Director, Product Management

Ovative Group•Minneapolis, MN

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

We're looking for a Director, Product Management to own the Data, Intelligence, & Reporting portfolio within EMRge. This is a high-impact, high-visibility role at the intersection of data infrastructure, AI-powered analytics, business intelligence, and client-facing reporting. It's a chance to shape how our clients understand and act on their marketing performance. You'll lead two product teams: a Data Products pod that owns the core data platform every client engagement runs through — including data modeling, access architecture, integrations, and the infrastructure layer that makes everything else in EMRge possible — and a BI & Reporting pod focused on the client-facing intelligence and visualization layer on top of it. You'll manage two Product Owner direct reports, and you'll work closely with engineering, data science, and client-facing teams to define what gets built, why it matters, and how it creates real business value. This is a role for someone who can earn trust with a technical team not by writing code, but by understanding the work at a real level — the architectural trade-offs, the compliance implications, the decisions that are easy to undo and the ones that aren't. And someone who's genuinely excited about what AI and modern BI tooling make possible in marketing analytics.

Requirements

10+ years in product management, with at least 4 years owning data, analytics, or BI products
Demonstrated experience shipping products (not just managing backlogs) — you know what it takes to get something from idea to client hands
Experience managing or mentoring other product managers or product owners is a strong plus
Technically fluent — not an engineer, but someone who can hold a real conversation about API design, data access models, pipeline architecture, and security/compliance requirements (including SOC2) without needing it translated. Engineering should see you as a peer in the room, not someone they're briefing
Understands data systems at a meaningful level — how data moves, transforms, and gets structured for downstream use; you can read an ERD, reason about schema decisions, and understand why a given architecture choice creates or forecloses future product options
Fluent in BI and analytics concepts; hands-on experience with tools like Tableau, Looker, or similar, and a point of view on where AI changes the BI product category
Genuinely curious about AI — you follow what's possible, you have opinions about where it creates real product value, and you're comfortable building with it
Excellent written and verbal communication; you can write a crisp spec, a clear exec summary, and a sharp Slack message — and you know which situation calls for which
Comfortable operating with ambiguity; you don't wait for perfect requirements to start making progress

Nice To Haves

Experience in a marketing technology, adtech, or analytics platform environment
Hands-on familiarity with Databricks, Snowflake, or similar lakehouse/warehouse platforms
Background working in or alongside a professional services or agency context

Responsibilities

Product Strategy & Vision: Define and evolve the roadmap across both the Data Products and BI & Reporting pods, with a clear point of view on prioritization and sequencing
Translate client and business needs into product bets — balancing near-term delivery with longer-term platform investment
Champion AI and BI as core capabilities within EMRge, actively identifying where emerging tools create real leverage (not just novelty)
Partner with EMRge's broader product leadership to ensure your portfolio ladders to the overall platform strategy
Discovery & Problem Definition: Set the problem statements for the portfolio — not just prioritizing inbound requests, but actively defining what the right questions are across both pods
Lead discovery for complex, ambiguous problems — bringing structure to what clients and internal teams actually need vs. what they ask for
Synthesize signals from client teams, analytics partners, and usage data into clear product hypotheses
Define success metrics upfront and hold the team accountable to learning from what ships
Execution & Delivery: Scope and specify work to a level of detail that enables fast, confident development cycles — thin vertical slices over big-bang builds
Make trade-offs across pods with confidence — you understand the cross-cutting implications well enough to say what waits, what ships, and why
Produce artifacts (specs, definitions of done, decision frameworks) that your POs use as models, not just documents that describe what to build
Collaborate closely with engineering directors and leads as a genuine co-owner of architectural decisions — including API design, access and permissions models, the Databricks build-out, and SOC2 compliance requirements. You don't need to design the system, but you need to understand it well enough to make good product calls and earn the team's trust doing it
People Leadership: Manage and develop two Product Owner direct reports, providing clear direction, honest feedback, and real investment in their growth
Model the PM craft at a high level — strong discovery, crisp specs, outcome-oriented thinking — so your POs develop by working alongside you, not just under you
Build a team culture of curiosity, speed, and rigor
Cross-Functional Partnership: Work hand-in-hand with data science, engineering, and analytics leadership to align on shared priorities and realistic timelines
Engage client-facing teams as a core feedback loop — understanding how products land in practice and what's still missing
Represent your portfolio clearly and confidently to senior leadership

Benefits

Base Salary
Annual Bonus
Access to all office spaces in MSP, NYC, and CHI
Frequent, paid travel to our Minneapolis headquarters for company events, team events, and in-person collaboration with teams
Generous paid vacation policy
401k match program
Top-notch health insurance options, inclusive of same sex partners
Family formation benefits including reimbursement options for fertility, pregnancy, and parenting needs
Monthly stipend for your mobile phone and data plan
Sabbatical program
Charitable giving via our time and a financial match program
Shenanigan’s Day