IT Product Manager II

This position is responsible for executing IT product strategy and planning and ensuring alignment of the continuous improvement of business application solutions with business goals and priorities for one or more IT Products. 

IT Products support the needs of Vertex internal business processes and the users through integrated business application solutions. 

The individual in this position will lead initiatives that enhance our Customer Success and Support capabilities built using Salesforce and other technologies to support scalable growth. In this role, you’ll partner with internal business stakeholders across our Customer Success, Customer Support, Product, Marketing and Sales that have Customer touch points to define requirements and deliver impactful, scalable technology solutions that improve operational efficiency, data accuracy, and overall customer experience. A strong understanding of the holistic customer processes, customer data and intelligence, and customer engagement on external portals is essential, particularly in areas such as support case management, customer onboarding/go-live, post-sale engagement, customer experience surveys, integrations to product and other customer technology solutions, along with the key performance metrics used to evaluate success in these functions.

This individual will work cross-functionally to implement solutions that leverage Salesforce Service Cloud for Customer Support and Knowledge Creation, Salesforce Experience Cloud for Customer Community, Data Cloud and AgentForce for Data Analytics and AI use cases related to Customer Support. In your role, you will manage the evaluations of technology tools, integration to Salesforce, our core Products and other Business Systems through SSO, enabling seamless data flow and end-to-end process automation across that are required for customer success and support.

This individual establishes and collaborates with cross-functional teams of Business Owners, other IT Product Managers, Enterprise and Solution Architects, Compliance, development and support teams, and various stakeholders to accomplish objectives. 

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Product Strategy, Roadmap and Continuous Product Enhancement:

• Creates or develops understanding of business application strategy and roadmap for customer success and support area, ensuring alignment with Vertex priorities and objectives, working closely with business product owners in a cross-functional manner, Enterprise Architecture, and Compliance.
• Works with business product owners to prioritize requested product features, enhancements, and projects, for their product area.
• Stays informed of industry trends and directions, Vertex strategy, new features being delivered by our SaaS providers, and new technologies that may benefit Vertex in their area of responsibility.
• Attains and maintains requisite knowledge and skills to define and design effective solutions within our business application landscape, covering knowledge in our core applications of Salesforce, Integrations, as well as integrated applications that apply to their area of product responsibility.
• Contributes to the successful delivery of approved Programs, Projects, and Releases as specified in the IT Product Roadmap.

Product Discovery, Development and Lifecycle Methodology:

• Understands and applies methods and processes that support the end-to-end product development lifecycle from Intake and Discovery through Deployment and Support, in collaboration with the IT Operations, Support, and Platform teams.
• Collaborates with business stakeholders to contribute to creation of business cases for projects to facilitate senior management has information necessary to make informed decisions.
• Works with the business product owners to define product requirements, user stories, design specifications and acceptance criteria, and to effectively manage the product backlog.
• Contributes to the preparation and presentation of enhancements and project requests to the appropriate governing body (e.g. Change Control Board or Business Review Board), to support informed decision making by these groups.
• Works with development team to review requirements, provide clarification and guidance during implementation.
• Contributes to test plans and scenarios and collaborates across IT and the business to define and execute test plans to ensure product quality.
• Supports production implementation of new products and features, including participation in knowledge transfer to the support team.
• Adopts agile methods and tools within the SAFe agile framework as implemented within Vertex.

Stakeholder Collaboration and Adoption:

• Engages with key stakeholders, including business leaders and business product owners to gather and prioritize needs.
• Maintains open communication and fosters strong relationships with business stakeholders and IT colleagues to support effective collaboration in service to Vertex objectives and priorities.
• Drive the adoption of new products and features by supporting user training and change management efforts.

Optimize Product Performance:

• Continuously monitors and evaluates performance and stability of our business application solutions, in partnership with the Operations and Support team, to identify areas of improvement.
• Regularly analyzes user feedback, usage data, and support and performance trends to identify opportunities and recommendations for product enhancement and optimization.
• In partnership with Enterprise Architecture and Business Product Owners, helps to ensure that the business application portfolio for their product area is fit for purpose and rationalized to eliminate redundant or unneeded applications and functionality, to attain greater efficiency, reduce cost and unnecessary technical complexity

Optimize IT Performance:

• Provides input on or develops delivery processes, and procedures to deliver improved service and greater cost efficiency.

