Vp, Product Operations Jobs

Job Overview
Applied Systems, the leading global provider of cloud-based software that powers the business of insurance, is currently searching for a Vice President, Product Operations to join our Product Management team, reporting directly to the Chief Product Officer.
The Product Operations team is chartered with driving effective product lifecycle management to help the product portfolio achieve the desired customer and business outcomes. The team will orchestrate multiple strategic cross-functional initiatives that include the following product lifecycle activities: voice of the market, portfolio-wide planning orchestration, launch readiness and risk management, data-enablement for key initiatives to make better customer-oriented decisions, and providing execution visibility to key stakeholders.
The VP of Product Operations will lead a team that interacts directly with Product Managers, Product Development, Product Marketing, Sales, Customer Support, Legal and other stakeholders to ensure successful launch and adoption of products in the market. Additional responsibilities include providing regular status reporting, product roadmap updates, supporting the change management process, and other responsibilities as assigned. The ideal candidate is a motivated self-starter with leadership, management, collaboration, and communication capabilities that can work cross-functionally.
About The Company
Recognized as a pioneer and leader in insurance automation, Applied is the world’s largest provider of agency and brokerage management systems, serving customers throughout the United States, Canada, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. By automating the insurance lifecycle, Applied’s people and products enable millions of people around the world to safeguard and protect what matters most. The connected business of insurance enables digital agencies and insurers to create higher-value business transactions and deliver superior customer experiences throughout the entire insurance lifecycle.
The insurance industry is experiencing unprecedented investment in technology and is on the verge of a new era that will demand more and better information, while delivering better experiences for all stakeholders. Applied technology automates the exchange of information and data throughout the insurance lifecycle among agents, brokers, insurers and consumers. The company has a long history of product innovation and technology leadership with many "firsts" in the insurance software industry (first PC-based broker management system, first agency-carrier interface, first mobile app, etc.) Applied’s flagship product, Applied Epic, is the insurance industry’s most widely used broker management system.
By enabling greater access to information and streamlining workflows, Applied’s customers can capitalize on new opportunities, increase the efficiency and profitability of their business, and continuously deliver the high- level service that customers expect.
Key Applied Systems Facts:

• Executive team located in Illinois, Seattle, Park City, Dallas, and London; 15 offices across the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Ireland.
•  1 vertical market application software vendor serving the end-to-end needs of the insurance broker and carrier end-markets in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Ireland.
• Solution suite spans ERP-to-front-end, and solution offerings designed to scale from small to very large brokers, with more than 5,000 seats.
• Cloud-based deployment model with market-leading SaaS application and significant recurring revenue model.
• Fast-growing SaaS business with revenue in the hundreds of millions. Very strong business and value-creation model.
• Hellman & Friedman is the majority investor with Google’s CapitalG, JMI Equity and Stone Point Capital serving as a minority investors.

What You’ll Do

• Product analytics management: Support Product Management with data and analytic insights required to drive product adoption outcomes, improve product design/features, and keep a pulse on product health.
• Voice of the market management: Standardize processes to gather, aggregate, and synthesize various sources of internal and external input to generate insights that can be leveraged during quarterly planning and Value Articulation. Improve how we act on feedback from the market to inform product planning.
• Operational excellence: Maintain ongoing operational excellence by ensuring products / services and associated operations meet agreed SLAs/SLOs; enable feedback / integration / data feeds to interested parties (e.g., Customer Support, Customer Success) from product / services running on production platform.
• Launch readiness: Assure product teams meet operational readiness / launch criteria and communicate to organization accordingly.
• Product tooling management: Define, implement, and manage the product management tool stack: roadmap development, task/project management, customer and user feedback, product analytics, product performance monitoring, experimentation, knowledge base, etc.
• Templates and resources: Maintain templates, guidelines, references, and resources for product managers, such as user story templates, interview guides, survey frameworks, etc.
• Cross-functional orchestration: Act as single point of contact in deploying releases into operation, including streamlining and orchestrating communication and product lifecycle activities amongst product teams and other parts of the organization.
• Continuous improvement: Develop, implement and continuously refine best practices, continuing education to improve product lifecycle management efficiency and effectiveness.
• Process management and standardization: Define overarching playbook of functions and activities to be orchestrated as part of product releases / product launches, and standardize business processes, such as planning, product enablement and driving adoption, roadmap execution and reporting to facilitate and support product development.
• Training and onboarding: Setup and manage Product Management training and onboarding programs to support Product Management.

