Information Technology Product Manager

Motion Recruitment; Chicago (IL); Hybrid; USD 95,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Motion Recruitment in Oak Brook, IL is seeking an IT Product Manager to lead technology strategy, delivery, and outcomes for a business unit within an Agile framework. You will own the product vision, roadmap, and backlog, coordinating across Business Analysts, QA Analysts, and Developers through the full lifecycle from requirements to release and benefits reporting.

The role also oversees IT budgeting and ensures compliance with security and regulatory standards while balancing strategy with

Qualifications

• Minimum 7–10 years of product management, business analysis, software delivery leadership, or equivalent.
• Minimum 2–3 years of people leadership experience.
• Experience advising senior/executive business leadership on technology.
• Broad knowledge of the business unit's industry and enterprise IT delivery.
• Experience owning product backlog/roadmap and delivering increments in Agile.
• Familiarity with security, data governance, and regulatory/compliance requirements.

Responsibilities

• Lead IT for the business unit as the accountable technology leader for strategy, delivery and outcomes.
• Own product vision, roadmap and backlog; lead cross-functional teams through full Agile lifecycle.
• Manage IT budget and ensure security, risk, and compliance standards are met.
• Translate business drivers into measurable outcomes, acceptance criteria and release plans.
• Coach and develop Business Analysts, QA Analysts, and Developers; drive transparency and value-driven delivery.
• Define and report product metrics showing adoption, quality, cycle time and benefits.

Skills

Communication

Executive presence

Product sense

Budget/financial acumen

IT/business knowledge

SQL/Data visualization

Leadership across teams

Adaptability to ambiguity

Job description

Location: Oak Brook, IL (Hybrid - 3 days onsite)

Job Type: contract to hire (12-month contract to start)

SUMMARY

• The IT Product Manager is the IT leader for the business unit they support — the single point of accountability for technology strategy, delivery, and outcomes within that unit.
• This role owns product vision, the roadmap, and backlog in partnership with business stakeholders, and leads a cross-functional delivery team of Business Analysts, QA Analysts, and Developers through the full Agile continuous-improvement lifecycle — from need identification and current-state analysis through requirements, solutioning, build/test, release, and results/benefits reporting.
• Beyond delivery, the IT Product Manager is responsible for the IT budget, and ensures the business unit products meet enterprise security, risk, and compliance standards.
• The role balances product strategy, technical constraints, and cost/benefit trade-offs while coaching the team on quality, transparency, and value-driven delivery.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Business Unit IT Leadership

• Serve as the primary IT leader and trusted technology advisor for the business unit, representing IT in business unit leadership meetings and strategic planning.
• Responsible for the IT budget for assigned products/platforms, including forecasting, cost tracking, and cost/benefit reporting back to business unit leadership.
• Serve as the escalation point for major incidents and production issues affecting the business unit; coordinate resolution and communicate impact to stakeholders.
• Scan the technology landscape for innovations relevant to the business unit's industry and bring recommendations to leadership.
• Own product vision, roadmap, and prioritized backlog for assigned products/platforms, aligning delivery with business strategy and IT future-state plans.
• Act as the primary liaison between business leads and the IT delivery team, translating business drivers into clear outcomes, acceptance criteria, and release plans.
• Use multiple modalities to elicit and analyze business needs, drivers, and requests; ensure requirements and user stories are actionable, testable, and cost/benefit optimized.
• Drive evidence-based solutioning through process mapping, data analysis, and prototyping/mockups; make prioritization decisions under ambiguity.
• Define and report product metrics that demonstrate value-driven delivery, including adoption, quality, cycle time, outcomes, and benefits.
• Develop, coordinate, and deliver communications and presentations related to the roadmap, release status, testing readiness, end-user enablement, and project results/benefits.

Delivery Leadership

• Lead and coordinate Business Analysts on elicitation, documentation, refinement, solution workshops, and stakeholder alignment.
• Lead and coordinate QA Analysts on test strategy, acceptance criteria quality, defect triage, regression readiness, and release confidence.
• Lead and coordinate Developers on sprint planning, technical trade-offs, estimation discipline, code quality expectations, and production readiness.
• Own end-to-end delivery health for the team, including scope clarity, dependency management, risk/issue escalation, and timely value release.
• Use strong analysis and troubleshooting skills to drive root-cause investigation, coordinate technical resources, and remove delivery impediments.
• Own change management and adoption planning for releases — end-user training, communications, and transition support.

Governance, Risk & Architecture

• Ensure assigned products and platforms meet enterprise security, data governance, and regulatory/compliance requirements applicable to the business unit's industry.
• Partner with Enterprise Architecture and Infrastructure teams to align business unit systems with enterprise IT standards and integration patterns.
• Own business continuity and disaster recovery planning for assigned products, in partnership with Infrastructure and Security.
• Embrace servant-leadership; coach the team on Agile practices that foster transparency, learning, innovation, quality, and speed.
• Hire, onboard, coach, and develop Business Analysts, QA Analysts, and Developers; set clear goals and conduct regular performance feedback and reviews.
• Build team capacity and skill coverage across analysis, quality engineering, and software delivery; address performance and staffing gaps promptly.
• Own headcount and staffing plans for the delivery team, including forecasting future capacity needs against the roadmap.
• Create a culture focused on safety, quality, lean practices, and accountability; model collaboration across a culturally diverse team.
• Serve as an Agile evangelist, broadening effective practices beyond the immediate team where appropriate.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS

• Minimum 7–10 years of relevant experience in product management, business analysis, software delivery leadership, or equivalent.
• Minimum 2–3 years of people leadership experience, including coaching cross-functional delivery roles.
• Demonstrated experience serving as a trusted technology advisor to senior/executive business leadership.
• Broad knowledge of the assigned business unit's industry and/or enterprise IT product delivery.
• Demonstrated experience owning a product backlog/roadmap and shipping increments in an Agile environment.
• Familiarity with security, data governance, and regulatory/compliance requirements relevant to the business unit's industry preferred.

SKILLS

• Superior written and oral communication skills; comfortable presenting to executives and facilitating workshops with mixed technical/business audiences.
• Executive presence; able to represent IT credibly at business unit leadership tables and influence strategic decisions.
• Strong product sense: prioritization, outcome definition, stakeholder management, and cost/benefit decision-making.
• Budget and financial acumen.
• Diverse IT/business knowledge across process analysis, requirements documentation, software development lifecycle, QA practices, SaaS administration/configuration, UI/design, and data analysis.
• Working fluency with SQL and data visualization to support evidence-based product decisions.
• Ability to lead and develop Business Analysts, QA Analysts, and Developers without needing to perform all hands-on work personally.
• Ability to manage and work with a culturally diverse population.
• Ability to balance analytical depth with a bias for action.
• Ability to work productively and project a positive outlook in a fast-paced, sometimes stressful environment.
• Interpersonal skills for a team-oriented, collaborative environment; ability to learn how to learn.
• Deals with ambiguity; can decide and act without the total picture; comfortably handles risk and uncertainty.