The Hanover Research Council Looking for Product Manager – Higher Education Practice Area at Arlington, VA  Full Time

The Role:

The Product Manager – Higher Education Practice Area will be responsible for a portfolio of digital information products and services, and will support the full product lifecycle, including: product strategy, market listening, UX design, product requirements definition, product content and intellectual property development, testing, competitive research, go-to- market strategy, and future enhancements and product evolutions.

This critical role will work directly with internal development and analyst resources, senior leadership, product users, and prospective clients. The ideal candidate must have an intense curiosity for understanding the market’s needs, a passion for delivering fantastic user experiences, the drive to build, maintain, and evolve successful products and services, and the desire and flexibility to manage products at both a strategic and a tactical level.

Drive the strategic direction and evolution of a portfolio of digital information products and services;
• Define KPIs, monitor the performance of your products, and continuously improve them.
• Lead customer engagement to develop and grow existing products by understanding customer needs, developing product enhancement hypotheses, and articulating the customer journey;
• Define, create, and communicate product roadmaps aligned with business objectives and supported by business cases, market research, customer data, and competitive analysis;
• Deliver fantastic user experiences;
• Coordinate with internal and external development teams to plan, manage, and test ongoing development of new and existing product features;
• Work with internal research and analyst teams to develop new and exciting content and intellectual property.
• Collaborate with senior management to understand the feasibility and subsequent deliverability of new products or product enhancements;
• Document and prioritize product specifications including use cases, user stories, and business requirements;
• Work with key internal stakeholders to develop and implement a practice-wide go-to-market plan to ensure successful product adoption;
• Support internal sales teams by assisting with the development of a repeatable sales process, including sales materials and tools, conducting sales training, identifying new markets, and advising on short and long-term sales strategies for existing/new products;
• Function as the product expert during commercial meetings with existing and prospective clients, and in cross-functional meetings with key internal stakeholders;
• Drive day-to-day prioritization of work operations, projects and their related scope, and troubleshooting reported issues;

• Demonstrated strengths in structured and logical thinking, problem solving, issue resolution, and attention to detail;
• Creative problem solver; able to deal with complexity and to quickly identify potential solutions and sources of value;
• Experience with higher education administrators’ business concerns, strategies, processes, and workflows, either from working within higher education administration or in a consulting/vendor capacity.
• Experience using market research including interviews and surveys to understand user needs and requirements;
• Experience defining and testing user stories and business requirements;
• Strong understanding of UX best practices and conventions, including the ability to conduct UX testing;
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills, including the ability to link product design and features to strategic objectives and use hard data and metrics to back up assumptions and recommendations;
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to effectively communicate rationale and needed courses of action to engage diverse audiences and influence senior executives;
• Ability to work cross-functionally through influence and sell new ideas/concepts to experienced but less- technical functional leaders.
• Experience with Agile project management.

Education Requirement:

Bachelor’s degree preferred

Experience Requirement:

• The Product Manager should have 3-5 years of relevant experience in product management, UX design, and/or product innovation with a customer-facing product.
• Experience working with higher education administrators as either a colleague or a consultant / vendor is strongly preferred.
• Experience selling or supporting the sale of products and services, such as Ed Tech, to the higher education market is preferred.

Location:

USA Remote

Office is located in Arlington, VA

#Remote #LI-Remote

Benefits:

Starting at 18+ days Paid Time Off

11 observed holidays, including Juneteenth and Indigenous People Day and an additional 3 floating days in a calendar year (14 in total)

401(K) employer matching program

Comprehensive health and dental benefits package

Health and wellness packages with discounts to local gym

Annual company-wide day of service and monthly events partnering with local organizations such as KidPower, Martha’s Kitchen, DC SPCA

Community service opportunities

Unlimited snacks and beverages (when the office opens again)

How to Apply:

If you are interested in the prospect of working for a dynamic, growing company, we encourage you to submit your cover letter, resume, and a relevant professional writing sample (consisting of no more than 8 pages on an education or business-related topic preferably)

About Hanover Research:

Founded in 2003, Hanover Research is a global research and analytics firm that delivers market intelligence through a unique, fixed-fee model to more than 1,000 clients. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Hanover employs high-caliber market researchers, analysts, and account executives to provide a service that is revolutionary in its combination of flexibility and affordability. Hanover was named a Top 50 Market Research Firm by the American Marketing Association from 2015 to 2021. To learn more about Hanover Research, visit www.hanoverresearch.com

Hanover Values:

Business Building – We build our business quickly and intelligently and we help our clients do the same

Thought Leadership and Innovation – We strive constantly to deliver better information in a better way

Service – To our clients and our community, service is our guiding principle

Leadership and Mentorship – Our talent is our greatest asset, and we hope to help our people be their best

Firm Citizenship – We are optimists who believe there are endless possibilities for our company and ourselves

Hanover Research is an Equal Opportunity Employer, providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, genetic information, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, compensation, training, promotion, transfer, leaves of absence, and termination.