Senior Product Manager

How You’ll Contribute

The Technology Division creates digital experiences for and delivers information technology services to the National Geographic Society. From our staff to our constituents, Technology provides the power to amplify National Geographic’s impact through value-based product delivery, transformational data services, and world-class support and infrastructure services. These services include employee training and technical support, audio/visual production, device management, enterprise architecture, network management, on-premises and cloud computing, information security, identity management, data management and integration, product management, user experience design, software development, systems engineering, and systems administration. Technology comprises five teams: Business Products, Constituent Products, Data Products, Infrastructure & Security, and Technology Support Services.

The Senior Product Manager (PM) is a member of the Constituent Products team. The PM is responsible for leading the product and platform development efforts of a software engineering team, also known as a “pod”. The pod is a cross-functional team composed of the PM, a user experience designer, and several engineers who are empowered to create and maintain products that meet the needs of our constituents, which include Explorers, Donors, Members, Educators, Museum Visitors, NGS Staff, and others the Society seeks to empower in service of its mission.

The ideal candidate is passionate about the Society’s mission and an accomplished, outcome-driven and user-focused product manager with experience leading a team to discover, design, and deliver great software products.

This position reports to the Director of Product Management.

Your Impact

Responsibilities Include

• Lead product development to deliver value to end users while advancing the Society’s programmatic and business goals. Collaborate with diverse stakeholders across various Society divisions, who may have differing priorities, to formulate and drive a unified product strategy and roadmap that successfully addresses their needs and progresses the organization's overarching objectives. (20%

• Collaborate with other members of the pod to discover the problems, opportunities, and constraints that inform the design and architecture of a viable and valuable solution. (20%)

• Work closely with pod members to design and validate solutions that meet the needs of users. Utilize appropriate processes and techniques (prototyping, usability testing, iterative development, QA, etc.) to ensure products are usable, reliable, and feasible to deliver and maintain with the time and resources available. (20%)

• Collaborate with other Technology teams and internal stakeholder groups (such as Communications, Advancement, Legal, and Finance) to ensure product viability. (15%)

• Serve as a product evangelist and thought leader, clearly communicating the product vision, strategy, and impact to staff at multiple levels to inspire alignment and demonstrate value. (15%)

• Keep up with current trends, technologies and best practices in software development, artificial intelligence, and product management. (10%)

What You’ll Bring
 

Education

Bachelor’s degree preferred.

Experience   

At least 5 years of product management experience.

Necessary Knowledge and Skills

• Experience applying techniques and methods of modern product discovery and delivery, including leveraging enterprise AI tools to increase the efficiency and impact of product work.

• Demonstrated skill in developing product briefs and other essential artifacts to constructively and collaboratively engage with a diverse set of partners, including engineers, designers, architects, other product managers and their teams, stakeholders, and organizational leadership.

• Proven ability to continuously refine time and resource estimates, while also assessing and validating the relative user and business value of backlog items.

• Experience leveraging cost and value estimates along with stakeholder input to guide iterative decisions on scope, sequencing, and prioritization, ensuring product development efforts deliver maximum business value and impact.

• Experience developing roadmaps and managing team capacity while operating and maintaining a portfolio of products.

• Demonstrated ability to share a product vision and strategy to effectively motivate and inspire team members and others who contribute to the product's success.

• Experience leveraging metrics tools and data analysis skills to understand how products are being used and to inform potential enhancements and strategic decision-making.

Desired Qualifications

• A deep-seated curiosity about user goals and pain points, coupled with a strong drive to genuinely solve problems through broad idea generation and rigorous pressure testing.

• Demonstrated ability to learn multiple functional areas of business – e.g., engineering, design, finance, marketing, fundraising, operations.

• Comfortable working in an agile environment and can adapt to evolving priorities.

• Experience diving deep on technology, data architecture, systems diagramming, APIs, and other architectural concerns.

• Demonstrated ability to figure out solutions to hard problems with many constraints, using sound judgment to assess risks and communicate recommendations with well-structured, data-informed narratives.

Supervision

No Direct Reports.

Salary Information

The National Geographic Society offers a competitive and holistic total rewards package. Our compensation structure and transparent pay philosophy are based on industry-specific market data for similar-sized nonprofit organizations.

The salary range for this position accounts for a wide range of factors including but not limited to organizational need; specific skill sets; experience and training; certifications; and more. At the National Geographic Society, individuals are typically hired at or near the starting point of the salary range for their role, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.

The salary range for this position is $137,750.00 - $145,000.00.

In addition, the National Geographic Society offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits package that includes, but is not limited to, medical, dental, and vision insurance; engaging and comprehensive wellness program; 401(k) retirement savings plan with matching contributions after 6 months of employment; flexible paid time off benefits with up to 22 days of paid annual leave per calendar year (15 days for new hires in their first year, prorated based on the number of pay periods remaining in the year) and 10 days of sick leave; 12 paid holidays and a paid winter break between December 25 and 31 (May not apply to all roles that are required to work during high volume seasons or essential workers. Please check with the hiring manager for confirmation.); paid parental leave, adoption and surrogacy expense reimbursement, fertility benefits; learning and development opportunities; Lifestyle Spending Account; pet adoption assistance and insurance; pre-tax transportation benefits with a generous employer subsidy; employer-paid life insurance and disability benefit; and a variety of National Geographic discounts and perks.

Job Designation

Remote - Our Remote designation includes staff who must work in another location in the U.S. or abroad, such as our regional leads for our Education and International teams or regional fundraisers in Advancement. Staff may also be designated as Remote by their supervisors (with approval by the Senior Team lead) because of their job duties, and are afforded this status when it is beneficial to NGS, their respective team, and the employee.

Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States. This position is not eligible for visa sponsorship.

We encourage you to apply even if your experience is not a 100% match with the position. We are looking for someone with relevant skills and experience, not a checklist that exactly matches the job description. We want to help you grow and in return, you help us grow into a stronger, more inclusive organization.