Manager, Academic and Student IT Products

Description

Summary : The Manager, Academic and Student IT Products, has a key leadership role within the Office of Information. The Manager leads a team of 3 5 product managers and collaborates with cross-functional teams to ensure the successful implementation and optimization of the critical enterprise applications, including the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Workday, and the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, Salesforce.

The Manager and team collaborate on the technology needs of academic departments and student services across the university, including student recruitment, enrollment, registration, financial aid, student accounts, student affairs, and advancement.

The incumbent is responsible to prioritize initiatives, manage resource allocations, grow and mentor individual team members, influence groups both inside and outside their direct span of control, and understand the product roadmaps and how they intersect with university priorities.

As a hands-on manager, the incumbent develops a deep understanding of the business area they support and lays out a product vision and strategy that delivers value, addresses necessary fixes, and enhances functionality in support of university priorities.

This position combines both leadership skills and the creativity of being a strategic analyst while working directly with software vendors and internal teams to design and deploy technology solutions across the university in alignment with institutional priorities.

Essential Functions : Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.1. Team Leadership :

Manage a team of 3-5 product managers.

Provide leadership, direction, guidance, mentoring and support to team members for optimal performance and productivity.

Manage resource allocations to balance workloads and day-to-day responsibilities, with consideration of team member strengths, expertise and professional growth.

Continuous improvement of product management practices and procedures.

Conduct performance appraisals to confirm staff alignments with university and departmental goals as well as promote staff development.

2. Senior Workday Analyst and / or Senior Salesforce Analyst :

Configure, maintain, troubleshoot, and enhance enterprise systems, such as Workday and / or Salesforce, to meet the organization’s policies, requirements, procedures, and best practices.

Create, customize, and maintain reports, dashboards, and analytics to support data-driven decision-making.

Provide support to enterprise application users on system functionality and best practices.

Collaborate with key stakeholders and IT colleagues to ensure accurate data management, reporting, integrations, and process efficiency.

Manage scheduled releases, facilitate testing and issue resolution, track areas of concern or failure, ensure adoption of new features and functions.

Continuously seek opportunities to optimize processes and workflows.

3. Stakeholder Collaboration and Communication :

Establish strong partnerships with key stakeholders to understand their technology needs and gather requirements.

Act as liaison between IT and business units, ensuring effective communication and alignment.

Understand business practices to anticipate and support the product domain’s technology needs.

4. Product Management :

In collaboration with stakeholder leadership, develop and maintain the product roadmap aligned with the institution’s goals and priorities.

Lead the continuous enhancement and delivery of new product functionality by gathering, prioritizing, and documenting requirements and supporting the delivery process by representing the customer and performing analysis and testing, as needed.

Create and maintain the product backlog of epics and user stories, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities.

Stay updated on industry trends and best practices in higher education enterprise applications.

Provide input to the budgeting process.

5. Vendor Management :

Manage relationships with software vendors and service providers, ensuring that products and services meet the institution’s requirements and standards, and that contractual obligations are met.

6. Enterprise Architecture Standards :

Ensure that IT products and solutions adhere to enterprise architecture standards, including but not limited to information security and compliance standards.

Competencies :

Championing Customer Needs.

Evaluating and Implementing Ideas.

Developing Plans.

Making Accurate Judgments and Decisions.

Building and Supporting Teams.

Managing Talent

Supervisory Responsibility :

This position supervises 3 5 product managers.

Position Type / Expected Hours of Work :

This position works 35 hours per week Monday through Friday with a one-hour lunch break in a hybrid modality with one day a month required to be in the office.

This position requires flexibility in the employee’s work schedule as occasional after hours and weekend support may be required to support their products.

Essential personnel designation : OIT staff are expected to work remotely to support the University community, during unplanned closures or emergencies.

Leave blackout period : OIT staff are prohibited from taking non-emergency leave during the three-week period at the start of each semester, this includes the week before the start of the Fall and Spring term and the first two weeks of classes for the Fall and Spring term.

Requests for support peak during these times and system availability is also critical, which requires all staff members to be working during these times.

Salary Range :

$112,252-$130,000 annually, commensurate with experience.

Required Education and Experience :

Bachelor's degree.

5-8 years of relevant experience.

Preferred Education and Experience :

Bachelor's degree.

8-10 years of relevant experience.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

Excellent leadership and team management skills.

Demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills. Ability to collaborate effectively at all levels of the organization.

Proven ability to direct the activities of others in time sensitive critical projects.

Ability to mentor staff for success and professional growth.

Proven analytical and problem-solving skills.

Experience with enterprise applications and related practices from requirements to delivery on projects that include new product versions and enhancements.

Experience with agile and / or waterfall project management methodologies.

Demonstrated ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.

Experience developing business cases and writing functional requirements.

Proficiency in reporting tools and workflow process.

Experience with ERP or CRM systems is preferred.

Experience working in a higher education institution is preferred.

Vendor management experience is a plus.

Knowledge of data privacy and security regulations (e.g., FERPA, GDPR) is a plus.

Benefits AU offers a competitive benefits package including a 200% matching retirement plan, tuition benefits for full-time staff and their families, several leadership development certificates, and has been recognized by the American Heart Association as a fit-friendly worksite. . Other Details

Hiring offers for this position are contingent on successful completion of a background check.

Employees in staff positions at American University must deliver their services to the university from either the District of Columbia, Maryland, or Virginia, or perform work on-site at the university.

Please note this job announcement is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job.

Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

American University is an employer.

Current American University Employees American University current employees must apply through their employee Workday account.

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