People Product Manager

Southwest Airlines; Dallas (TX); On-site; USD 139,000 - 154,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flight benefits

Retirement plan with company match

Profit sharing

Health insurance

Job summary

Southwest Airlines is seeking a People Product Manager to define and drive the product strategy, roadmap, and priorities for Talent Management, Recruiting, and Workforce Planning within the HR Product Management Team.

You will partner with business stakeholders, Product Teams, Technology, and vendors to translate strategic objectives into prioritized initiatives, ensuring alignment with Workday and related platforms. You will own adoption and continuous improvement for employees’ career journeys.

Qualifications

• Requires leading requirements for large software products and translating strategy into executable plans.
• Experience in guiding product discovery, defining KPIs, and driving adoption and value realization.

Responsibilities

• Identify customer needs and translate Epics into Features within the PI Roadmap.
• Define Feature Acceptance Criteria and Definition of Done, then accept Features.
• Collaborate with Architects and other technical staff to address functional and non-functional requirements.
• Coordinate with Change Management for product release readiness (education, documentation, training).
• Lead PI planning and System Demo to showcase business value and align with stakeholders.

Skills

Product strategy

Roadmap development

Stakeholder communication

Cross-functional collaboration

Customer centricity

Design thinking

Portfolio management

Education

High School Diploma or GED

Bachelor’s Degree

Tools

Workday

Job description

Our Company Promise

We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer.

Department

People

Our Company Promise

We are committed to provide our Employees a stable work environment with equal opportunity for learning and personal growth. Creativity and innovation are encouraged for improving the effectiveness of Southwest Airlines. Above all, Employees will be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that they are expected to share externally with every Southwest Customer.

Job Description

Job Summary

Ready to shape the future of People technology at Southwest? As a People Product Manager, you will define and drive the product strategy, roadmap, and priorities for Talent Management, Recruiting, and Workforce Planning solutions within the HR Product Management Team. You will partner with business stakeholders, Product Teams, Technology, and vendors to understand customer needs, evaluate tradeoffs, and deliver technology capabilities that create meaningful business value. In this role, you will translate strategic objectives into prioritized product initiatives, guide requirements and delivery, and ensure alignment across Workday and adjacent platforms. Beyond implementation, you will be accountable for adoption, value realization, and continuous improvement, helping Southwest deliver innovative People solutions that support Employees throughout their career journey.

Additional Details

• The culture of Southwest Airlines means we value the camaraderie, collaboration, and innovation that occurs when we come together and interact face-to-face at our vibrant Corporate Campus. Due to the nature of this role, you would be required to work from our Dallas, TX headquarters facility during business hours.
• U.S. citizenship or current authorization to work in the U.S. required and no current or future work authorization sponsorship available.

We’re committed to fair hiring practices and to making employment decisions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, military or veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other legally protected characteristics.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for identifying customer needs and continuously refining Epics into Features, prioritizing and sequencing them on the PI Roadmap, and working with Product Owners within the ART to translate Features into Stories that will satisfy the Product Vision
• Responsible for Product completeness by creating Feature Acceptance Criteria, maintaining the Feature Definition of Done, and by accepting Features
• Collaborates with Architects and other technical People to ensure the solution effectively addresses the functional and non-functional requirements while maintaining technical excellence by understanding and sequencing Enabler work in the Program Backlog and Program Kanban
• Collaborates with Change Management to prepare for product release (education, documentation, training, etc.)
• Participates in PI planning by defining and presenting the business intent, planned Features, and highlighting any known dependencies and milestones throughout each Program Increment, and providing fast Program-level decisions within the event
• Actively participates in Inspect and Adapt (I&A) events
• Leads Feature definition and refinement including establishing feature acceptance criteria
• Leads the System Demo to evaluate working software and help to assess business value delivered against the business intent
• Provides input and feedback to Epic Owners on new and existing Epics, with customer needs in mind
• Participates in the economic prioritization of Features and Enablers using techniques such as Weighted Shortest Job First
• May perform other job duties as directed by Employee's Leaders

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Knowledge of industry competition, trends, and changing customer needs
• Skilled in leading activities to support the delivery work including product launch communications, training materials, user acceptance testing, business validation, success criteria measurement and analysis, and post-deployment analysis to identify improvements
• Skilled in developing and communicating the Product Vision and Roadmap
• Ability to communicate clearly complex business needs to leaders, managers, architects, and other technical stakeholders
• Ability to understand and support prioritized Portfolio work by collaborating with Lean Portfolio Management, Architects, and Epic Owners to breakdown Epics into Features
• Ability to build relationships and influence Leadership, Customers, Architects, and other Stakeholders to convert solutions into realizable business value
• Ability to influence and provide recommendations for releasing product(s) to Customers or the market
• Ability to manage legal, compliance, and security aspects of the product by collaborating across the enterprise

Education

• Required: High School Diploma or GED
• Required: Bachelor’s Degree

Experience

• Expert level experience, expansive and far reaching knowledge in:
  • Managing requirements for large or complex software products
  • Facilitating exploration of potential solution alternatives or MVP/MMF options and achieving consensus
  • The collection and use of KPIs and leading indicators to inform Product decisions and achieving key results
  • Design Thinking and Customer Centricity

Licensing/Certification

• N/A

Physical Abilities

• Ability to perform work duties from [limited space work station/desk/office area] for extended periods of time
• Ability to communicate and interact with others in the English language to meet the demands of the job
• Ability to use a computer and other office productivity tools with sufficient speed and accuracy to meet the demands of the job

Other Qualifications

• Must maintain a well-groomed appearance per Company appearance standards as described in established guidelines
• Must be a U.S. citizen or have authorization to work in the United States as defined by the Immigration Reform Act of 1986
• Must be at least 18 years of age
• Must be able to comply with Company attendance standards as described in established guidelines
• Must meet confidentiality expectations as to confidential, proprietary and sensitive Company information

Pay & Benefits

• Competitive market salary from $138,800 to $154,200 per year* depending on qualifications and experience. For eligible Leadership and individual contributor roles, additional bonus opportunities are available and awarded at the discretion of the company.

Benefits you’ll love

• Fly for free, as a privilege, on any open seat on all Southwest flights (your eligible dependents too)
• Southwest will help fund your Retirement Savings Plan with Company contributions up to 9.3% of your eligible earnings**
• Potential for annual ProfitSharing contribution in the Southwest Retirement Savings Plan- when Southwest profits, you profit***
• Competitive health insurance for you and your eligible dependents (including pets)
• Southwest offers health plan coverage options that start from the very first day of employment. You will have 30 days to select and enroll in your health plan with coverage retroactively available to your first day of employment.
• Explore more Benefits you’ll love: https://careers.southwestair.com/benefits
• Pay amount does not guarantee employment for any particular period of time.
• 401(k) match contributions are subject to Retirement Savings Plan vesting schedule and applicable IRS limits
• ProfitSharing contributions are subject to Retirement Savings Plan vesting schedule and are made at the discretion of the Company.

Southwest Airlines is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Job Posting End Date

08/30/2026