Job Description:

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the nonprofit organization that presents the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, is looking for a Senior Technical Product Manager

The Senior Technical Product Manager is a skilled collaborator and leader with experience overseeing product development, people, and projects. They are a thoughtful, detail-oriented, and empathetic team member who is accustomed to managing multiple projects at the same time. Collaboration is second nature to the Senior Technical Product Manager. They are able to convey complicated technical concepts to non-technical colleagues and are generous with their time and their knowledge. They respect the subject matter expertise of all members of a small, mission-driven non-profit organization, and thrive in a team-based environment. The Senior Technical Product Manager is committed to the mission and values of the Alliance and ensures the needs of the key constituents who leverage the Alliance’s web platforms are met.

The Senior Technical Product Manager holds the lead role in ensuring the integrity and stability of the technology platform (the Portal) that delivers the annual Scholastic Art & Writing Awards along with the associated systems that leverage the data in the Portal. The Portal is utilized by hundreds of thousands of young people, thousands of educators and affiliate partners, and Alliance staff every year. It is a critical delivery mechanism that enables the Alliance to achieve its mission.

This is a full-time, exempt position reporting to the Director, Programs & Operations and will be responsible for supervising a full-time Full Stack Jr. Developer. The position can be fully remote, but the Senior Technical Product Manager can also utilize the Alliance's offices located in downtown Manhattan, New York City if in-person/hybrid schedule is preferred. Standard in-person and virtual office hours are 9:30 am – 5:30 pm ET with occasional evening and weekend work. 

RESPONSIBILITIES

The ideal candidate will be an adept product manager, effective communicator, and have a strong passion for technology, the arts, education, and supporting creative youth. The Associate Director will be responsible for:

Product management of the Portal:

• Develop and manage the development flow to ensure business priorities are being met by the Portal

• Gather requirements and documentation

• Track issues and remediate defects

• Manage timelines and expectations for Portal development

• Vendor management

• Liaise with Programs team members, including constituent- and Affiliate partner-facing teams, to help them resolve user issues, understand the scope and impact of technical issues, and communicate technical issues to external users as needed

• Anticipate and track related expenses to ensure project stays on budget

Overseeing, managing, and maintaining the Portal and its associated technical systems:

• Active User Portal

• Online Award archive

• Offline archives

• Affiliate partner microsites

• Technical repositories and cloud-based account management

• Quality assurance systems

Maintaining and managing Portal-related data systems:

• Ensure award data and content is delivered to the public facing website and is properly archived after each season.

• Run advanced data queries from cloud-based servers

• Analyze data, creating reports, and presentations that provide insight into Portal usage and stability

• Ensure business users have access to the data they need to run the program

• Develop new technology initiatives based on data analysis, and in collaboration with colleagues

Providing technical management and support for the Alliance’s public web presence:

• Maintenance of web and database servers

• Analytics for all web assets

• Monitor Wordpress systems for Alliance websites and blogs, including artandwriting.org and newsroom.artandwriting.org

• Support external-facing web platforms managed by other teams, including the Partner Resource Site (partners.artandwriting.org)

• Collaborate across teams to manage timelines and expectations for web development projects

Manage the Alliance's internal technology team and the relationship with and work output of 3rd-party vendors

• Act as the liaison between the business owners and vendors who build, enhance, and maintain