Product Manager

Metafora; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 96,000 - 144,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the transportation sector seeks a motivated Product Manager to drive client-focused product initiatives. This mid-senior level role involves managing development processes, engaging with stakeholders, and fostering a culture of collaboration. The successful candidate will demonstrate strong product management skills and a passion for problem-solving, working in a fast-paced environment to deliver outstanding results.

Qualifications

• Proficient in breaking down features into epics and user stories.
• Experience in Scrum, Kanban, or agile frameworks.
• Ability to engage with clients and gather feedback.

Responsibilities

• Manage product development initiatives and lead requirements gathering.
• Maintain product backlog and document delivery risks.
• Communicate project status and client needs effectively.

Skills

Product Management

Client Engagement

Agile Methodologies

Collaboration

Problem Solving

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Jira

Figma

Azure DevOps

Trello

Job description

Join to apply for the Product Manager role at Metafora

Join to apply for the Product Manager role at Metafora

This range is provided by Metafora. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Base pay range

$96,000.00/yr - $144,000.00/yr

The Product Manager role should be able to flex between multiple roles: Product Owner, Project Manager, QA, UX Designer, Researcher, and Consultant. You will be responsible for managing client development initiatives, leading requirements gathering, prioritizing the product backlog with client input, testing the product, and partnering with the dev team to deliver on the client engagement.

What you’ll do:

Product Management

• Fostering the product mindset on behalf of clients and evangelize new technology that can be used to build a user centric product that empowers users to do the right job
• Following the lead of a client that already has a strong product vision and needs help with execution - support them and challenge constructively, always with a focus on building the right product with the least amount of waste
• Leading the client to move in the desired direction, if they don't already have a strong perspective
• Teaching the client how product management is done well with Metafora sanctioned tools and processes
• Owning and maintaining the product backlog, including the creation of product/program visions, requirements documentation, and documenting delivery risks
• Writing stories with clearly defined acceptance criteria
• Including creating wireframes and making collaborative design decisions with the client
• Articulating the What and the Why to the Engineering Team so that they have the right level of information to focus on the How
• Coordinate and manage the UAT process of product iterations
• Leading backlog refinement, sprint reviews, and product demos
• Partnering with the Engineering Leads to usher projects through the entire project lifecycle and deliver the project on time and on budget
  
  

Project/Program management

• Work closely with the client stakeholders to keep the project roadmap prioritized
• Developing domain expertise, both within the client's unique business and the product category (i.e. marketplace vs TMS)
• Striving to reduce waste, whether that be in the product, the SDLC, or both
• Evangelize products and product features throughout the development lifecycle
• Visiting clients and meeting with users to obtain feedback and product direction
• Engaging with customers to understand key decision points, map out workflows, and identify product features that enable you to become the voice of the customer
• Reviewing project deliverables with clients to obtain approval for invoicing
• Generation of content to be included in client invoices and coordinating with Accounting to generate and send out client invoices
• Fostering a culture of building, measuring, and learning
• Identifying product / project specific metrics to measure
• Develop a shared understanding across the client, stakeholders, users and engineering team
• Establishing application KPIs, monitor application usage, and identify / implement strategies that lead to attainment of product goals
• Support in the renewal of client engagements
  
  

Communication

• Up & Out: Communicating project status, risks & impediments, and feedback up the management chain and out to client stakeholders and users
• Provide business and technical understanding to all stakeholders
• Across: Communicating with peers and other functional groups across the organization
• Down: Communicating news and decision making to the Engineering Team
• Making sure that the Engineering Team is communicating with the customer the right amount to maintain velocity on development priorities, i.e. both serving as a buffer and connecting the team with customer feedback/domain knowledge
• Being the consummate professional that actively listens to clients and users, providing advice and guidance when appropriate
  
  

How you’ll do it:

• Win Together: Metafora wins as the transportation ecosystem wins. We get better when others get better and we know that to get better, everyone must be working together towards a common goal.
• Live Fearlessly: At the core of living fearlessly is the bias towards “doing.” We believe that the worst thing you can do is to do nothing. And we encouraging learning from our mistakes and not being afraid to take the first step.
• Speak Your Truth: We believe in being who you are and always speaking your truth. We know that being honest and open with each other is the best way to make decisions. Transparency serves as our foundation for communication with clients and with ourselves.
• Be Flexible: We know that the world moves quickly and so does our industry. We are at our best when we expect change and can adapt to it quickly. We encourage you to be nimble and think outside the box about how you can make a positive impact.
• Choose Your Hard: We know that life is hard and full of decisions, sometimes the hardest choice and the right choice are the same thing. Whether it’s a difficult client conversation or sharing feedback internally, we know that we are in business to solve hard problems and we embrace challenges head on.
  
  

What we need:

• Proficient at breaking down large features and apps into epics and clearly defined user stories
• Participates in the design and acceptance of wireframes using tools like Figma or equivalent
• Administering a project in Jira, Azure DevOps, Trello, or other project management software
• Expert practitioner on Scrum, Kanban, and/or other agile development frameworks
• Have experience coordinating with multiple teams and stakeholders
• Knowing how to determine between a risk and a blocker
• Strong collaborator and team player
• Exceptional communicator
• Hungry for growth and success - personal as well as professional
  
  

Preferred but not required:

• Messaging critical information to clients and internal teams
• Mediating between stakeholders
• Collaborating with external engineering teams
• Testing APIs with tools like Postman or equivalent
• Experience in Transportation, Logistics, and/or Supply Chain
• Experience in problem modeling, analysis and solving
• Working knowledge of tools like Google Analytics and SQL or NoSQL databases
• Proven ability to manage across multiple product delivery teams
• Experience envisioning innovative / disruptive products

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Product Management and Marketing

• Industries

  Transportation, Logistics, Supply Chain and Storage

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