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About the Company

Our client is a successful Canadian B to C internet pioneer whose family of internet brands enjoy a global market and strong prospects of continued growth. Our client’s mission is to deliver the highest value to its customers with unparalleled industry solutions built on creative, reliable technologies, deep technical knowledge and feature-rich applications. The company is currently building a leading edge new technology platform to serve millions of customers located around the world, while maintaining and planning the seamless transition from existing platforms.  Our client is profitable, privately owned, and headquartered in the Toronto area.

Scope of Position

Reporting into the CEO and President the SVP Product will oversee the organization’s Product function including developing and executing the product strategy and roadmap.  The SVP will be the go-to person for all things product leadership, including product planning, roadmapping, customer discovery, product discovery, user research and the product development process.  More importantly the SVP will be the product evangelist inside and outside the company, imbuing the organization with the enthusiasm and desire to continually improve and advance the product agenda.

Responsibilities

The new SVP will be responsible for the following:

• As part of the senior leadership team contribute to the overall strategy and vision of the company.
• Work with Senior Leadership Team to develop and take ownership for the ongoing evolution for the product roadmaps in the company, consistent with the company’s strategy.
• Proactively work with the development teams on the development schedule adapting and prioritizing the features and functions that will be delivered.
• Through deep understanding and research of the target market, be the “voice of the customer” in the senior management team.
• Stay abreast of competitors’ developments and the overall competitive landscape.
• Lead the direction of the product roadmap through deep analytic perspectives, and execute the related strategy with ability to adjust as needed based on the needs of the business and changes in the market.
• Lead ideation activities, product feasibility assessments, business case preparation, and overall product definition (feature lists and prioritization).
• Lead the design and implementation of product development methodology.
• Leverage market research to assist with product design and understand changes in the marketplace.
• Liaise with marketing to ensure that the web traffic and advertising strategies support the product positioning.
• Collaborate with analytics to understand ideal client behaviour and activities to optimize the product and determine optimal pricing and revenue strategies.
• Present and defend business cases with ROI.

Key Performance Indicators

Specific measures of performance relating to growth, profitability, customer satisfaction, efficiencies, etc. will be discussed and agreed upon with the successful candidate. They will likely include measures such as:

• Quality of Service and customer satisfaction.
• Conversion rates of visitors.
• Client churn.
• Active monthly users.
• Product cost.

Competency Profile

The following competencies listed below define the role of SVP:

Role Expertise

Demonstrates critical technical or professional knowledge/skills related to the role. Has thorough knowledge of relevant products, services and methods. Expands technical knowledge/skills and keeps up-to-date in own area of expertise.

Leading Change

Recognizes when change is necessary. Challenges the status quo and champions new initiatives. Acts as a catalyst to change and stimulates others to change. Develops an effective action plan to implement change and monitors results.

Motivating

Encourages others by creating enthusiasm, a feeling of investment and a desire to excel. Inspires a healthy attitude to work by recognizing positive contributions.

People Management

Establishes and communicates clear priorities and sense of direction. Clarifies roles and responsibilities. Adapts management style to achieve optimum results.

Innovation

Brings various perspectives and approaches together, combining them in a creative fashion to implement effective improvements. Challenges existing assumptions. Generates new ideas. Goes beyond the status quo. Recognizes the need for new or modified approaches.

Customer/Client Orientation

Anticipates customers’/clients’ needs. Monitors and acts on measures of customer/client satisfaction. Quickly follows up on customer/client contacts and complaints. Strives to provide customers/clients with personalized and efficient service.

Commercial Acumen

Applies appropriate commercial and financial principles. Understands situations in terms of costs, profits, added-value and return on investment. Appreciates the commercial impact of own work on the organization’s total expenses and revenues.

Preferred Experience / Education

The following indicates specific industry, academic and functional experience/qualifications that are important to the successful achievement of the identified responsibilities and performance deliverables.

• 5+ years of experience in a VP Product Management or comparable role in a consumer based technology company.
• Proven ability to successfully bring new, innovative products from concept to market, on-time, on-budget, that achieve success in the marketplace.
• Proven success leading multiple consumer product launches.
• Experience executing market, competitive and other user research to develop product strategies that proved successful.
• A deep understanding of the product culture.
• Extremely disciplined and organized approach to product and project management.
• Experience working in a fast-paced Lean, Agile Micro Services development environment.
• Ability to manage competing priorities.
• Strong business acumen and highly analytical: ability to think rationally and make data-driven decisions.
• Deep knowledge of web/mobile technologies and UX best practices.

Remuneration & Benefits

Highly competitive base, variable and equity compensation package to the successful candidate.