What You’ll Need To Succeed

• Data-Driven Decision Making: The ability to make data-driven decisions is essential for this role as the Product Operations leader will be responsible for tracking and analyzing product metrics to inform product strategy and drive business outcomes.
• Excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills. Able to communicate with technical and business experts at all levels of the organization.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: A successful Product Operations leader should be able to collaborate effectively with different teams such as Engineering, Sales, Marketing, and Customer Support to ensure that the product meets the needs of all stakeholders.
• Self-motivated: Able to work independently while coordinating activities with cross-divisional teams.
• Leadership: Leadership skills are crucial for this role as the Product Operations leader will be responsible for leading a team, setting priorities, and making decisions that will impact the success of the product. A strong talent magnet who can attract, retain, and grow talent. Can set direction while being able to jump into details when needed.
• Impactful Reporting and Executive Communications: The Product Operations leader should be able to create and present clear and concise reports that communicate product performance and progress to executive stakeholders.
• Operational Excellence: The Product Operations leader should be able to create and implement processes and systems that ensure operational excellence across the organization. Some experience in complex program/project management.
• Trusted team player: Proven ability to quickly earn the trust of sponsors and key stakeholders; Be “humble, hungry & smart”.
• Excellent Microsoft Office experience (Project, Power Point, Excel), Jira, and Confluence toolsets. Some experience managing the product management tool stack: roadmap development, task/project management, onboarding, user testing, user feedback, design/prototyping, product analytics, experimentation, session replay, tag management, knowledge base, etc.
• Solid analytical and problem-solving skills; ability to think strategically.
• Product Lifecycle experience: 12-15+ years’ experience working in one or more facets of the product lifecycle (e.g., as a product manager, in product development, or in product operations) is essential, as this role requires strong experience and deep knowledge of end-to-end product lifecycle activities from concept to product development, requirements gathering, release planning, go-to-market activities, post-implementation support and customer adoption.

What You’ll Gain
Benefits from Day One

• Health insurance plans, dental, and vision
• Wellness incentives
• 401(k) and/or RRSP retirement savings plans with employer match

Work-Life Balance

• Paid parental leave (U.S. candidates)
• Flex Time
• Paid holidays
• Competitive paid vacation time and a free day for your birthday
• Volunteer time off
• Personal/sick time

Empowering Career Growth and Success – We invest in talent, care about our people and are empowered by the results of our work. We grow our teams from within and give our employees opportunities to advance.
What We Value
We strive for excellence at every turn to be the best at what we do. We invest in talent, care about our people and are empowered by the results of our work. We fulfil the promise of insurance – safeguarding and protecting what matters most in people’s lives. And there is no more important job than that.
Our focus on the workforce, workplace and marketplace gives us a qualified individual in an environment in which they can be productive while we maintain our position in the industry. To help drive that change toward a vibrant, modern workplace, we have employee-driven networks with commonalities in ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and military status.
WHO WE ARE
For more than 35 years, Applied Systems has created innovative technology for the global insurance industry. Today, we are a rapidly growing software leader that is revolutionizing the way agencies and brokerages succeed.
We are smart and curious people in a tech-first environment that champions bold and powerful thinking. We are transforming a complex industry through digitization, automation, and innovative new partnerships. Together we are driving the industry fearlessly forward.
It’s an exciting time at Applied. You can do big things here, in an environment that supports creative thinking and bold ideas. Visit http://www.AppliedSystems.com for more information on how you can challenge what’s possible.
EEO Statement
Applied Systems is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. Diversity and Inclusion is a business imperative and is a part of building our brand and reputation. At Applied, we don’t discriminate, and we are committed to recruit, develop, retain, and promote regardless of race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, veteran status, and other protected status as required by applicable law.