Director, Product Operations

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* Location:

** This role is open to Hybrid-Eden Prairie-MN-US, Remote-US, Hybrid-Waterloo-ON-CA, Remote-CA.A key component of this role is serving as a
** subject matter expert (SME) in the Aha! product management platform
** or demonstrating
** significant experience with a comparable product management tool**, ensuring strong transferable skills in product planning, road mapping, workflow management, and cross‑team coordination.
* Product Organization Fiscal Year Annual Operating Planning process
* Product Organization Quarterly Business Review process
* Product Development Process and tools– “Product Manager of the Product Management process and implementation”; identify hotspots in the process to address and identify coaching opportunities;
Develop a cadence of spot-checking product management processes as teams move through the development process to identify areas of growth for the teams and undesired friction in the process
* Identify opportunities to bring knowledge and data that provide value across all product management teams; implement ways to enable self-serve access to that knowledge and data
* Implement and maintain a road-mapping process that allows for efficient support of greenlight process requirements and consistently communicates and delivers customer and stakeholder value
* Own Product Management specific tooling (usage, contracting, mgmt);
Drive consistent, standardized and efficient usage our tooling (Aha!, Jira, Confluence, XLS), determine what the right tool is for the outcome
* Own the pieces of the SDLC with product involvement; enable a culture of continuous learning and improvement; monitor the effective implementation of the SDLC, identify opportunities for tooling, process and people improvements and drive a metrics-oriented view of the health of the PM components of the SDLC
* Own and drive a set of metrics in support of the SDLC and at the discretion of the product SVP, to support the product lines as a whole function
* Own the business case template and lifecycle – from pitch through launch, ensuring clear reporting against goals throughout the lifecycle
* Own the product line strategy templates and lifecycle – Ensuring strategies include 3yr plan, where are you going, how you are going to win, supporting research; clear reporting against strategic goals for AWN
* Strong operational strategy development and execution abilities
* Exceptional Product Management Knowledge – This role is the Product Manager of the Product Management process; must have a deep, experiential knowledge of product management and be able to translate that experience into best practices, templates and standardization
* Excellent cross-functional leadership, communication, and stakeholder‑management skills
* Expertise in scaling processes, optimizing workflows, and implementing operational frameworks
* Ability to analyze complex data, identify trends, and make data‑driven decisions
* Strong problem‑solving, critical thinking, and organizational skills
* High proficiency with operational and productivity tools
* Deep experience with
** Aha!
** or strong transferable expertise from similar tools (e.g., Jira Advanced Roadmaps, Productboard, , etc.)
* Ability to influence without authority and build strong relationships across teams
* High EQ; able to build consensus without direct authority through ‘disagree and commit’ style agreements;
Exemplary communicator across all mediums (Slack, Video, Email, Powerpoint, Word);
Ability to influence and align across many stakeholder groups
* Strong presentation and executive communication skills
* Continuous Learner – researching new things to get better* “Left Shift the problems” – driving towards continuous improvement as a culture Streamline Process to get the right outcomes– identify bottlenecks, and come up with solutions to remove the bottlenecks; implement scalable processes across product teams
* Extensive Agile SDLC experience, frameworks and tools
* Tempo Setter – not just a braintrust, evangelist of the process – driving culture and setting a tone;
Advocate for excellence in the process – create a sense of spirit across teams; celebrate accomplishment &…