Senior Program Manager - Skype - Microsoft - Redmond

Job description
Skype is software that enables the world’s conversations. Hundreds of millions of people and businesses use Skype and Lync to stay connected over IM, voice and video across all major computing platforms.

Our vision is to be the global communications provider that billions of people depend on every day for sharing experiences from the living room to the boardroom.

The business specific brief
The Skype team is working on our next generation of mobile applications, with a continued commitment to cross-platform support for our enterprise customers. Our Lync mobile product is uniquely positioned take advantage of the increasing importance of mobile scenarios in the enterprise, the massive trend of ‘Bring Your Own Device’, and the modernization of iOS with iOS 7. We are moving quickly to take advantage of this and move from ‘mobile also’ to ‘mobile first’ across all the major mobile Operating Systems, and iOS in particular.

We are seeing a Lync for iOS PM (and agile ‘product owner’) to manage all aspects of Lync on iPhone and iPad. He or she will report to the Lead PM for iOS, and will be specifically responsible for two key disciplines:
•Product Management. Responsibility for the operational and financial performance of the Lync for iOS client, which is available for download on iPhone and iPad. This includes regular tracking of market performance and user feedback, triage of bugs found, and development of market insights leading to specific and measurable actions.
•Product Development. Taking the role of Agile Product Owner to work closely with the associated design, development and test teams in delivering new features and experiences. This includes definition and maintenance of a prioritized product backlog, alignment with corporate strategy via the meta-backlog, participation in sprint planning and reviews, and progress reports to stakeholders.

This is a business-critical job for an experienced PM, and a large premium will be put on direct experience with Lync, mobile app development, business development, and the telecom industry. The job is based in Redmond for co-location with the Lync for iOS development teams.

Primary responsibilities
•Own every aspect of the market performance of the Lync for iOS app by defining and reviewing key performance metrics, aggregating user feedback and reporting performance to a broad group of stakeholders on a regular basis
•Develop and own the product strategy for Lync for iOS, and be responsible for translating feature requests and market opportunities into highly user-focused requirements.
•Develop and own the product backlog for Lync for iOS. Maintain a clear ranking of priorities for the development team to effectively plan and deliver against. Work closely with the other Lync PMs to maintain a coherent cross-platform experience.
•Work closely with the PM Lead for iOS and the BD team to define mutually beneficial product improvements, with appropriate priority.
•Interface with a cross functional team of product managers, designers, business intelligence analysts etc.
•Provide market insights, competitive analysis, audience opportunity etc. Turn strategy into actionable plans.
•Execute on our global strategy and deliver value in-market this year.
•Occasional travel may be required to interface with the teams in Palo Alto, London, and meet with customers and partners worldwide.

Pre-requisite knowledge, skills and experience
This is a challenging role that requires strategic thinking, broad perspective, attention to detail, a strong ability to deal with ambiguity, and a drive to win. The ideal candidate will have a demonstrated proficiency in steering complex products to public consumption. The role is high profile across Skype, and thus will require excellent communication skills, a strong ‘presence’ with senior executives, and an ability to influence key stakeholders. We will be looking for:
•A passion for Skype, Mobile, Microsoft, iOS, and the possibilities of bridging communications from the living room to the boardroom!
•Principle-level product management experience with proven track record managing complex roadmaps and delivering high quality projects on a timely manner.
•A relentless dedication to creating simple, magical user experiences.
•Proven business acumen and experience balancing a business end to end (user experience, features, quality, and revenue).
•Proven experience “telling the story” and leading through vision, not just bottoms-up feature management.
•Proven track record for timely product delivery and demonstrated ability to provide hands-on product management.
•Strong analytical skills and proven data-driven decision making attitude.
•Extensive experience working with partners inside and outside our corporation.
•Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills.
•Entrepreneurial drive and demonstrated ability to excel in a fast paced, agile environment.
•Experience in the Mobile or IP-communication business (Preferred).
•Experience working with products in a global setting and with a broad international user community (Preferred).
•Experience with Agile development processes with frequent release cycles (Preferred).
•Experience championing new ways of working: assertive, bold and inspiring - both in stretching the team to deliver great services but also in being able to ‘sell’ new approaches, influence partners and drive high standards of achievement and delivery.

Key activities
•Understand latest competitor, device and market trends and work with engineering and marketing to identify new opportunities and solutions
•Scope large, complex requirements into manageable feature driven tasks for the engineering team to deliver value
•Compose specifications, from user scenarios and flows to clear product requirements, for a variety of audiences
•Translate key opportunities into a prioritized backlog of functional and non-functional requirements
•Agree on a release plan for each release including clear decision points for scope reduction, risk management and change control processes
•Keep pulse with our users through reviewing user feedback channels, end user testing, collaboration with Customer Support, user research, and relations with partners

Qualifications
•Extensive work experience in the technology industry.
•Undergraduate degree in computer science, telecommunications, or business (preferred).
•MBA is a plus.
•Minimum of 4 year’s experience of Formal Project Management and Product Management training (ITIL, Prince II, Agile) (Preferred).

Logistics
•Location: Redmond
•Travel: Occasional travel to Skype sites required, including London, Stockholm, Palo Alto, as well as customer visits
•Job Segments: Telecom, Telecommunications, Marketing, Engineer, Program Manager, Technology, Engineering, Management, Mobile

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