Product Manager (New Product Development)

About the role

OnTrac is seeking a hands-on Product Manager to join a modern product team building cloud-native applications on Google Cloud Platform. This is a builder's role, not an oversight role: you will own the backlog, write the stories, sit with engineers and designers every day, and decide what gets built next based on evidence from real users. The position is based in Chicago, IL or remote within the United States, with an expected start as soon as possible.

Key responsibilities

• Own the product backlog end to end: write user stories and acceptance criteria, slice work into small increments, and keep at least two sprints of ready work in front of the team.
• Run product discovery with UX and engineering: user interviews, usability tests, prototypes and lightweight experiments.
• Work daily with engineers and designers, join stand-ups, review work in progress and accept or reject stories against acceptance criteria.
• Prioritize by user value and business outcome, make scope and sequencing calls quickly, and measure outcomes with the client sponsor (adoption, task success, conversion, satisfaction).
• Plan and sequence frequent releases through CI/CD, write release notes and coordinate rollouts with client stakeholders.
• Translate the client's goals into a product vision and near-term roadmap, and run demos and regular one-to-one touch points with client sponsors.
• Take part in Sprint Planning, Reviews, Retrospectives and SAFe events such as PI Planning, working with the Scrum Master on flow and predictability.

Required profile

• Bachelor's degree in a related field; an advanced degree is a plus.
• At least five years of hands-on Product Manager or Product Owner experience on software or application teams, owning the backlog and writing stories.
• Current or recent (within about 5 years) experience at a product-led technology company or in the digital/product practice of a top-tier consulting firm.
• Experience running product discovery with UX and design, and on teams that release frequently with CI/CD.
• At least three years in a client-facing role, in consulting, professional services or directly with business stakeholders.

Required skills

• Strong Jira and Confluence; Figma or similar design tools.
• Scrum and SAFe (including PI Planning); SQL or analytics tools.
• Technical fluency: comfortable discussing APIs, data models and architecture with engineers.
• Useful: CSPO, SAFe POPM or similar certification; GCP experience; prototyping, A/B testing or experimentation tools.