Senior Manager, Product Management

Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC™) is a mission-driven organization, with a vision to be the global leader in ensuring every talented person can benefit from the best business education for them.

The organization's priority is to heighten its impact in promoting graduate management education and attracting a qualified and diverse candidate pool from around the world.

Reporting to the Vice President, Assessments, the Senior Manager, Product Management is accountable for the development and business management of GMAC's Preparation Product portfolio for the GMAT and the Executive Assessment.

The Senior Manager will be responsible for managing the roadmaps and execution of key initiatives to drive greater adoption of the preparation products, contributing to GMAC's mission of providing the solutions necessary for schools and candidates to discover and evaluate each other in addition to GMAC's desire to pursue revenue diversification.

This role works in partnership with Technology and Marketing in addition to partners and vendors, to enable the development and delivery of these products.

The role will identify the needs and opportunities in the marketplace, analyze the competitive landscape and support a business case for each initiative.

To be successful, the Senior Manager, Product Management must be curious, analytically rigorous, and comfortable with ambiguity.

They should also be familiar with technology as an enabler of product innovation and ongoing improvement.

Key Responsibilities :

• Create and update the test preparation product roadmaps that reflect customer needs, product strategy, and feasibility insights from key stakeholders and vendors.
• Develop product concepts and design to facilitate an understanding of market needs and user requirements.
• Facilitate decision-making on key initiatives by effectively engaging the organization's senior leadership team and staff alike in the business planning process that factors product objectives and goals, market opportunity, value proposition, financial plan and key risks, and mitigation strategies.
• Develop requirements documents, functional specifications, and mock-ups to clearly illustrate product ideas and concepts in collaboration with vendors.
• Participate in all phases of the product development lifecycle, including analysis, design, testing, and integration of products and introducing products to the market.
• Analyze, report on, and positively affect Test Preparation product performance, in collaboration with other departments.
• Propose an annual budget to ensure success.
• Contract with vendors and other partners to achieve Prep product objectives and improve gross margins.
• Effectively manage the work of direct report(s). As needed, hire and select the right talent, with the optimal blend of skills and knowledge to support the Prep product portfolio.
• Other responsibilities and duties, as assigned.

Minimum Requirements :

• Bachelor's degree in business, Economics, Engineering, or other relevant field; Or equivalent combination of education, skills, and experience.
• 5 years' progressive professional experience in product development, product management, consulting or related field, with 3+ years of experience developing or managing a digital or technology-based product, and 2+ years of program and staff leadership responsibilities.
• Technical proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint, JIRA, Trello, and other relevant software applications.
• Experience using a variety of approaches to surface problems / insights (e.g., one-on-one interviewing, conducting focus groups, voice of the customer analysis, customer experience mapping, survey research).
• Ability to identify and resolve issues of significance to the organization that have direct impact on the success of the function both long-term and short-term.
• Ability to guide others in resolving complex issues of significance to the organization.
• Exceptional organizational, project planning, and time management skills.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and in a team setting, and across external and internal stakeholder groups.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; Strong attention to detail, with a keen focus on quality.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Comfort with multi-tasking.
• Ability to work in-office and remotely according to GMAC's hybrid work environment.
• Ability to travel up to 20% worldwide.

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Desired Skills / Experience :

• MBA or Advanced degree from accredited university.
• 8 years of closely related experience and results.
• Ability to quickly develop a deep knowledge of a marketplace, customer needs, and relevant capabilities, both internal and external, that might be used to address the need-especially if no prior industry experience.
• Ability to structure, organize, analyze, and present / communicate insights and "stories" effectively. Demonstrably experience surfacing unique observations / conditions alongside their short and long-term implications.
• Experience with business case analysis as well as negotiating and contracting with partners and vendors.
• Proven experience training and motivating others.
• Proficiency in developing and adapting business models, as well as identifying limitations in proposed business models.
• Agility to self-direct response to feedback and refine strategy and approach as needed
• Experience analyzing and visualizing data using Stata, SPSS, R GEPHI or Python.
• Professional experience in higher education and / or prior experience with support, design, or delivery of educational, interpersonal, cognitive or other types of individual assessments.
• Entrepreneurial self-starter comfortable with ambiguity of tasks and objectives in a dynamic environment. Able to identify, network and collaborate with organizations with complementary strengths and develop mutually beneficial relationships.

At GMAC, we offer :

• Comprehensive and locally competitive benefits (medical, dental, vision, 403b retirement program, and more!)
• Generous Paid-time Off
• Holiday Leave
• Hybrid Work Environment
• Free parking
• Work for a mission-driven organization helping to develop the next generation of responsible leaders and change makers
• Opportunity to utilize your skills and professionally grow and develop

Envision yourself joining GMAC, a team of smart thinkers that are resilient, adaptive and who take our values to heart. We work as a team and are committed to delivering high-quality products and services to work for a world where every talented person can benefit from the best business education for them.

FLSA Status : Exempt

Exempt

Report to :

Vice President, Assessments

GMAC's value proposition offers our talented employees the ideal climate for innovation, and colleagues who are motivated and proactive, with diverse backgrounds and approaches.

As a global organization, we understand and appreciate the benefits of myriad cultural perspectives. GMAC is wholly committed to recruiting, developing, and retaining a diverse group of talented people, and providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants without regard to the basis of actual or perceived race, creed, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state or local laws.

Additionally, to ensure a safe office environment, recognizing the tremendous contributions that vaccinations play in ensuring our mutual wellbeing, GMAC has implemented a mandatory vaccination policy.

All employees must be fully vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. GMAC may make accommodations or allow for exemption from this requirement for medical or religious reasons.