Description
Job Title: Manager Product Development, Customer-Facing Digital
Salary Range: $156,275 - $184,456
Hay Points: 805
Dept/Div: Information Technology/Enterprise Product Development
Supervisor: Product Director, Railroad Products
Location: 2 Broadway, and other locations as required
Hours of Work: 9:00 AM -5:30 PM (7.5 hours/day) or as required
This position is eligible for telework which is currently two days per week. New Hires are eligible to apply 30 days after their effective date of hire.
About Us
The MTA transportation network has very large systems and infrastructure for financial, business, automated train, transportation, power, and physical security. The MTA IT Department is centrally responsible for providing a full range of Information and Operational Technology services to the MTA agencies and administrative units through its operating and support units. These services are provided on a 24/7/365 basis to support the MTA organization and its ridership.
MTA IT’s Product Development group is empowered, multi-functional teams focused on the end-to-end management of development products from strategy to delivery. Using innovative processes and tools, the teams are responsible for developing and maintaining highly effective, secure, and innovative transportation, operational and back-end information systems to support MTA goals and priorities.
Summary of Job
This role is responsible for developing and maintaining product lifecycles from inception/innovation through design, build, and ultimately the ongoing run stage before an eventual product retirement. This role must possess knowledge in a core IT discipline and a broad understanding of related domains.
The Digital Services team is seeking a product manager to lead one of our major products and to act as the Head of Product. This person will play a crucial role in shaping the daily commute of 3M+ New Yorkers through data and technology.
Our team is responsible for all realtime signs in the subway, the TrainTime app, the MTA app, our website and the processing systems that transform raw data into actionable information for passengers.
We're a diverse and agile team of about 20 professionals, primarily engineers, complemented by several product managers and a dedicated product designer. Operating with the nimbleness of a startup within the larger MTA structure, we prioritize thoughtfulness, determination, and impact in everything we do.
Desired Skills:
Abilities
- Intellectually curious and passionate about technology.
- Plan, initiate, and manage information technology projects for web, app or backend products
- Incorporate data, research, and market research to inform product strategy and drive customer satisfaction. Define and analyze metrics that inform the success of products.
- Work cross-functionally with other teams to drive product vision, define product requirements, and coordinate resources. This may include working with operational teams and/or going out into the field.
Domain knowledge
- Working knowledge of subway, rail or bus systems. Familiarity with the MTA system is a plus.
- Experience with mapping and geospatial data.
Technical skills
- Proficiency with SQL, as well as data visualization tools like Tableau or Power BI.
- Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP.
Responsibilities:
- Oversees rigorous quality assurance processes to deliver reliability, performance, safety objectives
- Oversees staff workload and quality of work, addressing performance issues when needed.
- Possesses knowledge in a core IT discipline and a broad understanding of related domains.
- Implements the product vision and strategy into the product development team’s work.
- Identifies potential risks to the product and develops mitigation strategies. Escalates risks to leadership as needed.
- Manages product initiatives are completed on time and within budget.
- Manages through change including the ability to adapt to shifting priorities and market conditions.
- Translates strategies and policies into operational plans, ensuring alignment with company objectives.
- Delivers monthly or quarterly results, with performance subject to regular review against targets.
- Collaborates with IT and business leaders to create and manage product roadmaps aligned with digital strategies.
- Ensures team compliance with governance processes and adherence to technology architectures and methodologies.
- Develops, manages, and monitors system support processes to maintain product quality and sustainability.
- Understands customer needs, market trends, and the competitive landscape to inform product strategy and feature prioritization.
- Manages day-to-day operations and motivates team(s) to achieve results; may be responsible for a budget. Manages team priorities and resource demand/supply; recommends timelines and resources needed to achieve goals and objectives.
- Supervises a professional team of IT staff in its selection, adoption, development, and support of one or more products lines through all stages of the product lifecycle, from ideation, definition, prototyping, design, validation & testing, launch, run stage, and eventual product retirement.
- Monitors and manages team activities and deliverables for adherence to relevant enterprise and departmental resource, technology, and operational governance/approval processes, and departmentally spanning technology architectures, models, methods, and tools.
- Analyzes and monitors effectiveness and efficiency of product(s), and develops, proposes, and implements improvement strategies.
