Product Launch Project Manager
Recognized as one the Top 100 Tech Companies by Builtin.com and over 4.4-star review on Glassdoor, SambaSafety® is the pioneer of driver risk management software in North America. Trusted by over 2 million subscribed drivers; thousands of businesses look to Sambasafety to provide the most powerful, advanced, intuitive, and impactful risk solution platform on the market. SambaSafety is growing at an incredible rate with high employee engagement. It’s an exciting time to be at Samba. Now is the right time to join our high performing culture. We hope to see you here!
What you'll do:
The Product Launch Project Manager will play a crucial role in the strategic software product launch process at SambaSafety. They will reside within the PMO office yet work closely with the Sr. Product Marketing Manager to support similar initiatives at strategic and tactical levels. The Strategic Project Manager (Software Product Launch Initiatives) will serve as the connective tissue across the SambaSafety enterprise to ensure full product readiness for our product launches.
This role will be in charge of scheduling and carrying out regular status meetings to capture and record product launch-related tasks and initiatives on a day-to-day basis. In this critical role for SambaSafety, the Project Manager will make sure all internal constituents are working toward the same goal as we release new products to market. This is a great opportunity to work with a diverse set of teams and drive success at SambaSafety as we grow our leadership position in the driver monitoring space.
CORE EXPECTATIONS:
This role requires someone with a combination of strong project management, organization, and communication skills, who also has strategic experience working with the product, marketing, operations, sales, legal, accounting and support teams in software, product, service, or development organization. The right candidate will bring experience and insight, an incredibly positive attitude, and a good sense of humor. Combined, these attributes will drive the right candidate to excel in the following initiatives:
Strategy:
- Create and execute against an organizational product launch plan to ensure a successful market launch for new products and capabilities
- Advocate for all stakeholders throughout the release cycle to ensure they have the support needed for success
- Drive and disseminate the launch framework and discipline across launch initiatives, within a product portfolio, and throughout the organization
Management:
- Define, estimate and schedule project tasks and interdependencies to achieve the project scope through a clearly defined project plan/work breakdown structure
- Build, maintain, and communicate product launch plans and track the deliverables, milestones, risks and dependencies
- Accurately obtain and record product launch inputs, timelines and key deliverables from cross-functional teams
- Support simultaneous product launch initiatives
- Implement against a recommended launch plan that is structured and disciplined, yet smartly flexible to absorb change
- Anticipate bottlenecks, explore contingencies and provide escalation management
- Lead testing activities (alpha, beta, pilots) and ensure focus on business outcomes
- Identify and mobilize the launch team and track key measures of success for the project
Communication:
- Be open, honest, inspirational and direct in your interactions with team members
- Understand the scope, operational requirements, and impacts of all cross-functional teams for each product launch
- Coordinate regular product launch team meetings, publishing notes and action items to team members on a regular basis.
- Maintain a calendar of future product launches, communicating and educating the launch process out to the operational stakeholders.
- Consistently provide internal and external stakeholder communications and progress reports that effectively outline project status, risks, issues, and action plans to ensure project success
- Escalate risks and issues with potentially significant impact
- Able to set clear expectations and timelines
- Able to mitigate risks and issues as they arise and de-escalate volatile situations
CORE COMPETENCIES:
- A passion for software products
- A proven ability to influence others without formal authority
- An action-oriented mindset; not afraid to roll up your sleeves
- Sharp business judgment, detail oriented yet able to see the big picture
- Able to work autonomously with high variability
- Fun, outgoing and a great sense of humor
- A highly driven self-starter who is motivated, with exceptional communication, presentation and organization skills
- Impressive attention to detail
- Able to effectively coordinate resources from multiple areas of the company
- Comprehensive troubleshooting and creative problem-solving skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Ability to adapt well to new technologies
- Ability to handle several tasks and juggle multiple priorities
- Ability to work independently and productively in an unstructured environment
What you'll need:
- BS/BA required or equivalent experience
- 5-10 years of experience in project coordination and business management within the software development space
- PMP and SCRUM or Agile certifications
- Expert understanding of traditional and agile product development practices
- 4+ years managing concurrent SaaS initiatives with a track record of successful management of resources, external stakeholders, budgets and schedules
- Deep understanding of the SaaS implementation and release process
- A demonstrated history of managing complex projects, specifically focused on product release
- Great computer skills, and proficient in MS office applications
- Self-directed with a high level of initiative and a "can do" attitude, but open to feedback and a strong desire to learn.