Associate Director of Product

Job Summary:

Our Product Team builds and scales Toptal’s platform and products, working closely with our Operations and Engineering teams to support the organization’s growth. We embrace a data-focused approach to ensure each initiative on our product roadmap delivers a meaningful impact on our business and users. Our innovative technology platform enables us to deliver on-demand talent, without losing a human touch.

Are you a customer-centric Product leader with a proven track record of taking ownership and delivering results in a fast-paced, dynamic environment? We’re looking for an Associate Director of Product Management to build and deliver a first of its kind SaaS offering in the market.

As a Product leader, you will lead a team of Engineers while working cross-functionally with Engineering, Design, and other Product Managers to define, build, and launch mission-critical initiatives. We need someone to drive product discovery, understand the end-to-end operational process, collaborate to make challenging decisions, prioritize the right things, creatively solve problems, and ensure we are shipping exceptionally high-quality features.

If you have a knack for building high-quality, extremely impactful products, we want you on our team!

This is a remote position. We do not offer visa sponsorship or assistance. Resumes and communication must be submitted in English.

Responsibilities:

The following information is intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, or required skills.

·       Own and lead all aspects of an established agile team, including backlog grooming, triage and prioritization, and cross-functional coordination.

·       Responsible for defining the scope of new product features and ongoing feature improvements.

·       Write and prioritize user stories and define acceptance criteria.

·       Analytical ability to break down complex problems and efficiently use data and analytics layered against high-quality user research to inform the direction of the product.

·       Track progress, assess risks, coordinate delivery, and actively communicate contingency and mitigation plans for the team.

·       Run various ad-hoc research and business analyses to assess opportunities and risks.

·       Provide advice and support for the planning of long-term or short-term business objectives or initiatives.

·       Apply system-analyst techniques and procedures, including consulting with users to determine hardware, software, or systems functional specifications.

In the first week, expect to:

·       Onboard and integrate into Toptal while independently starting to study and learn the Toptal product suite.

·       Become acquainted with your product area, the product goals, and those you will partner with.

In the first month, expect to:

·       Work cross-functionally and with other Product Managers to organize and prioritize your high-level roadmap and backlog.

·       Start collaborating closely with your development team.

·       Cultivate strong relationships with team members across various departments.

·       Takeover all in-flight and planned initiatives.

In the first three months, expect to:

·       Fully support a product category, working collaboratively to complete quarterly planning and set OKRs.

·       Exercising discretion and independent judgment, launch features that deliver high business impact.

·       Be fully embedded into and own a development team.

·       Monitor and measure the success of your initiatives against company goals.

·       Continuously improve the team’s processes through meaningful contributions.

In the first six months, expect to:

·       Develop a repeatable model for delivering upon our roadmap initiatives.

·       Work across the team to measure and refine the roadmap, backlog, and processes to make improvements over time.

·       Constantly re-evaluate your roadmap’s alignment with the strategic goals of the business, adjusting where necessary.

In the first year, expect to:

·       Deliver your roadmap priorities and promises.

·       Ensure your team has an incredible record of building impactful products in a timely and elegant fashion.

·       Work cross-functionally to scale your team to meet the growing needs of our business and our users.

Qualifications and Job Requirements:

·       Bachelor’s degree is required, preferably in a technical discipline.

·       At least 6 years of proven software product management experience.

·       Ability to manage the full product lifecycle from discovery to execution.

·       Experience working in a SaaS company, with a strong understanding of subscription-based business models, customer lifecycle management, and software implementation processes.

·       Knowledge of AI product development processes is a plus.

·       Experience with third-party system integrations is a plus.

·       Strong expertise in using data to make decisions with a variety of tools and methodologies to gather and synthesize information.

·       Ability to creatively craft solutions through data and a customer-centric approach.

·       Ability to establish and maintain a high level of credibility with internal and external partners.

·       Ability to build wireframes and mockups, with an aptitude for keeping things simple.

·       Be meticulous and have a high bar for quality when writing user stories, reviewing designs, brainstorming technical approaches, and testing a feature before it is released.

·       Be humble, willing to learn, and do whatever is needed to help us accomplish our goals.

·       Experience using agile development methodologies with globally distributed teams and the ability to keep up with a fast-paced and global company.

·       Must have excellent written and oral communication skills. Good communication is at the core of everything we do, and you must be a strong communicator able to work with a wide range of stakeholders from senior executives to individual contributors.

·       Ability to work in a fast-paced, rapidly growing company and handle a wide variety of challenges, deadlines, and a diverse array of contacts.

·       You must be a world-class individual contributor to thrive at Toptal. You will not be here just to tell other people what to do.