Product Manager II

Company

Cox Automotive - USA

Engineering / Product Development

Product Manager II

Individual ContributorHybrid - Ability to work remotely part of the week

Yes, 5% of the time

Day

Compensation

Compensation includes a base salary of $95,900.00 - $143,900.00. The base salary may vary within the anticipated base pay range based on factors such as the ultimate location of the position and the selected candidate’s knowledge, skills, and abilities. Position may be eligible for additional compensation that may include an incentive program.

vAuto, a Cox Automotive company, is looking for a forward-thinking and innately curious individual to serve as a Product Manager for the leading inventory management software - ProfitTime. This strategic role is responsible for developing, managing, and optimizing the software that supports inventory management. The ProfitTime Product Manager will use available data and key client insights to help drive new product ideas and a united experience for clients. Additionally, you must be capable of presenting to executive audiences and large groups, interviewing end-users, and communicating technical information to non-technical people. This person is also a self-starter who is passionate about problem-solving, comfortable operating with direct and indirect influence, acclimates well to change, and is objective and detail oriented.   

Responsibilities include but are not limited to performing thorough problem discovery and solution discovery, managing the product roadmaps, overseeing implementation and working in an agile environment. You will become the go-to expert within the company for the product and process area. In-depth expertise in product management with focus on product discovery is a must-have to successfully manage large, complex products of strategic importance to the organization. There is a need for strong organizational skills due to a wide range of partners, stakeholders, and delivery across vAuto. 

Strategy/Discovery:                                                                                                             

• Formulate an in-depth understanding of problems by customer, personas, and competitive landscape. 

• Partner with UX research, marketing research, client solutions, and business stokeholds to observe and solicit feedback from consumers and clients. 

Planning: 

• Illustrate market problems in a way that puts the problem in context. Provide relevant, timely and easily consumable updates to all internal and external audiences. 

• Create Epics and Features, manage feature creation, and identify business rules and business impact.  

• Work with product leadership and stakeholders to understand our business objectives and to craft a supporting product strategy, the roadmap, and evolve the deliverable timelines based on client feedback and team capacity 

• Establish concise value statements, objectives, and key results for product initiatives that will guide the organization and delivery teams in measuring success 

Development: 

• Build an effective partnership between Product & Engineering, collaborating with Product, User Experience, Engineering, and Architecture teams to execute work. 

• Serve as the “voice of the customer” to the team and delivery stream by representing and reinforcing the customer’s perspective throughout product realization cycles. 

• Provide clear direction to delivery teams on defined product priorities and schedules, in collaboration with product leads and the release train cores 

• Ensure delivery of value-added functionality to users by partnering with Engineering to build solutions. 

Relationship Management & Client Engagement: 

• Partner with product managers, business stakeholders to understand needs, create alignment, and gain adoption of new functionality to solve their needs.   

• Identify communication and relationship needs of stakeholder groups, translating engagement strategies into specific activities and deliverables.   

• Facilitate open communication and discussion between stakeholders, acting as a single point of contact. Conduct informed feedback loops to assess and promote understanding. 

• Negotiate solutions between parties effectively and for the best of Cox Automotive; be autonomous and make decisions without oversight when appropriate   

Leading 

• Guide product owners in delivering the release train product roadmap that delights clients and drives key performance metrics 

• Provide clear direction to product owners on defined product priorities and schedules, in collaboration with product leads and the release train cores 

• Partner with product leads to understand and influence product strategy while generating innovative ideas for achieving product success 

• Identify key use cases and KPI’s to evaluate product performance 

Who You Are 

• You’re someone who can harness a wide variety of inputs and is phenomenal at planning, visualizing, and collaborating.   A lifetime learner, you channel your wisdom into others, taking opportunities to mentor whenever you can.  

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, business, or related field is required. 

• 5+ years of experience working in software product development in a product or technology role 

What We Look For 

• Bachelor’s degree in a related discipline and 2 years’ experience in a related field. The right candidate could also have a different combination, such as a master’s degree and up to 2 years’ experience; or 6 years’ experience in a related field

• Working knowledge for SAFe Agile Methodology. 

• Experience working cross-functionally with a variety of different domains, including Engineering, Finance, Marketing, UX, and Business Development. 

• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, can be applied across a diverse set of audiences. 

• Basic understanding of engineering architecture with experience working with engineering teams to deliver products. 

• Work experience in design, development, and implementation of product plans. 

• Working experience in full product lifecycle methodologies. 

• Working experience in creating, prioritizing, and recommending epics and features. 

• Working experience in conducting competitive research and analysis. 

• Working experience in identifying KPIs and other analytics to measure product value. 

• Working experience with executive presentations. 

• Working experience in working with a collaborative, cross-functional team environment. 

To be employed in this role, you’ll need to clear a pre-employment drug test. Cox Automotive does not currently administer a pre-employment drug test for marijuana for this position. However, we are a drug-free workplace, so the possession, use or being under the influence of drugs illegal under federal or state law during work hours, on company property and/or in company vehicles is prohibited.

The Company offers eligible employees the flexibility to take as much vacation with pay as they deem consistent with their duties, the company’s needs, and its obligations; seven paid holidays throughout the calendar year; and up to 160 hours of paid wellness annually for their own wellness or that of family members. Employees are also eligible for additional paid time off in the form of bereavement leave, time off to vote, jury duty leave, volunteer time off, military leave, and parental leave.Through groundbreaking technology and a commitment to stellar experiences for drivers and dealers alike, Cox Automotive employees are transforming the way the world buys, owns, sells – or simply uses – cars. Cox Automotive employees get to work on iconic consumer brands like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book and industry-leading dealer-facing companies like vAuto and Manheim, all while enjoying the people-centered atmosphere that is central to our life at Cox. Benefits of working at Cox may include health care insurance (medical, dental, vision), retirement planning (401(k)), and paid days off (sick leave, parental leave, flexible vacation/wellness days, and/or PTO). For more details on what benefits you may be offered, visit our benefits page. Cox is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer – All qualified applicants/employees will receive consideration for employment without regard to that individual’s age, race, color, religion or creed, national origin or ancestry, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, physical or mental disability, veteran status, genetic information, ethnicity, citizenship, or any other characteristic protected by law. Cox provides reasonable accommodations when requested by a qualified applicant or employee with disability, unless such accommodations would cause an undue hardship.

Applicants must currently be authorized to work in the United States for any employer without current or future sponsorship.