Intermediate Product Manager at Brave Venture Labs

Accountabilities And Responsibilities

Perform the role of Scrum Product Owner:

• Gather and validate requirements following a Human-Centred Design (HCD) approach;

Communicate requirements inwards to the Development Team:

• Identify and categorize stakeholders/customers/users/subject-matter experts;
• Decompose high-level requirements;
• Identify and describe Product Backlog Items (PBI), partnering closely with the Business and the team to ensure everyone understands the items in the backlog;
• Ensure the PBIs pass the Definition of Ready criteria;
• Facilitate the Just-In-Time (JIT) detailed requirements delivery;
• Determine whether PBIs were satisfactorily delivered; and
• Give the Development Team clear guidance on which features to deliver next.

Communication outwards to Stakeholders:

• Communicate estimates, dependencies and technical issues after grooming sessions, informing and negotiating with the Business;
• Make decisions, in consultation with Stakeholders, regarding the priority of PBIs;
• Inform of progress and host demonstrations to stakeholders; and
• First point of contact between stakeholders and the Scrum team.
• Decide when to deploy the product with the predisposition towards frequent releases;
• Take care of Backlog Grooming: regularly review items on the backlog to ensure the backlog contains the appropriate items, that they are prioritized, and that the items at the top of the backlog are ready for delivery;
• Participate in the Sprint Planning session: a team planning meeting that determines what to complete in the coming Sprint;
• Listen-in at the Daily Stand-up session: a 15-minute mini-meeting for the team to sync-up.
• Chair the Sprint Demo session: A sharing meeting where the team shows what was produced during the Sprint; and
• Participate in the Sprint Retrospective session: a review of what did and did not go well during the Sprint, with actions to make the next Sprint better.
• Manage the product budget and prepare cost estimates based on the IT Solution Architect’s high-level effort estimates;
• Keep track of the consumption of purchased time-and-materials quotas;
• Provide guidance to vendors concerning the submission of consumption reports and invoices;
• Approve consumption reports for the insertion the corresponding Service Entry Sheets;
• In collaboration with TEC’s Head of Sourcing, create and renew Purchase Orders; and

When required, act as Project Manager:

• Report periodically on progress to the project management office, informing them of any issues/risks requiring attention. Identify and escalate issues that could affect the product outcomes, timeline or budget.
• Any other duties as required for the successful delivery of the product or project.

Deliverables:

• A well-managed Product Backlog, duly groomed and with Product Backlog Items (PBIs) passing the Definition of Ready criteria.
• A product which achieves the highest quality in terms of technical usability, user acceptability and domain suitability.
• A high level of satisfaction of the Stakeholders, IT Solution Architect and Development Teams in relation to soft-skills such as effective communication, conflict management, strategic contributions to product’s success, leadership skills, etc.
• Contribution to improvement of shared processes and tools.

Specific deliverables include:

• CODA 1.5 maintenance and support;
• CODA 2.0 development;
• CODA 2.0 Country Office and stakeholder needs documented and pilot countries identified;
• Budget & vendor activities managed;
• DRC and Madagascar COs use of CODA 1.5 decommissioned;
• Support provided for Data workstream and service support;
• Reporting and documentation as required.

Qualifications and experience required

• Education: University degree in Business Administration, Information Technology or related fields.
• Experience: Minimum three years post graduate experience with product/project management and a proven track record of planning, leading and executing related projects. Comfortable working in an international environment with people from a variety of cultural and language backgrounds.
• Knowledge and skills: In-depth knowledge and experience with Agile and Scrum. Knowledge of Product and Project Management methodologies and tools. Experience gathering business and user requirements. Ability to influence cross-functionally to manage projects within a matrix environment. Ability to manage budget, resources and risks. Ability to manage Stakeholders also at senior levels.
• Languages: Fluency in oral and written English with an intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working languages) is desirable.