M+E Technology Job Board
Director, Product Development
The Walt Disney Studios
ob Summary:
It’s the magic of immersing yourself in a motion picture masterpiece, or a new track from your favorite band, or the spectacle of a live Broadway show. It’s hard to define and even harder to create, but that’s what we do at The Walt Disney Studios. Ours is a culture of innovation, collaboration and creativity. We raise the bar, then step over it, blazing trails through the production and distribution of world class entertainment around the globe. If you want to help tell compelling, enduring stories through movies, music or stage plays, then we want to hear from you.
The Director, Product Development, has deep experience creating and leading technology strategies, systems and streamlined processes that contribute to the increased efficiency, reliability, and quality of software product development. This role requires the tactical ability to organize and motivate teams towards completing complex and interdependent goals, with a creative passion for delighting millions of consumers with beautiful, innovative apps and websites. This person will lead a team of software product management professionals to conceive of, evolve, and communicate a strategic product roadmap, translate that strategy into prioritized and actionable units of work for engineering teams, and deliver a best-in-class consumer experience across multiple mobile, Smart TV, OTT, and web platforms. Successful candidates will possess tremendous analytic rigor and a data driven mindset.
Responsibilities:
Leading a team of product analysts and owners, who help to drive the day-to-day delivery upon product development milestones, working within a cross-functional team of software and systems engineers, project managers, UI/UX designers, marketers, data analysts, and business stakeholders
Establishing product definition and product roadmap, proposing and refining features and experiences based on the latest market trends and available technologies
Leading a content operations team responsible for managing and onboarding metadata, key-art, and other creative deliverables in a timely, accurate and optimized manner
In close partnership with senior executives and other strategic stakeholders, develop the product vision and product roadmap
Define product features, epics, user stories, and tasks using defined agile processes and tools; evolve these processes as necessary to ensure efficiency and quality
Research and analyze emerging trends in the marketplace and consistently benchmark competition.
Maintain a close relationship with the Data Analytics team; leverage insights to improve the product, and drive product performance against identified KPIs
Build and maintain productive relationships with partners from other segments within the Walt Disney Company, external PARTNERS, vendors and other services
Participate in discussions and negotiations with retail or other external partners as needed
Establish appropriate stakeholder relationships; engage with these stakeholders to gather product requirements and garner strategic support
Forecast and manage project costs in close coordination with program management and finance teams
Basic Qualifications:
Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills. Must be able to command a room.
Ability to interact with a diverse set of technical and non-technical stakeholders on highly complex projects.
Proven track record in delivering complex projects using a recognized Agile project management methodology (Agile SCRUM, SAFe, Kanban, etc.)
Passionate about television, movies, entertainment, and technology.
Curiosity and an understanding of digital products in the OTT space, especially in the areas of user generated content and streaming services (e.g. YouTube, HBO NOW, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, FandagoNOW, VUDU, iTunes, Snapchat, and Facebook Video).
Understanding of how to develop rapid prototypes, and how to administer A/B tests.
Demonstrated partnering skills and ability to work within a collaborative team environment; experience working effectively with a software engineering organization as true creative partners, sharing ownership of product outcomes.
Exceptional user experience intuition and an understanding of the standard interaction paradigms across numerous entertainment consumption platforms.
Proven success managing multiple senior executive stakeholders
Ability to meet aggressive and complex project milestones and simultaneously exceed customer expectations
Excellent project management skills, resource and timeline management, risk assessment, contingency planning and ability to work with external contractors and consultants
Ability to communicate with all levels of organization (End Users – Sr. Executive Level) and team members
Proactive style with a demonstrated sense of ownership and responsibility for delivery; a bias towards confident action
Expertise in strategy development and presentation to management
Ability to motivate matrixed teams to produce quality results within challenging timeframes while managing ongoing change
Ability to represent company interests with outside customers and vendors in a succinct and articulate manner
Preferred Qualifications:
Deep knowledge of the consumer digital marketplace and proven track record of significant product releases
Demonstrated experience leading product management for a large-scale consumer product built across multiple client platforms, and with deep backend/platform components
10+ years of Product Management experience overall
5+ yrs. of experience using Agile SCRUM methodology, leading SCRUM teams
Certified Agile Product Owner
Experience working in the media and entertainment industries strongly desired
Required Education
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a similar field; advanced degree a plus
The Walt Disney Studios
ob Summary:
It’s the magic of immersing yourself in a motion picture masterpiece, or a new track from your favorite band, or the spectacle of a live Broadway show. It’s hard to define and even harder to create, but that’s what we do at The Walt Disney Studios. Ours is a culture of innovation, collaboration and creativity. We raise the bar, then step over it, blazing trails through the production and distribution of world class entertainment around the globe. If you want to help tell compelling, enduring stories through movies, music or stage plays, then we want to hear from you.
