ABOUT THE POSITION, the Head of Digital Product identifies the strategic direction and manages new digital product and strategy development as well as ongoing management of existing digital products. The Head of Digital Product is responsible for developing the digital product strategy and ensuring both internal and external stakeholders’ needs are balanced. Working across department and field leaders, the Head of Digital Product aligns and integrates new products with our existing technology systems and platform to create a seamless, user-centered digital experience that delights clients and has positive impacts on results and revenue.

In this role you’ll develop and execute against a product roadmap that incorporates business needs and KPIs, user research across stakeholder groups, and evolving industry trends. You will also inform the larger picture of leveraging digital tools to further the efficacy of our larger program of work and stakeholder engagement efforts. This is a unique opportunity for the right individual to fully own product(s) that can have lasting impact for Playworks customers and the students we serve. This is full-time, remote, exempt position reporting to the COO.

IN THIS ROLE YOU WILL:

• Provide digital experience, industry, and business expertise to form the vision and roadmap for best-in-class digital products in our market while ensuring that digital products seamlessly fit into the broader Playworks experience.
• Bring and gain knowledge of effective platforms to the development process. Apply product development and management experience with web-based platforms, products, apps, or services to apply industry best practices.
• Lead orgwide strategy and creation of digital products and features from initial concept through launch, including conducting collaborative design, defining capabilities and related processes. Utilize user-centered design, planning tools, and/or continuous delivery methodologies to enhance the platform and user experience.
• Lead orgwide digital strategy in leveraging of digital tools both existing and potentially developed to improve outcomes and engagement of Playworks partners and stakeholders.
• Partner with, actively solicit input from, and collaborate with internal teams across the headquarters and field offices to support infrastructure changes of existing products, and understand needs and potential benefits of new features and new products.
• Work with the COO and other department and field leaders to map out the needs and capabilities of a new digital platform for Playworks’ current and future products. Make decisions, in partnership with senior business leaders, on digital investments and priorities.
• Engage customers to understand the needs and capabilities of a new platform for their product usage.
• Translate customer and business needs into short-term and long-term product direction.
• Track and analyze customer and staff usage of the platform to identify trends and possible improvements. Monitor platform performance and identify opportunities to improve the product.
• Author product requirements, use cases, and user stories and translate technical information into clear requirements and processes to ensure successful build and rollout new or enhanced features improve the platform.
• Guide the efforts of an outsourced technology team in moving from testing to platform development. Prioritize and align the efforts of development teams managing the flow of work through to completion.
• Work with technical and engineering lead(s)" to develop the infrastructure necessary to support the digital strategy.
• Champion the digital products internally, while also educating our team as to platform functions, capabilities, and use with customers.
• Participate in Impact and Revenue teams. These teams are cross functional groups which determine or recommend changes to priorities, standard business practices, areas of investment to further progress towards outcomes in their respective areas.
• Plan for and hire a Customer Success Manager once the platform design and implementation are underway.

To be successful in this job, you will:

Learn & Synthesize

• Partner with and actively solicit input from internal teams across the headquarters, field offices and executive leadership to understand what’s working, what’s not, and where improvements are needed.
• Effectively and efficiently engage schools, partners, and other Playworks customers in providing user feedback and design input.

Set Strategy & Vision

• Own the product strategy and long-term roadmap, as well as short-term execution plan to align with the organization's objectives and mission and customers’ needs.
• Ruthlessly prioritize initiatives and investments, in partnership with senior business leaders, based on potential impact, resources, and alignment with strategic goals and vision.

Oversee the Design & Build

• Develop the documentation (personas, user stories, detailed requirements) needed to implement the product vision.
• Collaborate with in-house teams and oversee contracted developers, ensuring coordinated and timely development of new features and fixes.
• Develop and manage comprehensive project timelines, dependencies, and milestones.
• Foster an agile development methodology to enable rapid iterations and learning.

Continuously Improve

• Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure product effectiveness and impact. Regularly report performance to executive leadership.
• Actively seek feedback from internal teams (headquarters and regional offices) and external stakeholders (teachers, recess staff, partners, school administrators, etc) to refine and improve product features and functionalities.

Educate & Inspire

• Lead the product side of internal product marketing, acting as the primary internal product evangelist to build awareness, understanding and enthusiasm. Educate our team as to platform functions, capabilities, and use with customers.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and commitment to the mission.

The following skills and experience will help you be successful. Missing some but have most? Apply anyway!

• Product Management. You have owned a digital / web-based product for at least one, but ideally more organizations, and you
• Have developed and owned a product roadmap
• Possess fluent knowledge in user-centered design thinking principles and techniques.
• Have experience with data-based decision making and behavioral analytics, but also know how to make decisions and move things forward when data are lacking.
• Have a track record of driving business value via effective product stewardship.
• Have managed product features across several different platforms (marketing automation platforms, CMSs, Salesforce automation, etc) and are well versed in modern software development approaches. Familiarity with Salesforce is strongly preferred.
• Project management skills. You’ve managed complex projects and
• Have a proven ability to meet deadlines and prioritize work on multiple projects simultaneously.
• Are comfortable using processes to help organize the work, reduce complexity, and coordinate efforts across a team on project planning and implementation.
• Communication skills. You have excellent listening skills and
• Thrive in understanding others perspectives and building consensus among competing viewpoints.
• Have experience aligning with cross-functional teams and field stakeholders, user experience, technology, marketing, operations, and other key internal partners.
• Have excellent writing and presentation skills and communicate in a detailed, clear, concise manner.
• Have demonstrable change management and relationship building skills.
• Equity Mindset. You are aware of how racism and other forms of oppression in society impact individuals, organizations, and systems. You are willing to commit to bringing your most authentic, vulnerable self to Playworks as we collectively continue our journey to becoming an anti-racist organization.

Playworks offers the full package - great benefits, a fun place to work and an opportunity to grow professionally.

• At Playworks, our compensation takes into consideration internal pay equity, geographic pay differential and robust external market data. We highly value transparency and equity within compensation and therefore are committed to adhering to established compensation pay points. The salary for this position is: $158,500 (SF Bay Area and New York City) or $150,600 (all other locations)
• A comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental, vision, disability, life insurance, 401(k) with 3% employer match, employee funded pre-tax health and child care spending accounts.
• Generous Flex PTO policy with paid sick and holiday leave.

If working hard while making room for play sounds like your ideal place to work, then apply online to join our team:

• A cover letter describing your interest in Playworks and how your experience has prepared you for this role.
• Resume
• References will be requested.

ABOUT PLAYWORKS, at Playworks we believe in the power of play to bring out the best in every kid. We are changing the school climate by leveraging the power of safe, fun, and healthy play at school every day. We create a place for every kid on the playground to feel included, be active, and build valuable social and emotional skills by partnering with schools, districts, and after-school programs through services including digital engagement, on-site coaches, professional training for school staff who support play, and consultative partnerships.

OUR COMMITMENT

We are committed to racial equity, and we make a particular effort to recruit people of color, indigenous people, gender non-binary people, and people with historically more marginalized identities to apply for open positions. Our core values to cultivate play, center equity, continue learning and collaborate within communities are the foundation of our organization and are infused in all aspects of our work.

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply for jobs unless they believe they meet every one of the qualifications as described in a job description. We are most interested in finding the best candidate for the job, and that candidate may be one who comes from a less traditional background. If that is you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself!

As an equal opportunity program, Playworks encourages applications from all individuals regardless of age, gender, gender identity/expression, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, faith, marital status, physical ability, or any other legally protected basis. Playworks evaluates all candidates for employment, volunteering opportunities or board service on a merit basis.