IT Business Partner & Product Manager at Teach For All

Job description

Position Summary

• Teach For All is seeking an IT Business Partner who will help lead the organization’s efforts to achieve its mission through effective use of technology.
• Reporting directly to the Head of Technology, you will serve as the strategic interface with assigned business units or functional areas, with responsibility for business-technology strategy development, solution delivery, and relationship management. As a technology leader, you will understand the biggest needs in our organization and partner with other team leaders to define opportunities and prioritize projects. You will use your technology experience, problem solving skills, and leadership abilities to provide highly valued consulting-level support and guidance to a diverse group of stakeholders, while championing the value of technology throughout the organization.
• Your creativity and enthusiasm for understanding diverse perspectives will make you a trusted advisor throughout the organization, identifying solutions that transform our ability to collaborate, make data-informed decisions, share knowledge with partner organizations and, ultimately, have an impact on global education.

Outcomes

Success in this role will mean that you will be seen as a trusted advisor and the principal technology partner for your respective strategic programmatic areas; that you have outlined a compelling roadmap for technology in your areas; and that you have successfully delivered on key initiatives as a product manager, leading product teams of both programmatic and technology staff (in-house and outsourced)

Responsibilities

• You will perform a wide range of functions, straddling the fence between IT and business units include, but are not limited to:
• Collaboration and solutioning with business partners
• Deeply understand Teach For All’s mission, priorities, and operations
• Understand business goals and objectives, and participate proactively in strategic planning process
• Serve as the chief liaison between IT and associated business units and as trusted advisor in developing integrated business and technology investment roadmaps that achieve business unit goals and objectives
• Create shared vision of solutions and facilitate decision making and arbitration relating to trade-offs both within and between different solution platforms
• Anticipate and articulate strategic opportunities and technology solutions, in partnership with the Head of Technology and leaders of select internal teams
• Develop solution roadmaps to ensure successful introductions across Teach For All and, potentially, with partner organizations
• Develop solution concepts and Business Cases for new investments
• Collaborate with design, development, and operations teams to ensure solution compatibility with latest technology standards.
• Product management and delivery
• Ensure successful launch of all identified solutions
• Coordinate project team members and external resources based on knowledge of the technical and business requirements
• Provide hands-on management of internal/external designers and developers, using Lean and Agile product management principles to ensure excellent execution
• Drive change management processes necessary to ensure successful adoption of new technologies
• Create consensus with other functions as to the timing of solution introductions and withdrawals
• Utilize the appropriate technologies and ensure that business partners have the solutions they need, when they need them, and in the manner best suited to their requirements
• xperiment with new technologies
• Identify, screen, and evaluate new solution opportunities to address unmet internal and external organizational needs
• Participate in field research in pursuit of new solutions while evaluating the applicability and effectiveness of current solutions
• Requirements

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration, or other related field or equivalent work experience
• 5 to 7 years of IT and/or business work experience with a broad range of exposure to various technical environments and business segments. At least 2 years of experience with product/project management, strategic planning, business development or client management
• Experience working with a broad range of diverse and geographically distributed teams is preferred
• Interest in education or the social sector generally is desirable
• Familiarity with a product development framework is desirable (e.g., the Product Development Management Association’s New Product Development Professional [NPDP] framework)
• Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
• Ability to apply innovative and creative thinking to complex problems
• Ability to build strong relationships and work with individuals at all levels of the organization
• Ability to communicate effectively with both tech and non-tech audiences
• Strong orientation towards nimble, lean thinking and continuous learning and improvement
• Superior product/project management skills and detail orientation
• Resilience and a drive to “get the job done” in the face of obstacles
• Ability to manage multiple streams of work and independently prioritize tasks, even when confronted with ambiguity and shifting realities

Exemplifies Teach For All’s core values:

• Sense of Possibility: We believe in the extraordinary potential of all children and in our collective potential to realize our aspirations, and so we act with courage, boldness, urgency and perseverance in pursuit of transformational impact.
• Locally Rooted and Globally Informed: We value the enormous assets in the communities where we work, immerse ourselves in local perspectives, needs and opportunities, and work in deep partnership with students, families, educators, and community members—all while also seeking to build our understanding of what is possible based on insights from outside of our communities and countries.
• Constant Learning: We commit to continuous education, reflection and improvement as the foundation for the transformational leadership we strive to develop.
• Diversity & Inclusiveness: We seek to ensure full participation of people from all cultures and backgrounds, and we believe those who have themselves experienced the inequities we’re working to address should guide and lead this work.
• Interdependence: In recognition of our shared humanity and interconnectedness, we work with generosity and compassion to help each other develop and grow.