The JD Sports North America Application Solutions Group powers the expansion of JD's digital retail operations through building and delivering industry-leading connected customer and associate experiences across surfaces including web, mobile app and in-store digital. We support and encourage everyone on our team to take an active role in driving innovation in technology behind the products and experiences we build and are looking for candidates with a clear bias-to-action that bring an experienced, solution-oriented perspective to our team.
The Lead Product Manager is responsible for the growth of JD Finish Line’s digital platform by leading the team’s efforts to build compelling products that reduce friction and drive innovation within our customer experience. This team owns the execution of the product vision and roadmap, constantly revising and optimizing product strategy in response to the changing industry practices and customer behaviors.
This individual will effectively exhibit JD Finish Line’s core values of Customer, People, Winning, Community, and Financial Responsibility in everything they do by performing the following main duties:
- Oversees a team of Product Manager direct reports, with managerial responsibilities including hiring, developing, and performance managing team members
- Sets clear goals and success metrics for Product Management direct reports, driving towards company goals and communicating team wins back to the wider organization
- Leverages behavioral data, customer feedback and business input to develop, prioritize and communicate strategy and roadmap for both customer-facing and internal digital platforms including our website, mobile app, and company toolset.
- Guides product decisions as an expert in customer experience field through knowledge of industry trends and best practices
- Creates and cultivates cross-functional relationships with departments across the company, including Digital Operations, Retail Operations, Marketing, Merchandising, Project Management, Brand, Creative, Legal, Human Resources and Development, to understand needs and rally organizational support for initiatives
- Crafts a vision for a balanced product strategy that incorporates development of new initiatives and maintenance and improvement of existing initiatives
- Determines optimal approach to managing project dependencies and roadblocks
- Sets clear goals and success metrics for products and communicates results throughout the product life cycle
- Performs competitive analysis within and outside of the industry, introducing best practices and driving process changes where needed
- Identifies and completes ongoing review of metrics pertaining to owned vertical(s), including periodic audits to uncover opportunities for optimization.
- Champions and maintains relationships with vendor partners where applicable, ensuring smooth integration and regular performance review
- Identifies and facilitates opportunities for user and A/B testing and/or focus groups where needed
- Identifies and manages budget needs and return on investment for owned projects and vendor partner relationships, helping to determine build vs. buy pathway to solutions
- Additional duties and projects as required.
Required Education and/or Experience
Bachelor's Degree in business or computer related field from a four-year college or university and 5 - 7 years of experience overseeing the development, implementation, and performance of digital products, or equivalent combination of education and experience. Internal JD Finish Line experience strongly preferred.
Demonstrated success in a startup or change-management environment. Background in project or product management, including the use and optimization of product management tools such as Jira (or related project tracking applications). Demonstrated success managing project budgets, timelines and resources. Experience working within an Agile development environment.
Required Computer and/or Technical Skills
Should have fluent knowledge and abilities with G Suite toolset or Microsoft equivalents. Strong appreciation for Cloud based (and SaaS) applications. Business level understanding of Web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and XML, SOAP/REST/WEB services. Previous work in QA & UAT of digital applications.
Qualifications
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.
Physical Demands
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
- Sit for more than 6 hours per shift
- Use hands to finger, handle and feel
- Reach with hands and arms
- Talk and/or hear
- Stand for up to 4 hours at a time periodically
- Walk or move from one location to another
- Occasionally may need to climb, balance, stoop, kneel, or crouch
- Lift and/or move up to 10 pounds regularly and up to 50 pounds occasionally
- Punctuality and regular attendance consistent with the company’s policies are required for the position
- 10% travel needed
- Average workweek is 40-50 hours, which can vary depending on business needs
The work environment for this position is a moderately noisy office setting.
