Product Manager

About Ona

The world’s leading humanitarian, development and global health organizations rely on Ona to improve their impact and accountability. We build technology that affords new opportunities for governments and development organizations and actors to be increasingly collaborative, data-driven, and accountable to the people they serve. We also make tools that provide opportunities for organizations to make better use of their data to help address some of the world’s greatest challenges, including: maternal and child health, education, community resilience, agriculture, environmental sustainability, access to infrastructure and government accountability.

Ona’s mission is to help ensure every person gets access to the critical services they deserve. We work with partners to develop data solutions based on a combination of products built in-house and third-party tools that we support. Our current product portfolio includes Ona Data - a mobile data collection and visualization platform, Canopy - our enterprise analytics solution, Akuko - a BI and data storytelling platform with powerful maps - and OpenSRP - a mobile health platform Ona is developing with the World Health Organization.

Purpose

We are looking for a Product Manager to help build our innovative world-class data solutions products. The ideal candidate will be responsible for the success of Ona Data, Canopy and Akuko. The Product Manager will ensure that these products meet our clients’ needs and can be easily incorporated into our service offerings. This includes helping to set the strategy, roadmap, and feature definition for these products, as well as driving the execution of all product lifecycle processes for products: product research, market research, competitive analysis, planning, positioning, roadmap development, requirements development, and growth.

The Product manager will work closely with the Engineering, Sales, Business Development, Marketing, Customer Support and Finance teams to ensure design, performance, revenue, profit and customer satisfaction goals are met. The primary users of our products are data analysts within Ona, so specific attention to their requirements and feedback will help drive constructive feature development. The position may also include marketing, forecasting, and profit and loss (P&L) responsibilities.

Lastly, the ideal candidate should be able to combine a strong understanding of how technology can best be used to address problems with a deep understanding of global development issues in the humanitarian or health sectors.  We are looking for people who are passionate about the potential of technology to drive positive change.  We work globally on some of the world’s hardest problems partnering with organizations like the WHO, UNICEF and DFID. This role will report to the Head of Design.

The location for this role is either in Kenya (Nairobi) or US (East Coast preferred). 

Key Responsibilities

• Define product vision - working with Data Solutions leadership team to develop, manage, validate and execute visions for Ona’s data solutions products - Ona, Canopy and Akuko. This includes creating product strategy presentations and documents that describe business cases, high-level use cases, technical requirements, revenue, and ROI.
• Work with the design team to translate product strategy into detailed market and product requirements documents for prototyping and final product development by the engineering teams. 
• Work with the Data solutions leadership team to identify and justify the prioritization of product features and client requests. This role will be responsible for managing product road maps and releases.
• Collaborate closely with Engineering, Design, Project Delivery and Business Development teams on the development, QA, and release of products and balance of resources to ensure success for the entire organization.
• Analyze the market and competitive landscape to determine product-market demands and establish short and long term product goals.
• Use market research to develop sales strategies and better position our Data Solutions products with our clients. This includes developing product positioning, pricing and messaging that differentiates our products across identified primary market segments.
• Communicate product features and functions to cross-functional teams and stakeholders (both internal and external) at all levels. This includes performing product demos to customers and acting as a product evangelist to external stakeholders.
• Conduct customer research activities to understand and improve user experiences.
• Write software specifications, manage project execution, and define product roll-out strategy, including writing product development timelines.

Capabilities 

• Able to prioritize dozens of high-value tasks simultaneously, in an environment where priorities are constantly changing. Has the ability to stay organized in this environment.
• Works autonomously and with little direction to complete assignments, coordinating business processes and activities based on the outlined strategies and defined directives.
• Motivated to meet objectives in a fast-paced environment, and will get things done quickly and efficiently, regardless of the obstacles.
• Able to take big, sometimes nebulous tasks and break them down into the right sequence.
• Demonstrate a combination of business and technology acumen.
• Strong interpersonal skills with proven ability to work with and lead multidisciplinary teams.
• Excellent attention to detail and orientation toward meticulous work 
• Ability to communicate accurately, clearly, and effectively in written and spoken English.
• Bring evidence-based decision making in their communication and interactions.

Key Requirements

Essential

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, e.g. Computer Science, Data Science, Business Intelligence,  IT, Economics, Social Science or Engineering, etc.
• At least 5 years proven strategic and commercial experience in a product management/product development role with a forward-thinking technology company.
• Proven track record of successful new product development using formal methodologies working with an agile technology team.
• Experience managing technical teams, with the desire and commitment through mentorship to help build the next generation of leaders.
• Experience in developing and implementing go to market strategies for software products in addition to core product development experience.
• Knowledge of project management tools a plus (e.g. GitHub projects, Harvest, Trello).
• Attention to detail and good problem-solving skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Good written and verbal communication.
• Exceptional leadership skills.
• Evidence-based decision making.

Desirable 

• Master’s degree in a relevant field such as Computer Science, Engineering, Economics, MBA etc.
• Technical background with experience in software development or web technologies.
• Respected professional with clear vision and insights on how technology can best be used to advance equity in digital health and humanitarian response.  
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and communication and collaboration skills. 
• Interest and deep familiarity with ICT4D.
• Experience working with international companies.
• A team player who enjoys interacting with people of all levels in a multicultural environment.
• Prior experience living or working in a foreign country.
• Ability to speak other international languages including French a strong plus.
• Willing to travel globally (potentially up to 20-30% of the time).

To apply

• Cover letter describing why you are interested in this position and working at Ona.
• Resume or CV.

Note we will only contact shortlisted candidates.