- Develops and maintains personal knowledge of relevant industry models, methods, and tools, emerging technologies, and high impact regulatory changes.
- Performs other duties and tasks as assigned.
- Observes the work performed by contractors.
- Reviews invoices and approves them if the work has contractual standards.
- Addresses performance issues with contractors when possible.
- Escalates issues to other parties as needed.
- May need to work outside of normal work hours (i.e., evenings and weekends).
- Travel may be required to other MTA locations or other external sites.
Qualifications:
- Education: Bachelor’s degree. A combination of education and experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.
- Experience: Minimum of 5 plus years of relevant technology experience.
- Demonstrated leadership ability.
- Demonstrated ability to inspire, motivate, and empower people to achieve organizational goals.
- Collaboration skills to ensure design specifications are seamlessly implemented by the development team.
Technical Skills:
- Expert in deep understanding of technology.
- Strong ability to develop and implement enterprise product solutions. Ability to prioritize, handle multitask and work in an agile environment. Ability to quickly learn and understand new technologies.
- Strong experience with managing projects and initiatives.
- Strong experience with constant shifting needs and demands of the business Departments.
- Experience in at least one software engineering methodology, including but not limited to: Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, DevOps, Extreme Programming (XP), Kanban, Lean, Rapid Application Development (RAD)
- Experience with the following language(s): Job Specific (e.g Ruby, Python, Java, C++, COBOL, etc)
- Familiarity with the following vendor-specific platforms: Job Specific (e.g. Azure, Windows Server platforms, or Linux).
Leadership Skills:
- Expert leadership in leading change by developing inter/intra team communication and cohesiveness; sustainment of culture and supporting staff during organizational growth/changes.
- Expert leadership in leading people by working with staff to develop systems to ensure consistent, high-quality project management discipline for all technology related initiatives and endeavors.
- Expert leadership in driving results by meeting organizational goals and customer expectations and make decisions that produce high-quality results by applying technical knowledge, analyzing problems, and calculating risks.
- Expert leadership in business acumen by providing direction on evaluation, selection, implementation, and maintenance of information systems, ensuring appropriate investment in strategic and operational systems.
- Expert leadership in building coalition by internally and externally building partnerships with key stakeholders to help achieve the MTA’s mission or common goals through influence or negations.
Behavioral Skills:
- Demonstrated ability to lead teams, provide coaching and direct feedback.
- Expert in active listening, attention to detail, customer service, prioritization, and problem-solving skills.
- Expert in working independently and strategically.
- Expert in identifying and analyzing risks and developing effective mitigation strategies.
- Expert technical knowledge and diverse skillset to understand various technologies, systems, and potential risks.
- Expert in critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
- Expert in interpersonal and verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with both technical and non-technical peers.
- Expert in managing multiple projects simultaneously and prioritizing tasks based on urgency and impact.
- Extensive hands-on experience with related tools.
- Expert experience with working under pressure and meet deadlines individually and collaboratively. Thinks logically, assesses problems, and is results-oriented.
- Expert in identifying complex business and technology risks and associated vulnerabilities.
- Expert in communicating effectively, both orally and in writing, to interact with team members, customers, management, and support personnel (technical and non-technical).
- Expert in establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with employees at all levels within the organization, and with both internal and external customers.
Competencies:
Core Competency | Proficiency Level | Competency Definition |
Collaborates | Expert | Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives |
Cultivates Innovation | Expert | Creating new and better ways for the organization to be successful |
Customer Focus | Expert | Building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions |
Communicates Effectively | Expert | Developing and delivering multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences |
Technical Skills | Expert | Specialized knowledge and expertise on tools, programs, domains, platforms, and products used for specific tasks |
Values Diversity | Expert | Recognizing the value that different perspectives and cultures bring to an organization |
Other Information
Pursuant to the New York State Public Officers Law & the MTA Code of Ethics, all employees who hold a policymaking position must file an Annual Statement of Financial Disclosure (FDS) with the NYS Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (the "Commission").
Equal Employment Opportunity
MTA and its subsidiary and affiliated agencies are Equal Opportunity Employers, including with respect to veteran status and individuals with disabilities.
The MTA encourages qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and abilities, including military service members, to apply.