing a complex strategic roadmap with multiple dependencies.
• Proven communication skills, both verbal and written, to effectively collaborate with product teams, engineers, content teams, and other stakeholders.
• Strong technical acumen with a deep understanding of the customer/markets being served.
• Proven expertise in making critical technology-related decisions and trade-offs to drive overall business value and platform effectiveness.
• Ability to align platform roadmap with product requirements and overall business objectives.
• Ability to derive insights from technical trends/capabilities to champion improvements to user platform experience.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Strong project management skills to oversee development of platform requirements.
• Knowledge of UX principles and ability to advocate for user-centric design.
• Demonstrated leadership to provide technical leadership and guidance to platform development team.

Benefits

• Flexible and generous paid time off
• Competitive medical, dental, vision and life insurance
• 401(k) employer matching program
• Parental leave
• Wellness resources
• Charitable matching program
• Hybrid work
• On-site workout facilities (Leawood, Gilbert, Burlington)
• Community outreach groups
• Tuition reimbursement