Product Manager

Requisition ID: 43683 

Organization

Located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Peoples, Vancouver has a commitment to becoming a City of Reconciliation. Vancouver consistently ranks as one of the world’s most liveable and environmentally sustainable cities. Named among Canada's Top 100 Employers, BC's Top Employers, and Canada's Greenest Employers, the City of Vancouver seeks colleagues who can help shape and embody our core commitments to sustainability, reconciliation, equity and outstanding quality of life for all residents.

Consider joining our committed team of staff and being part of an innovative, inclusive and rewarding workplace.

Main Puropse And Function

The Product Manager plays a critical role in the modernization and delivery of municipal products and services that prioritize customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and digital innovation.  The role is responsible for developing the strategy and roadmap; including leading end-to-end development, delivery and optimizations of products, services and capabilities that align with the City’s strategic objectives while addressing the evolving needs of the customer, employees, and the business.

The role operates in a fast-paced and multifaceted environment, ensuring the design and delivery of services and products that prioritize customer experience and align with organization’s strategy and goals. By applying service design and reusable products principles, the Product Manager fosters cross-functional collaboration and supports data driven decision-making. The position ensures the city’s services are impactful, accessible, and adaptable to evolving needs of the community. The Product Manager aligns strategic goals with customer needs and advocates for the advancement of modern, integrated digital products and capabilities within the digital ecosystem for the city.

In addition, the Product Manager contributes valuable insights to both departmental and enterprise-level planning, guiding changes to methods, procedures, and operations, impacting areas such as staffing, financial performance and overall efficiency.

Specific Duties And Responsibilities

End-to-End Delivery:

• Takes ownership of the ongoing development and success of a product throughout its lifecycle. This includes defining the product vision, strategy, and roadmap.
• Leads the product development continuous lifecycle from ideation and discovery through implementation of product with minimum viable features, subsequent iterations to retirement.
• Facilitates Agile methodologies, including sprint planning, backlog prioritization, and retrospectives to ensure efficient product delivery.
• Prioritizes product features and enhancements based on business needs, user feedback and technical feasibility.
• Defines clear product requirements, user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Coordinates closely with cross-functional teams, including user research and user testing, development, data, UX/UI design, and quality assurance to ensure seamless integration and execution of product plans. 
• Identifies and mitigates risks and blockers to maintain committed timelines and ensure high quality outcomes.
• Ensures effective and efficient implementation of digital services and products that deliver value to the users and align with business objectives.

Service Design Leadership:

• Integrates service design practices into the product development to enhance end-to-end experiences.
• Collaborates with design teams to map customer journeys, identify pain points and develop digital products that improve overall service delivery. 
• Ensures the digital services align with accessibility, inclusivity and sustainability standards.
• Utilizes research and insights to inform service design strategies ensuring alignment with municipal objectives and the needs of the customer, employees and the organization.
• Collaborates with Technology Services teams to create and maintain digital products and services that support business services and improve service delivery.
• Support the development of a cohesive service design strategy that integrates seamlessly with the City’s broader digital transformation goals.

 Stakeholder & User Engagement:

• Serves as the primary contact for both internal and external stakeholders, advocating for and driving the strategy of digital business services.
• Partners with Service Designers and UX Strategists to facilitate workshops, interviews and co-creation sessions with stakeholders, and users to gather insights and validate requirements.
• Acts as the Voice of the Customer, ensuring that user feedback is consistently integrated into product development.
• Establishes and maintains transparent prioritization processes for features, enhancements, and fixes; ensuring all stakeholders are informed and aligned.
• Develops and maintains product roadmap, ensuring they reflect the strategic direction of the organization and align with the user needs and business objectives.
• Collaborates with departments across the City to ensure alignment between digital business services and their respective goals, fostering cross-functional partnerships.

Data-Driven Decision Making:

• Identifies opportunities for digital innovation by leveraging data insights and emerging technologies to enhance service delivery.
• Stays up to date with the latest trends and developments in data analytics, AI and digital transformation to inform decision-making and product strategies.
• Defines and tracks key performance indicators (KPIs) that measure the success and impact of digital products and services.
• Utilizes analytics tools to gather and analyze both qualitative and quantitative data, ensuring decisions are based on reliable, real-time information.
• Collaborates with stakeholders to ensure data collection practices are aligned with business goals and needs.
• Continuously assess product and service performance, iterating and adjusting based on data-driven insights to optimize outcomes.

