Director of Product in Aurora, Colorado at E-470 Public Highway Authority (CO)

The Director of Product provides strategic leadership for the Authority's portfolio of digital products, enterprise applications, and customer-facing technology solutions. This role is responsible for defining the enterprise product vision, establishing a scalable Product Management operating model, and leading the development and execution of product strategies that deliver measurable business value.

The Director leads the Product Management organization responsible for both internally developed, external-facing, and third-party technology solutions supporting customer experience, business operations, enterprise services, digital transformation, and technology modernization initiatives. Working in close partnership with Software Engineering, Enterprise Architecture, Delivery Management, Business Operations, Customer Experience, Data & Analytics, Information Security, and Executive Leadership, this role ensures that product investments align with corporate strategy, customer needs, and long-term business objectives.

The Director serves as the organization's senior product leader, driving customer-centric innovation, data-driven decision making, portfolio governance, and successful delivery of strategic technology initiatives.
Product Strategy and Leadership

• Develop and execute a comprehensive product strategy aligned with the Authority's strategic goals and business priorities
• Develop and maintain a comprehensive product vision that that aligns executives, business stakeholders, technology teams, and customers and common objectives.
• Develop and maintain a multi-year product portfolio strategy that balances innovation, modernization, customer experience, operational excellence, regulatory compliance, and technology investments.
• Establish an enterprise Product Management operating model including product governance, product lifecycle management, portfolio management, and product planning standards.
• Lead product discovery by partnering with business leaders, customers, end users, technology teams, and executive leadership to identify unmet needs, validate opportunities, and prioritize investments.
• Champion customer-centric product development through user research, customer feedback, usability testing, journey mapping, and market analysis.
• Identify opportunities to improve customer experience, operational efficiency, employee productivity, and business performance through digital capabilities.
• Collaborate with business leaders to evaluate operational processes and identify automation, artificial intelligence, workflow optimization, and digital transformation opportunities.
• Develop business cases for new products, strategic initiatives, and major enhancements including financial analysis, business value, implementation strategy, operational impacts, and return on investment.
• Lead enterprise product governance by establishing investment review processes, prioritization frameworks, executive steering committees, and portfolio review practices.
• Define product lifecycle standards including product discovery, business case development, roadmap planning, requirements management, user acceptance, release planning, adoption, operational support, enhancement, and retirement.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, industry trends, customer expectations, and competitive solutions to recommend future product innovations.
• Ensure enterprise products comply with security standards, accessibility requirements, privacy regulations, architecture standards, and organizational policies.
• Serve as the organization's senior advisor on Product Management strategy, digital transformation, and technology investments.

Product Portfolio Management

• Own the enterprise product portfolio across internally developed applications, commercial software platforms, digital services, and enterprise technology solutions.
• Establish portfolio priorities that maximize customer value, business outcomes, operational improvements, and technology modernization.
• Balance competing business priorities while optimizing engineering capacity, product investments, and organizational resources.
• Conduct regular portfolio reviews to evaluate product health, business value, customer adoption, investment performance, and strategic alignment.
• Recommend product enhancements, modernization initiatives, consolidations, or retirement decisions based on business value and organizational priorities.
• Develop portfolio dashboards that provide executive visibility into roadmap progress, investment performance, risks, and strategic outcomes.

Product Delivery

• Partner with the Director of Software Engineering to establish annual product and technology objectives, ensuring alignment between product priorities and engineering capacity.
• Collaborate with Enterprise architecture to ensure product roadmap aligns with enterprise technology standards and long-term architectural decisions
• Lead product planning, prioritization, and release management for various milestones.
• Define business requirements, product capabilities, user stories, acceptance criteria, and measurable key metrics.
• Partner with software development teams, delivery management, and external vendors throughout the product lifecycle. Ensure projects are delivered on schedule, within budget, and aligned with business objectives while maintaining quality and customer satisfaction. Support Agile product management practices including backlog prioritization, release planning, sprint planning, and continuous product refinement.
• Balance delivery of customer-facing capabilities with technical debt reduction, platform modernization, operational stability, and architectural improvements.
• Ensure successful organizational adoption through effective change management, communication, and business readiness activities.

Customer Experience and Business Value

• Champion customer-first thinking across all product initiatives.
• Partner with Customer Experience teams to improve digital engagement, usability, accessibility, and customer satisfaction.
• Establish Voice of Customer programs that incorporate customer feedback into product strategy and roadmap planning.
• Ensure products deliver measurable improvements in customer experience, employee productivity, operational performance, and business outcomes.
• Promote continuous improvement by leveraging customer insights, product analytics, and business performance metrics.

Data and Performance Management

• Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure product performance, operational effectiveness, customer adoption and satisfaction, and return on investment.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement and data-driven product management.
• Leverage product analytics, customer insights, operational metrics, and business intelligence to support strategic decision making.
• Develop executive dashboards that communicate portfolio performance, roadmap progress, customer satisfaction, product adoption, and investment outcomes.
• Measure product success through customer satisfaction, usage, operational efficiency, revenue enablement, cost optimization, and business value realization.

Financial and Vendor Management

• Participate in annual budgeting, capital planning, and long-range technology investment planning.
• Develop business cases supporting strategic product investments and technology modernization initiatives.
• Monitor product investment performance to ensure alignment with approved budgets and expected business outcomes.
• Lead strategic vendor relationships for enterprise software platforms including evaluations, contract negotiations, implementation oversight, service level management, and performance reviews.
• Partner with Procurement, Legal, and Information Technology throughout vendor selection and contract lifecycle management.

Leadership and Staff Development

• Recruit, mentor, and develop a high-performing Product Management team.
• Establish product management standards, governance, and best practices.
• Foster collaboration, innovation, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Provide coaching in strategic thinking, executive communication, stakeholder management, product discovery, roadmap development, and data-driven decision making.
• Build strong partnerships across Product Management, Software Engineering, Enterprise Architecture, Delivery Management, Operations, and Executive Leadership

• 10+ years of progressively responsible experience in Product Management, Technology Management, Digital Transformation, or Enterprise Systems.
• 5+ years of leadership experience managing Product Management or technology teams.
• Experience leading enterprise software implementations and digital transformation initiatives.
• Experience working with Agile methodologies and cross-functional software development teams.

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Information Systems, Computer Science, Engineering, Public Administration, or a related field required.
• Master's degree (MBA, MPA, MIS, or related discipline) preferred.