Job Description

　　The Education Secretariat is committed to equity and valuing the unique and diverse characteristics and experiences of every member of its workforce. We encourage an authentic workplace where colleagues show up as their full selves, where collaboration, innovation, and connections are key to realizing our mission that all children, youth, and families thrive socially, academically, and economically. We seek teammates who are committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive work environment, where everyone is valued and engaged. We encourage you to apply and identify your strengths in these areas.

　　The Department of Early Education and Care's (EEC) Experience Product Owners are key agency leaders who will be at the forefront of redefining how the Department delivers digital services to key stakeholders served by EEC, including families, educators, care programs/providers, and more.

　　The EEC currently maintains 10+ separate technology systems to support a broad portfolio of services, creating a disjointed experience for stakeholders (many of whom are non-native English speakers or not proficient with technology) who must navigate multiple systems. In line with the Department's Strategic Action Plan, EEC and EOE are committed to a human-centered future for the Department. By reducing the complexity of our online presence, we hope to simplify the experience of both attaining and providing childcare in Massachusetts. Additionally, EEC seeks to develop, or improve upon, key metrics to measure and track the progress it is making toward serving these stakeholders, inform policy decisions, and inform the allocation of EEC resources.

　　The Educator Experience Product Owner will report directly to the EEC Chief Product Officer and will collaborate with the CPO and business stakeholders to define a product vision for the educators EEC serves, develop a roadmap to deliver with minimal business interruption, and execute on that roadmap to launch new experiences that address our stakeholders' biggest pain points and reduce barriers to use. Along the way, they will utilize user research, prototyping, and iterative development practices to ensure that changes are driven by real user needs and meet our constituents where they are.

　　The Department envisions the product management function scaling to include vendor, contractor, and FTE staff working together as a single team under the Chief Product Officer's leadership. The Educator Experience Product Owner will work directly with scrum team(s) responsible for technical solutions that educators will interact with, including updated teacher certification and credentialing solutions, learning management systems for ongoing career development, and an overall educator portal.

　　The Educator Experience Product Owner must be an innovative leader with the ability to manage and direct teams of technical and business-minded staff through change. They will be tasked with synthesizing complex business requirements to recommend a product solution and must have a team player attitude with the ability to be agile and adaptable.

　　Key Responsibilities:

　　Own Experience Roadmap

　　• Use human-centered design principles to define product vision

　　• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate product vision into concrete feature requirements and acceptance criteria and build out 3-, 6-, 12-, and 18- month roadmaps to deliver on that vision with minimal operational interruption

　　• Use tools like prototyping, user research, and pilot efforts to refine ambiguous problem spaces or solutions

　　• Manage backlog, assessing priority with inputs including Department business objectives, direct user feedback, data/analytics, technical feasibility, and legislative requirements; align with CPO and other Experience Product Owners where needed

　　• Oversee vendors performing engineering work in an agile environment to develop sprint plans and regularly deliver high quality improvements to EEC technical systems

　　Implement Product Best Practices

　　• Collaborate with CPO and Product team to operationalize feature request intake, refinement, and acceptance

　　• Iterate with Product team and Development teams to balance transparency in status reporting with reducing information overload

　　• Serve as a technical stakeholder for other teams' planning initiatives

　　• Identify other opportunities to improve how the new EEC Product team collaborates with other teams within the Department

　　Other duties, as assigned

　　Preferred Qualifications:

　　• Strong interest in the challenges of public-sector service design

　　• Ability to create, articulate, and communicate product vision at the appropriate level of technical detail to stakeholders at all levels of the organization and build consensus around change

　　• Ability to manage and sustain multiple and complex relationships and ensure that lines of communication are open

　　• Strong writing, editing, communication, and presentation skills

　　• Demonstrated strategic planning and skills

　　• Interest in, knowledge of or willingness to learn childcare licensing and child welfare field

　　• A self-starter with excellent planning, organizational and technical skills

　　• An adaptive, empathetic, collaborative, and positive mindset

　　• Familiarity with agile project management frameworks

　　• Ability to mediate conflict, coordinate competing interests and work under time constraints

　　Travel will be required for this position.

　　Questions regarding this position or the application process should be directed to [email protected].

　　Qualifications

　　MINIMUM ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS:

　　Applicants must have at least (A) five (5) years of full-time or, equivalent part-time, professional, administrative, supervisory, or managerial experience in business administration, business management, public administration, public management, clinical administration or clinical management of which (B) at least one (1) year must have been in a project management, supervisory or managerial capacity or (C) any equivalent combination of the required experience and substitutions below.

　　Substitutions:

　　I. A certificate in a relevant or related field may be substituted for one (1) year of the required (A) experience.

　　II. A Bachelor's degree in a related field may be substituted for two (2) years of the required (A) experience.

　　III. A Graduate degree in a related field may be substituted for three (3) years of the required (A) experience.

　　IV. A Doctorate degree in a related field may be substituted for four (4) years of the required (A) experience.

　　Comprehensive Benefits

　　When you embark on a career with the Commonwealth, you are offered an outstanding suite of employee benefits that add to the overall value of your compensation package. We take pride in providing a work experience that supports you, your loved ones, and your future.

　　Want the specifics? Explore our Employee Benefits and Rewards!

　　An Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer. Females, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

　　The Commonwealth is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, national origin, veteran status, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. Research suggests that qualified women, Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage individuals who believe they have the skills necessary to thrive to apply for this role.