Technical Product Manager

Department: Baseball Operations

Supervisor: Director, Research and Development

Classification: Full-Time/Exempt

As Technical Product Manager, you will be an integral part of charting the course and strategy for Astros Research & Development, a department that impacts decision-making across all of Baseball Operations. You will work with leaders throughout Baseball Operations to gather requirements for, prioritize, and plan the work being done by the R&D team. You will join an R&D team responsible for building and maintaining statistical models and software applications used by Astros players, coaches, and personnel to make better in-game decisions, acquire and develop the best talent, and win championships.

As Technical Product Manager, you will be responsible for creating and executing processes to best keep a pulse on the needs, pain points, and goals of end users at the Astros, and lead the development of project plans in collaboration with R&D leadership. In doing so, you will gain exposure to every department within Baseball Operations, such as Player Evaluation (across multiple markets), Player Development, Performance Science, and Major League Operations. You will also work with the R&D team to adjust internal processes as needed to facilitate a productive and collaborative work environment.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Interface with leaders throughout Baseball Operations to gather requirements needed to properly define and scope work with R&D team.
• Maintain a consistent dialogue with department heads as work is selected for and completed each sprint, and ensure users are trained as needed on new features.
• Collaborate with Director of R&D to maintain an organized and prioritized backlog of R&D user stories/bugs and draft stories and epics in collaboration with R&D leadership team.
• Spearhead agile process within R&D department, including leading recurring story pointing meetings and assisting with sprint planning.
• Work with R&D leadership to plan features to be included in each release and oversee automated release process.
• Participate in testing of new features each release cycle and coordinate the involvement of users in testing when appropriate.
• Ensure proper documentation exists as new models and tools are released, and coordinate with R&D leadership to ensure plans are made to educate the user base on key R&D products.
• Collect feedback from end users and continuously re-evaluate design and implementation of R&D products.
• Work with R&D and leaders throughout Baseball Operations to develop a high-level, cross-departmental roadmap for future R&D features and capabilities.
• Collaborate with R&D leadership to keep Astros leadership apprised of progress and priorities within R&D through regular reports and updates.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Education and/or Skills & Experience

Required:

• Relevant work experience in technical product management, development, and/or planning
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills (written and verbal)
• Ability to articulate complex topics to non-technical individuals
• Strong organizational skills and ability to multi-task

Preferred:

• Familiarity with agile and software such as Jira and Confluence
• Prior experience in software development
• Interest in baseball

Work Environment

This job operates in an office setting. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, and filing cabinets. The noise level is usually moderate but can be loud within the stadium environment.

Physical Demands

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk or hear. The employee frequently is required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle or feel; and reach with hands and arms. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close and focused vision. This is a largely sedentary role; however, some filing is required. This would require the ability to lift files, open filing cabinets and bend or stand on a stool as necessary.

Position Type and Expected Hours of Work

Ability to work a flexible schedule, including occasional evenings, weekends, and holidays.

Travel

Rare travel may be expected in this role.

Other Duties

Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

EOE/M/F/Vet/Disability