Budgets, Costs and Revenue:

• Defines and implements cost models for digital products and services, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities and long-term sustainability.
• Sets financial targets and performance metrics to track cost efficiency, revenue generation and value delivery.
• Advocates for funding structures and resource allocation to support continuous service and product enhancements.
• Collaborates with the departments to identify policy, process and technology improvements that can reduce costs and enhance revenue streams.
• Monitors budgets and expenditures providing regular reporting to ensure transparency, accountability and alignment with financial goals.
• Evaluates and recommends investment opportunities in technology or processes that deliver measurable financial benefits to the City and its customers.

Service and Product Marketing:

• Works with communication teams to create product launch plans, internal awareness campaigns and stakeholder updates.
• Oversees development of naming and branding standards for services and supporting components.
• Develops strategies to effectively market new digital services and encourages user adoption.
• Ensures services, products and features are communicated effectively to both internal teams and end users, aligning messaging with organizational goals.

Compliance and Quality Assurance:

• Ensures all digital products and services comply with accessibility standards (e.g. WCAG), legal requirements and organizational policies.
• Oversees the implementation of quality assurance (QA) processes, including testing, validation and issue resolution.
• Maintains documentation and reporting to ensure transparency and accountability in compliance efforts.
• Collaborates with legal and compliance teams to ensure adherence to relevant laws and policies.

General Duties:

• Other duties/responsibilities as assigned.

Minimum Qualification Requirements

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, computer science, design or a related discipline.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in product management, digital transformation or service delivery, with experience in managing end-to-end delivery of digital products and services. 
• Experience working in the public sector, municipal government or a similar large complex organization environment, with a strong understanding of public service objectives and governance.
• Experience in managing teams using Agile methodologies, fostering collaboration across disciplines such as development, design and analytics.
• Success in leading iterative product development cycles, managing product backlogs and establishing clear prioritization frameworks.
• Hands-on experience in service design or applying user-centered design principles to improve digital services in government, public sector or large organizations.
• Certification in Agile practices such as Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager or similar is highly preferred.
• Certification or training in product management frameworks (e.g. Pragmatic Institute, AIPMM) is an asset.
• Certification in service design, user-centered design or human-centered design principles are highly desirables.
• Familiarity with ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) principles or certifications is an asset.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Technical Expertise:
  • Proficiency in managing the end-to-end lifecycle of digital products.
  • Expertise in product management frameworks (Agile, Scrum, Kanban).
  • Strong knowledge of UX, service design principles and human-centered design.
  • Experience with analytics tools, data visualization and performance metrics.
  • Familiarity with accessibility standards (e.g. WCAG) and digital compliance requirements.
  • Knowledge of emerging technologies such as AI, machine learning and automation to drive innovation.
• Professional Skills:
  • Ability to develop and manage detailed product roadmaps.
  • Experience in budget forecasting, cost modeling and defining funding structures.
  • Skilled in product backlog management.
  • Capacity to create and maintain documentation for service design.
  • Proven ability to implement transparent prioritization frameworks.
• Leadership and Communication:
  • Expertise in leading multidisciplinary teams and build consensus across diverse stakeholders.
  • Strong facilitation, negotiation and conflict resolution skills.
  • Ability to mentor and develop team members.
  • Exceptional written and verbal communication skills tailored to diverse audience.
  • Ability to create compelling presentations, reports and roadmaps.
  • Experience in user research, stakeholder engagement and co-creation teams’ environments.
• Analytical and Strategic Thinking:
  • Strong analytical and critical thinking skills, with a focus on evidence-based decision making.
  • Ability to align products with organizational priorities and long-term goals.
  • Ability to manage multiple priorities in fast-paced, dynamic environment.
  • Proactive, innovative and forward-thinking approach to product management.
• Compliance and Quality Assurance:
  • Ability to implement and monitor compliance frameworks and governance structures.
  • Experience in quality assurance practices.
  • Skilled in identifying risks and maintaining alignment with legal and accessibility requirements.

Where operationally appropriate and subject to change, the City of Vancouver has a Flexible Work Program. This program allows staff to work a hybrid work week from locations that are a daily commutable distance from their work at a City worksite.  At this time this position is eligible to be part of the Flexible Work Program.

Business Unit/Department: IT, Digital Strategy & 311 (1070) 

Affiliation: Exempt 

Employment Type: Temporary Full Time 

Position Start Date: May, 2025 

Position End Date: November 30, 2026 

Salary Information: Pay Grade RNG-091: $111,139 to $138,924 per annum

Application Close: May 14, 2025

At the City of Vancouver, we are committed to recruiting a diverse workforce that represents the community we so proudly serve. Indigenous peoples, people of colour, 2SLGBTQ+ persons including all genders and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.  Accommodations will be provided upon request during the selection process. Learn more about our commitment to diversity and inclusion. 

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