Product Manager - Transit Information

We are the Metropolitan Council, the regional government for the seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan area. We plan 30 years ahead for the future of the metropolitan area and provide regional transportation, wastewater, and housing services. More information about us on our website.

We are committed to supporting a diverse workforce that reflects the communities we serve.

The Metropolitan Council's Metro Transit Division is one of the country's largest transit systems, employs more than 3,000 people, and provides ridership through an integrated network of buses, light rail and commuter trains, as well as a resource for those who carpool, vanpool, walk or bike in the Twin Cities.

How your work would contribute to our organization and the Twin Cities region:

The Product Manager - Transit Information is responsible for working collaboratively to define and implement the roadmap for technology products and tools. This position will focus on a customer relations management (CRM) system and other contact center technologies (e.g., phone, SMS, and web chat platform). The Product Manager role includes understanding, prioritizing, and advocating for customer needs; understanding the data, systems, and workflows that power these tools; and working closely with vendors and staff across the agency to ensure customer information and internal user needs are met.

NOTE: This position is eligible for a hybrid (both remote and onsite) telework arrangement. The candidate's permanent residence must be in Minnesota or Wisconsin.

1. Solicit, document, and advocate for user needs.

• Develop new and leverage existing metrics and analytics tools (usage numbers, user flows, heat maps, error reporting, etc.).
• Work with researchers, data scientists, and UX designers to develop evaluation plans and frameworks to identify gaps, pain points, and customer needs.
• Respond to customer feedback directly. Document the feedback and use it to inform priorities.
• Synthesize, summarize, prioritize, communicate, and advocate for user needs to internal stakeholders.

• Work with users to understand workflows and pain points.
• Work with developers and software engineers (both vendor and staff) to understand technical opportunities, constraints, and tradeoffs.
• Convene stakeholders from across the agency to develop and update internal consensus on priorities.
• Develop and maintain familiarity with the market and industry trends for tools, systems, and data standards.

• Document technical and system requirements and scopes of work.
• Lead procurement processes.
• Work with vendors to resolve issues, scope enhancements, and implement changes.

• Clearly communicate priorities and technical requirements, both verbally and in writing.
• Lead and facilitate User Acceptance Testing.
• Participate in technical discussions to sure the proposed approaches and solutions meet the business needs.

• Maintain technical systems documentation, SOPs, training/onboarding documentation, and user instructions.
• Lead communication to internal stakeholders about upgrades, system maintenance, and any performance issues.

• Facilitate issue postmortems. Identify and implement mitigation strategies.
• Develop Service Level Agreements.

Any of the following combinations of experience successfully delivering solutions within designated timelines, working with technology and data, facilitating consensus and stakeholder buy-in, and integrating user feedback into decisions and completed education in Business Administration or closely related field:

• High school diploma/GED with seven (7) years of experience.

• Associate's degree with five (5) years of experience.

• Bachelor's degree or higher with three (3) years of experience.

• Experience working with a diverse workforce or diverse communities.
• Knowledge of transit Information data, tools, and systems.
• Knowledge of project management, team leadership, and change management.
• Knowledge of software development processes.
• Knowledge of user experience testing and other methods for gathering customer feedback.

• Knowledge of transit Information data, tools, and systems.
• Knowledge of project management, team leadership, and change management.
• Knowledge of planning, and program development.
• Knowledge of software development processes.
• Knowledge of user experience testing and methods for gathering customer feedback.
• Skilled in in translating business needs into technical outcomes and technical constraints and opportunities to business users.
• Skilled in problem solving, especially the ability to collaborate with others to develop creative solutions.
• Skilled in presentation development and delivery.
• Ability to use data to inform goals, deliverables, and business decisions.
• Ability to apply collaborative work strategies and communicate complex data to gain the cooperation of employees at all levels of the organization.
• Ability to incorporate feedback and learning to implement continuous improvement processes.
• Ability to understand technical systems and data flows.

• We offer the opportunity to make a difference and positively influence the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
• We encourage our employees to develop their skills through on-site training and tuition reimbursement.
• We provide a competitive salary, excellent benefits and a good work/life balance.
• Career advancement opportunities.

Union/Grade: Non-Represented Grade G
FLSA: Non- Exempt
Safety Sensitive: No

What your work environment would be:
You would perform your work in a standard office setting. Work may sometimes require travel between your primary work site and other sites.

What steps the recruitment process involves:

• We review your minimum qualifications.
• We rate your education and experience.
• We conduct a structured panel interview.
• We conduct a selection interview.