Who we are:
The American Physical Society (APS) is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents more than 50,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world.
Position Summary:
The Head of Product Development & Delivery at APS is a strategic and dynamic leader, charged with steering the organization's technology initiatives towards innovation, operational excellence, and ensuring the delivery of first-class customer experiences. This role is central to integrating technology strategy with APS’s mission and goals. Responsible for guiding the IT Project Management and Product Owner teams, this position plays a critical role in shaping the technological landscape and driving digital transformation. This role is instrumental in fostering a culture of continuous improvement, agile practices, and user-centric product development, while also ensuring that IT initiatives are aligned with the evolving needs of the scientific community and publishing industry.
APS has a “remote first” concept that promotes equal treatment and equal access within the United States, independent of physical work location, with a majority of staff working primarily from remote work locations. APS values diversity and welcomes candidates from a variety of backgrounds. APS offers a dynamic work environment with an outstanding total compensation package, including salary, outstanding benefits, and excellent paid time off.
Responsibilities:
Strategic Leadership and Planning:
- Facilitate and support roadmap development activities to align technology initiatives with APS strategic priorities, while collaborating with Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) for cross-departmental initiative prioritization and governance.
- Regularly review and update roadmaps in response to evolving APS priorities, customer needs, and stakeholder feedback.
Product Owner and PMO Team Management:
- Collaborate with EPPM to support the implementation of a portfolio management system, ensuring the tool aligns with both enterprise-level project portfolio management needs and technical project execution.
- Collaborate with product and business stakeholders to improve the customer experience by evaluating qualitative and quantitative feedback and prioritizing improvements.
- Drive operational excellence by advancing agile project lifecycle management and continuous improvement processes.
- Coach, mentor, and support the development of a multidisciplinary team. Advance the teams’ capabilities in business analysis, project management, and product ownership.
Resource and Capacity Planning:
- Establish a dynamic resource allocation model for Information Systems resources, in collaboration with the EPPM department, that adapts to project demands and team capabilities.
- Implement capacity planning tools to effectively forecast and manage workload distribution.
Collaboration and Innovation Facilitation:
- Organize cross-departmental sessions to ideate and develop new solutions
- Explore emerging technologies and their applications through targeted pilot projects that align with APS’s strategic goals and priorities.
- Drive initiatives that integrate user research and user-centric design into the product development process.
Leadership in Stakeholder Communication:
- Develop a communication strategy that addresses diverse stakeholder needs, ensuring alignment and understanding with various APS departments.
- Act as the primary liaison between Information Systems and other APS departments, translating technical challenges and solutions to non-technical stakeholders.
Scope & Relationships:
- Oversee the strategic direction and operational execution of the IT PMO and Product Owner teams. Directly supervise a team of 6+.
- Responsible for aligning initiatives with APS's strategic objectives, ensuring effective delivery and innovation in technology services
Relationships:
- Collaborate closely with department managers and senior leadership to understand and integrate their needs into technology strategies.
- Collaborate closely with the Enterprise Project Portfolio Management (EPPM) department on project/portfolio management and strategic planning activities.
- Work with the Head of Engineering and other technology leaders to align technology solutions with organizational goals.
- Engage with technology vendors, consultants, and partners to drive APS's technology agenda.
Education:
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Computer Science, Marketing, Engineering, Technology, or related fields.
Preferred Certifications:
- IT Service Management (ITSM)
- Project Management Professional (PMP)
- Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
- Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
- ScrumAgile (Professional Scrum Certifications)
- Salesforce.com (SFDC)
- Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
Experience, Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
- Minimum of 7 years of experience in digital product ownership, product management, or program management.
- Minimum of 3 years of experience in a role with direct people management responsibilities, ideally with a focus on product management and project management in a technology-driven environment.
- Proven track record of delivering large-scale IT projects and products.
- In-depth understanding of the latest trends in IT, software development, and project management methodologies.
- Knowledge of the scientific publishing industry and/or associations, and their technology requirements is desirable.
- Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire and motivate teams.
- Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, capable of engaging effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Proficiency in strategic planning, resource management, and agile methodologies.
- Ability to navigate complex organizational structures and foster a collaborative working environment.
- Capacity to think strategically and translate business needs into technology solutions.
- Aptitude for problem-solving and innovation, with a focus on continuous improvement.
Travel: The position requires up to 5% of travel for in-person meetings with staff as well as periodic travel to attend meetings and events as part of its core responsibilities, as well as additional travel as assigned.
Salary:
The salary range for this position takes into account various factors influencing compensation decisions, such as skill sets, experience, training, and other business and organizational requirements. The salary listed within the specified ranges considers relevant experience. Our compensation philosophy at APS aims to maintain salaries at the midpoint of the market. As a result, we typically hire within the target starting range. Exceptional, rare cases may merit reviews above target starting range for specialized or niche skills aligned with strategic operational goals.
Hiring Range: $139,776/year - $190,444/year (USD)
Target Starting Range: $139,776/year - $155,500/year (USD)
