Director, Product Operations

Arctic Wolf • Eden Prairie, MN

22h • Hybrid

About The Position

At Arctic Wolf, we're not just navigating the cybersecurity landscape - we're redefining it. Our global team of dedicated Pack members is driving innovation and setting new industry standards every day. Our impact speaks for itself: we've earned recognition on the Forbes Cloud 100, CNBC Disruptor 50, Fortune Future 50, and Fortune Cyber 60 lists, and we recently took home the 2024 CRN Products of the Year award. We’re proud to be named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape for Worldwide Managed Detection and Response Services and earning a Customers' Choice distinction from Gartner Peer Insights. Our Aurora Platform also received CRN’s Products of the Year award in the inaugural Security Operations Platform category. Join a company that’s not only leading, but also shaping, the future of security operations. Our mission is simple: End Cyber Risk. We’re looking for a Director, Product Operations to be part of making this happen. Location: This role is open to Hybrid-Eden Prairie-MN-US, Remote-US, Hybrid-Waterloo-ON-CA, Remote-CA. The Director of Product Operations role exists to define, drive adoption and accountability of an efficient software development lifecycle at Arctic Wolf. This individual will own codification of the product management outcomes through the SDLC, ensuring consistency in product management-specific documentation, standards, and training; owning the strategy and implementation for any product management specific SDLC tooling and to drive consistent adoption and accountability. This role will monitor the implementation of the SDLC to ensure the product management organization is consistently driving to the standard, identifying gaps, and driving solutions in collaboration with PM leaders. The Director of Operations is a strategic and execution‑focused leader responsible for driving operational excellence across the organization. This role oversees cross‑functional processes, ensures alignment between product, engineering, and business teams, and establishes scalable operational frameworks that enable growth and efficiency. The Director of Operations will partner closely with senior leadership to define operational strategy, optimize performance, and ensure organizational readiness as the business evolves. A key component of this role is serving as a subject matter expert (SME) in the Aha! product management platform or demonstrating significant experience with a comparable product management tool, ensuring strong transferable skills in product planning, roadmapping, workflow management, and cross‑team coordination.

Requirements

• Strong operational strategy development and execution abilities
• Exceptional Product Management Knowledge – This role is the Product Manager of the Product Management process; must have a deep, experiential knowledge of product management and be able to translate that experience into best practices, templates and standardization
• Excellent cross-functional leadership, communication, and stakeholder‑management skills
• Expertise in scaling processes, optimizing workflows, and implementing operational frameworks
• Ability to analyze complex data, identify trends, and make data‑driven decisions
• Strong problem‑solving, critical thinking, and organizational skills
• High proficiency with operational and productivity tools
• Deep experience with Aha! or strong transferable expertise from similar tools (e.g., Jira Advanced Roadmaps, Productboard, Monday.com, etc.)
• Ability to influence without authority and build strong relationships across teams
• High EQ; able to build consensus without direct authority through ‘disagree and commit’ style agreements; Exemplary communicator across all mediums (Slack, Video, Email, Powerpoint, Word); Ability to influence and align across many stakeholder groups
• Strong presentation and executive communication skills
• Continuous Learner – researching new things to get better
• “Left Shift the problems” – driving towards continuous improvement as a culture
• Streamline Process to get the right outcomes– identify bottlenecks, and come up with solutions to remove the bottlenecks; implement scalable processes across product teams
• Extensive Agile SDLC experience, frameworks and tools
• Tempo Setter – not just a braintrust, evangelist of the process – driving culture and setting a tone; Advocate for excellence in the process – create a sense of spirit across teams; celebrate accomplishment & achievement, reinforcing good behaviors
• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Operations, Product Management, or related field
• 8+ years of experience in operations, program management, product operations, or a similar discipline
• Proven experience leading cross‑functional initiatives in a complex, fast‑paced environment
• Demonstrated ability to build and optimize operational processes
• Experience with Aha! or equivalent product‑management tools
• Strong analytical and reporting capabilities