• Provides input as needed to forecasting, planning and budgeting processes for their area of responsibility.

• Participates in other projects or duties as assigned.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• N/A

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:

• Must have excellent product management skills and experience of implementing Salesforce solutions for customer success and support business units working with business owners, product owners and cross-functional IT teams.
• Must have excellent business acumen and knowledge of IT processes and standards.
• Understands how to support Vertex business strategy through appropriate prioritizing, estimating, planning and delivering on business application needs.
• Ability to elicit and gather clear requirements and work jointly with the business to document specifications or user stories using process flows, solution designs, wireframes/mockups, system integrations and non-functional requirements.
• Possesses clear communication skills both written and verbal and is comfortable facilitating effective meetings and presenting to various stakeholder audiences.
• Demonstrates project management skills and potential to strengthen these skills
• Strong analytical skills and passion for analyzing IT products and trends, and the ongoing evolution of application capabilities of Vertex’ Saas applications
• Proven ability to develop relationships across business and IT stakeholders as needed to accomplish objectives
• Strong knowledge of the functionality of Salesforce Service Cloud, Salesforce Experience Cloud/Customer Communities, Data Cloud and AgentForce, Einstein AI and Analytics, integrated business applications and integrations as applicable to area of responsibility, at a level sufficient to enable defining and designing effective, quality solutions to business needs
• Proven ability to stay on task, overcome obstacles, meet deadlines and milestones, and deliver work by agreed upon dates
• Demonstrated ability to drive results virtually with distributed global teams
• Pursues continuous learning in areas critical to success in the job role, learning from subject matter experts, colleagues, and formal training
• Collaborates across IT and business in a transparent way, exhibiting willingness to share information, and ability to connect people within and across teams
• Knowledge of SAFe Agile framework and ways of working
• Proficiency in JIRA, Confluence, Smartsheet, Microsoft Office products, and other tools used to support analysis, create deliverables, and track status
• Proficiency in developing reports using Salesforce, Tableau or Power BI for customer metrics is preferred.
• Knowledge of customer 360 in Salesforce and/or Gainsight, related integrations is preferred.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, Business Administration, Information Systems, Computer Science or related field.

• Five (5) plus years of experience in IT or business role responsible for application and product strategy, design and delivery
• Three (3) plus years of experience in business applications relevant to the Vertex application landscape (Salesforce, Workday, integrated business applications).
• Or equivalent combination of education and/or experience

Other Qualifications
The Winning Way behaviors that all Vertex employees need in order to meet the expectations of each other, our customers, and our partners.

• Communicate with Clarity - Be clear, concise and actionable. Be relentlessly constructive. Seek and provide meaningful feedback.

• Act with Urgency - Adopt an agile mentality - frequent iterations, improved speed, resilience. 80/20 rule – better is the enemy of done. Don’t spend hours when minutes are enough.

• Work with Purpose - Exhibit a “We Can” mindset. Results outweigh effort. Everyone understands how their role contributes. Set aside personal objectives for team results.

• Drive to Decision - Cut the swirl with defined deadlines and decision points. Be clear on individual accountability and decision authority. Guided by a commitment to and accountability for customer outcomes.

• Own the Outcome - Defined milestones, commitments and intended results. Assess your work in context, if you’re unsure, ask. Demonstrate unwavering support for decisions.

COMMENTS:

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals in this position. Other functions may be assigned, and management retains the right to add or change the duties at any time.

Base pay offered to new hires may vary based upon factors including relevant industry and job-related skills and experience, geographic location, and business needs.* The range displayed does not encompass the full potential of the role, which allows for further growth and career progression.

In addition, as a part of our total compensation package, this role may be eligible for the Vertex Bonus Plan (VOB), a role-specific sales commission/bonus, and/or equity grants.

Learn more about Life at Vertex and connect with your recruiter for more details regarding Vertex's compensation and benefit programs.

*In no case will your pay fall below applicable local minimum wage requirements.