Manager, Academic and Student IT Products

American University•Spring Valley, DC

12h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Manager, Academic and Student IT Products, has a key leadership role within the Office of Information Technology. The Manager leads a team of 3 - 5 product managers and collaborates with cross-functional teams to ensure the successful implementation and optimization of the critical enterprise applications, including the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Workday. The Manager and team collaborate on the technology needs of academic and student facing departments across the university, including admissions, financial aid, housing, international student and scholar services, student finance, student records and other offices within the Office of Enrollment, Office of Inclusive Excellence, Academic Affairs, and Student Affairs divisions. The incumbent prioritizes initiatives, manages resource allocations, grows and mentors individual team members, influences groups both inside and outside their direct span of control, and understands the product roadmaps and how they intersect with university priorities. As a hands-on manager, the incumbent develops a deep understanding of the business area they support and lays out a product vision and strategy that delivers value, addresses necessary fixes, and enhances functionality in support of university priorities. This position combines both leadership skills and the creativity of being a strategic analyst while working directly with software vendors and internal teams to design and deploy technology solutions across the university in alignment with institutional priorities.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or equivalent.
5 - 8 years of relevant experience.
Excellent leadership and team management skills.
Demonstrated interpersonal and communication skills.
Ability to collaborate effectively at all levels of the organization.
Proven ability to direct the activities of others in time sensitive critical projects.
Ability to mentor staff for success and professional growth.
Proven analytical and problem-solving skills.
Experience with enterprise applications and related practices from requirements to delivery on projects that include new product versions and enhancements.
Experience with agile and/or waterfall project management methodologies.
Demonstrated ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams.
Experience developing business cases and writing functional requirements.
Proficiency in reporting tools and workflow process.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor's degree.
8 - 10 years of relevant experience.
Experience with ERP or CRM systems is preferred.
Experience working in a higher education institution is preferred.
Vendor management experience is a plus.
Knowledge of data privacy and security regulations (e.g., FERPA, GDPR) is a plus.

Responsibilities

Manage a team of 3 - 5 product managers. Provide leadership, direction, guidance, mentoring and support to team members for optimal performance and productivity.
Manage resource allocations to balance workloads and day-to-day responsibilities, with consideration of team member strengths, expertise and professional growth.
Continuous improvement of product management practices and procedures.
Conduct performance appraisals to confirm staff alignments with university and departmental goals as well as promote staff development.
Configure, maintain, troubleshoot, and enhance enterprise systems, such as Workday, to meet the organization’s policies, requirements, procedures, and best practices.
Create, customize, and maintain reports, dashboards, and analytics to support data-driven decision-making.
Provide support to enterprise application users on system functionality and best practices.
Collaborate with key stakeholders and IT colleagues to ensure accurate data management, reporting, integrations, and process efficiency.
Manage scheduled releases, facilitate testing and issue resolution, track areas of concern or failure, ensure adoption of new features and functions.
Continuously seek opportunities to optimize processes and workflows.
Establish strong partnerships with key stakeholders to understand their technology needs and gather requirements.
Act as liaison between IT and business units, ensuring effective communication and alignment.
Understand business practices to anticipate and support the product domain’s technology needs.
In collaboration with stakeholder leadership, develop and maintain the product roadmap aligned with the institution’s goals and priorities.
Lead the continuous enhancement and delivery of new product functionality by gathering, prioritizing, and documenting requirements and supporting the delivery process by representing the customer and performing analysis and testing, as needed.
Create and maintain the product backlog of epics and user stories, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities.
Stay updated on industry trends and best practices in higher education enterprise applications.
Provide input to the budgeting process.
Manage relationships with software vendors and service providers, ensuring that products and services meet the institution’s requirements and standards, and that contractual obligations are met.
Ensure that IT products and solutions adhere to enterprise architecture standards, including but not limited to information security and compliance standards.