The Director, Product Development, has deep experience creating and leading technology strategies, systems and streamlined processes that contribute to the increased efficiency, reliability, and quality of software product development. This role requires the tactical ability to organize and motivate teams towards completing complex and interdependent goals, with a creative passion for delighting millions of consumers with beautiful, innovative apps and websites. This person will lead a team of software product management professionals to conceive of, evolve, and communicate a strategic product roadmap, translate that strategy into prioritized and actionable units of work for engineering teams, and deliver a best-in-class consumer experience across multiple mobile, Smart TV, OTT, and web platforms. Successful candidates will possess tremendous analytic rigor and a data driven mindset.
Responsibilities:
Leading a team of product analysts and owners, who help to drive the day-to-day delivery upon product development milestones, working within a cross-functional team of software and systems engineers, project managers, UI/UX designers, marketers, data analysts, and business stakeholders
Establishing product definition and product roadmap, proposing and refining features and experiences based on the latest market trends and available technologies
Leading a content operations team responsible for managing and onboarding metadata, key-art, and other creative deliverables in a timely, accurate and optimized manner
In close partnership with senior executives and other strategic stakeholders, develop the product vision and product roadmap
Define product features, epics, user stories, and tasks using defined agile processes and tools; evolve these processes as necessary to ensure efficiency and quality
Research and analyze emerging trends in the marketplace and consistently benchmark competition.
Maintain a close relationship with the Data Analytics team; leverage insights to improve the product, and drive product performance against identified KPIs
Build and maintain productive relationships with partners from other segments within the Walt Disney Company, external PARTNERS, vendors and other services
Participate in discussions and negotiations with retail or other external partners as needed
Establish appropriate stakeholder relationships; engage with these stakeholders to gather product requirements and garner strategic support
Forecast and manage project costs in close coordination with program management and finance teams
Basic Qualifications:
Exceptional written, verbal, and presentation skills. Must be able to command a room.
Ability to interact with a diverse set of technical and non-technical stakeholders on highly complex projects.
Proven track record in delivering complex projects using a recognized Agile project management methodology (Agile SCRUM, SAFe, Kanban, etc.)
Passionate about television, movies, entertainment, and technology.
Curiosity and an understanding of digital products in the OTT space, especially in the areas of user generated content and streaming services (e.g. YouTube, HBO NOW, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, FandagoNOW, VUDU, iTunes, Snapchat, and Facebook Video).
Understanding of how to develop rapid prototypes, and how to administer A/B tests.
Demonstrated partnering skills and ability to work within a collaborative team environment; experience working effectively with a software engineering organization as true creative partners, sharing ownership of product outcomes.
Exceptional user experience intuition and an understanding of the standard interaction paradigms across numerous entertainment consumption platforms.
Proven success managing multiple senior executive stakeholders
Ability to meet aggressive and complex project milestones and simultaneously exceed customer expectations
Excellent project management skills, resource and timeline management, risk assessment, contingency planning and ability to work with external contractors and consultants
Ability to communicate with all levels of organization (End Users – Sr. Executive Level) and team members
Proactive style with a demonstrated sense of ownership and responsibility for delivery; a bias towards confident action
Expertise in strategy development and presentation to management
Ability to motivate matrixed teams to produce quality results within challenging timeframes while managing ongoing change
Ability to represent company interests with outside customers and vendors in a succinct and articulate manner
Preferred Qualifications:
Deep knowledge of the consumer digital marketplace and proven track record of significant product releases
Demonstrated experience leading product management for a large-scale consumer product built across multiple client platforms, and with deep backend/platform components
10+ years of Product Management experience overall
5+ yrs. of experience using Agile SCRUM methodology, leading SCRUM teams
Certified Agile Product Owner
Experience working in the media and entertainment industries strongly desired
Required Education
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a similar field; advanced degree a plus