Director of Product Management & Development

As the Director of Product Management & Development, you will lead the Product Management & Development group, which is responsible for the product strategy and life cycle management of TDS Telecom's full retail product portfolio (annual revenues ~ $1 billion). This includes Residential and Commercial product lines, Wireline and Cable business units, Broadband, Video, Voice and all related retail product sets. The Director is responsible for providing leadership and direction to a team that is accountable for the following activities:

• Product plan development: Development of the product strategy and management plan for each major product category.
• Product Performance: Measures and monitors how each product is performing in the hands of our customers.
• Operational Metric Ownership: Closely monitors subscriber activity for sales, churn and ARPU-results (including COGS) and continually compares results to target metrics to meet revenue and OCF expectations. Initiates corrective action where needed.
• Business case development: Develops business cases in partnership with the Finance team to determine profitable locations for new market rollouts and for product extensions.
• Subject Matter Expert: Acts as the SME on products and services. Coordinates support from Government & Regulatory Affairs (GRA) on product and pricing matters for regulated products/services.
• Product Training: Identifies product training support requirements and work with appropriate resources to develop training curricula.
• Product Advisory Committee: Manages the "Gated Product Development Process" to gain approval and successful product extensions and launches.

In this position, you will have responsibility for unit and revenue growth as well as overall product profitability for all products for the cable and wireline business units.

In addition, you will serve as the champion of new product development. You will be responsible for leading a team to discover new and long-term (5-10 years) product revenue-generating opportunities that support the strategic long-term, financial objectives of TDS. As the Director of Product Management & Development, you will set the direction and lead the development and implementation of all strategic wireline and cable product development initiatives. Primary responsibilities for this role include gauging long-term market trends such as: technology/vendor platform evolution, communications and applications aggregation/migration, competitor road maps and customer needs/purchasing pattern changes to ensure the development of successful profitable product lines leveraging TDS core strengths to complement existing and future TDS product suites.

The pay range listed for this position represents the low and high end of the base compensation range. The actual offer amount will carefully consider multiple factors, such as relevant skills, qualifications, work experience, location and/or competencies that align with the specified role.  Certain positions are eligible for additional forms of compensation such as bonuses and equity awards. 

About TDS​​​​​​​
TDS Telecommunications LLC (TDS Telecom/TDS®) delivers high-speed internet, TV entertainment, and phone services to a mix of small to mid-sized urban, suburban and rural communities throughout the U.S. With 1.2 million connections, TDS is a rapidly growing technology company. Powered by fiber-optics and new industry-leading technologies, TDS delivers up to 8 Gigabit internet speeds and offers internet-protocol based TV entertainment solutions along with traditional phone services. TDS also offers businesses VoIP advanced communications solutions, dedicated internet service, data networking, and hosted-managed services. Visit tdstelecom.com. 
 
TDS Telecom, headquartered in Madison, Wis., employs 3,400 people and is a subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. [NYSE: TDS]. Founded in 1969, Telephone and Data Systems provides wireless, broadband, video and voice; and hosted and managed services to approximately 6 million connections nationwide through its businesses: UScellular, TDS Telecom, and OneNeck IT Solutions. Visit tdsinc.com.  

• Lead the overall development and direction of product management, product development, developing plans, standards and policies for residential product lines and managing product life cycles. This includes, but is not limited to:
  • Developing strategy and product plans for each product line; key responsibility to communicate strategy and plans to leaders across the organization to ensure alignment.
  • Strategically determining and setting prices to maximize revenues, while increasing penetration rates.
  • Developing revenue budgets, quarterly forecasts and long-term forecasts for all marketing, sales and contact center operations (MSCO) product lines.
  • Developing new sources for revenue generation via bundles/packaging of product/services, new products, market expansion, etc.
  • Partnering with Product Marketing and Sales in articulating the value proposition of the company’s products, providing key content, and collaborating on go-to-market activities to ensure maximum market impact is achieved when introducing new solutions, promotions or product enhancements.
  • Establishing, measuring, analyzing and reporting key performance targets and creating programs to meet/exceed those targets.
  • Managing overall profitability (Revenue, OpEx and CapEx) for all marketing, sales and customer operations (MSCO) product lines and ensuring systems and processes are in place to measure product line profitability.
  • Performing and/or working with Field Marketing, and Consumer/Commercial Marketing teams to perform competitive research and analysis for product strategies.
  • Determining feature/product rollout at each market via business case development; follow-up analysis to determine adherence to business case.
  • Maintaining a solid understanding of the business, brands, markets, customers, as well as industry and competitive trends, developments, intelligence, etc.
  • Working with influence to all functions across the organization to drive better results, increased revenues and/or lower costs by improving the customer experience, driving increased customer value and/or lowering the cost structure.
• Identify, analyze and present new revenue producing products and services in a systematic manner to ensure that all new product development initiatives are run through the entire gated product development process and tracked through the Clarity tool.
• Supervise product management staff.
• Build and maintain strategic partnerships with vendors, drawing upon vendor resources and support for product development and sales strategies. Negotiate vendor contracts.
• Work with Marketing and Field Marketing during research and analysis of new products / services. Manage transition of new products or services into marketing, sales and contact center operations (MSCO).

• Bachelor’s Degree (or higher) or 4+ years professional work experience
• 5+ years management/supervisory experience
• 8+ years’ experience in marketing, product management, and/or sales, budgeting and business case preparation.

Other Qualifications

• Experience in the regulatory arena.
• Ability to integrate diverse needs and priorities into cohesive plans and strategies.
• Strong computer and analytical skills (knowledge of Microsoft Office preferred).
• Excellent oral and written communications skills, including presentation skills.
• Must be versatile and adaptable to many different types of people and situations and must be able to work with a staff of diverse backgrounds, ages and levels within and outside the organization.
• Excellent teamwork skills and ability to work with employees and outside vendors at all levels.
• Excellent organizational skills, follow-through and attention to detail.
• Excellent supervisory skills.

Benefits

Associates scheduled to work 20 or more hours per week have access to medical, dental, vision, life insurance, a 401(k) plan, and paid time off benefits such as vacation (15 days accrued per year for full-time; pro-rated for part-time associates working between 20-39 hours), sick leave (10 days accrued per year for full-time and pro-rated for all other associates), seven paid national holidays and one floating holiday, paid parental leave (2 weeks after 12 months of employment), among others.  Short Term Disability and Long Term Disability coverage is also available for associates working 30 or more hours per week and Education Assistance is available to full-time associates.  Associates scheduled to work under twenty hours per week or for a limited term (i.e. interns) are eligible for medical coverage, the 401(k) plan (if 18 or older), as well as sick leave (10 days accrued per year for full-time and pro-rated for all other associates). For more detail on the benefits we offer click here.

At TDS, we embrace Equal Employment Opportunity by valuing our differences and consider all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by law. To learn about our diversity & inclusion philosophy and culture, click here!