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree (MBA or related discipline)
• 10–12+ years of experience in operations leadership roles
• Experience supporting product or technology organizations at scale
• Certification in Lean, Six Sigma, Agile, or similar methodologies
• Prior responsibility for tool governance, configuration, and enablement of Aha! or comparable platforms
• Experience in change management, organizational design, or operational maturity transformation
• Background in software or technology‑focused environments

Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, and continually refine operational strategies, processes, and systems that support organizational goals.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives that drive efficiency, operational alignment, and predictable delivery.
• Establish and manage performance metrics, operational dashboards, and reporting frameworks to monitor progress and inform decision‑making.
• Partner with Product Management, Engineering, and Program Management to streamline workflows, prioritize initiatives, and support successful execution of product roadmaps.
• Identify operational bottlenecks and implement solutions that improve throughput, quality, and scalability.
• Lead operational planning cycles, including annual planning, resourcing, and sequencing of strategic initiatives.
• Standardize processes, documentation, and governance to ensure clarity, accountability, and operational consistency across teams.
• Manage risk assessment and mitigation strategies, ensuring operational reliability.
• Serve as the organizational subject matter expert in Aha! or a similar product management tool, enabling teams to drive adoption, optimize usage, and leverage data for decision‑making.
• Support onboarding, training, and best‑practice integration for operations‑related tools and processes.
• Influence and support change‑management efforts to ensure smooth integration of new systems, tools, and methodologies.
• Provide scalable solutions, like recorded training, best practices, templates, targeted coaching to product managers to facilitate the creation of high quality epics throughout the product lifecycle; supporting clear understanding of problems, suggested implementations and success metrics, and an effective refinement process with engineering
• Ensure product managers are creating and using effective, meaningful success metrics; In partnership with PMO, drive a process that regularly reviews deliverables against success criteria
• Assist product management leaders with best practices and tactics to drive product manager involvement throughout the entire SDLC to enable consistent communication of value, rapid problem solving, and quick scope adjustment
• Assist product management leaders with standard process for user acceptance test (beta, EAP, Design partners) and enabling cross-functional collaboration
• Ensure Product Marketing are embedded early and often in the product development lifecycle and the software development lifecycle
• Drive processes to enable high-impact UX engagement throughout the SDLC process so that UX time can be invested on the highest value work
• Foster an environment with early and often cross-functional collaboration and involvement (IT, ProdSec, Legal, GTO, S2, etc)
• Facilitate quick decision-making by acting as the point of contact for prioritization assistance
• Own Product Organization Fiscal Year Annual Operating Planning process
• Product Organization Quarterly Business Review process
• Product Development Process and tools– “Product Manager of the Product Management process and implementation”; identify hotspots in the process to address and identify coaching opportunities; Develop a cadence of spot-checking product management processes as teams move through the development process to identify areas of growth for the teams and undesired friction in the process
• Identify opportunities to bring knowledge and data that provide value across all product management teams; implement ways to enable self-serve access to that knowledge and data
• Implement and maintain a road-mapping process that allows for efficient support of greenlight process requirements and consistently communicates and delivers customer and stakeholder value
• Own Product Management specific tooling (usage, contracting, mgmt); Drive consistent, standardized and efficient usage our tooling (Aha!, Jira, Confluence, XLS), determine what the right tool is for the outcome
• Own the pieces of the SDLC with product involvement; enable a culture of continuous learning and improvement; monitor the effective implementation of the SDLC, identify opportunities for tooling, process and people improvements and drive a metrics-oriented view of the health of the PM components of the SDLC
• Own and drive a set of metrics in support of the SDLC and at the discretion of the product SVP, to support the product lines as a whole function
• Own the business case template and lifecycle – from pitch through launch, ensuring clear reporting against goals throughout the lifecycle
• Own the product line strategy templates and lifecycle – Ensuring strategies include 3yr plan, where are you going, how you are going to win, supporting research; clear reporting against strategic goals for AWN

Benefits

• Equity for all employees
• Flexible time off and paid volunteer days
• RRSP and 401k match
• Training and career development programs
• Comprehensive private benefits plan including medical, mental health, dental, disability, life and AD&D, and value-added services
• Robust Employee Assistance Program (EAP) with mental health services
• Fertility support and paid parental leave

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director