Product Specialist - Operations

Summary:

We are looking for a Product Specialist to join our Operations Product Team, supporting applications for both the Utility and Broadband industries. In this role, you will collaborate with other Operations Product Owners to develop data and reporting requirements that meet the needs of the NISC membership. You will also serve as a product liaison, working closely with our data architects.  Additionally, you will conduct product research for new features and enhancements to our applications, such as the NISC Mobile App used by field technicians, Dispatch, and Ticket/Outage Management. You will work closely with our Members, internal stakeholders, and other product teams to understand and document the business processes that a feature needs to support. Once a product change has been fully defined and added to the roadmap, you will be a key resource for requirements, development, quality assurance, and release management to ensure the project reaches a successful completion. You should possess excellent written and verbal communication skills and be comfortable leading and driving discussions with a variety of technical and business stakeholders who have different opinions, technical backgrounds, and management priorities.

Essential Duties:   

• Research and document users integrated/enterprise business processes, needs, and challenges, including in the context of the overall business, industry requirements for assigned solutions; create detailed and thorough use cases, scenarios, and user stories for complex, integrated software solutions. 
• Act as the liaison between business functional product owners and data product teams by defining and refining business use cases for data products, managing the data project roadmap across Operations applications, ensuring up-to-date data definitions and documentation are communicated to consumers, maintaining a prioritized backlog of use cases for current and future sprints, and fostering continuous communication and collaboration with the team.
• Partner with and provide guidance where applicable to NISC teams in the research and interpretation of complex level technical design specifications.
• Proactively seek out, work with, and advise on best ways to determine how to implement requested business needs while limiting scope. 
• Serve as key point of contact for leadership on identifying, defining functional, processing, reporting, data use cases.  
• Serve as a key point of contact for working with 3rd parties concerning BI integration and concerns.
• Analyze and capture complex level business needs while translating and championing them from use case approaches. 
• Research and document business-related parameters or constraints that may be integral to the software solution, including legal, regulatory, or industry standards, that may impact or dictate certain business needs.
• Other related duties as assigned.
• Commitment to NISC’s Statement of Shared Values.  

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities Preferred:  

• 8+ years of related experience preferred.  
• Working level knowledge of business-related software applications and services. 
• Working level knowledge of product portfolio’s functionalities, integrations and technical architecture. 
• Working level knowledge of other integrated industry applications and services.  
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent presentation and training skills.
• Advanced knowledge of Project Management processes and theory.
• Excellent telephone/email etiquette and an ability to deal effectively with both internal and external customers. 
• Excellent research and problem-solving skills with a strong attention to detail.
• Advanced level knowledge of the Utility or Telecom industries.
• Working level knowledge of end-to-end software development lifecycles. 
• Strong ability to effectively lead, influence, teach and mentor others.
• Ability to identify key performance indicators and define sound business process of product development.
• Excellent ability to organize and prioritize.
• Excellent ability to demonstrate Initiative & Accountability.
• Ability to travel as often as necessary to meet the goals and objectives of the position.  

Education Preferred:  

• Bachelor’s Degree in a business-related field or equivalent experience.  

Minimum Physical Requirements:  

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the essential functions of this position, employees must be able to see and communicate.  Employees are regularly required to maintain a stationary position, move, and operate computer keyboards or office equipment.  

Disclaimer:  

Management may modify this job description by assigning or reassigning duties and responsibilities at any time.