Product Manager for Enterprise Application Services – Corporate Systems

Job Function: The Product Manager for Enterprise Application Services – Corporate Systems is responsible for delivering the defined vision, strategy and roadmap for the Enterprise Systems Portfolio within the NCAA which includes HR, Finance, Accounting, Procurement, Legal and Travel Operations. This role must be able to understand the context of business needs, goals, and objectives to appropriately guide and lead the associated IT team(s) to deliver upon those needs.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Serve as the IT Strategic Partner by collaborating across business functions to identify opportunities for synergy, advocate for shared responsibility, and guide organizational change.
• Lead monthly partner portfolio reviews with leadership to advance capability needs and prioritization.
• Provide insights about partner objectives, and articulate solutions, timelines, and constraints.
• Surface, shape and profile opportunities with highest value to advance organizational goals.
• Collaborate directly with the business leaders to understand business needs, assess priorities, and translate those needs into clear technical requirements.
• Maintain transparent communication with business partners regarding IT support team capacity, delivery constraints, peak effort periods, and prioritization tradeoffs to set realistic expectations and enable informed decision-making.

Team Leadership & People Management

• Manage, coach, and develop a team of Project Managers, Developers and architects aligned to individual corporate functions (HR, Finance/Accounting, Legal, Travel Ops).
• Lead the aligned IT support teams in planning, solutioning, and delivery to ensure timely, effective execution of system enhancements, operational support, and enterprise application priorities
• Set consistent standards for backlog management, discovery, and delivery practices across the team.
• Own hiring, performance management, and career development planning for direct reports.
• Guide and inspire the broader delivery team while empowering them to own how solutions get delivered.

Product Ownership

• Identify and implement innovative approaches, tools, dashboards, or operating routines that improve transparency, accountability, and stakeholder confidence in IT delivery.
• Establish regular planning and communication routines to align business priorities with team capacity, proactively identify delivery risks, and ensure timely follow-up through resolution or closure.
• Create and improve transparent intake, backlog, ticketing, and task-management practices so business partners have visibility into request status, ownership, prioritization, dependencies, and movement across IT support teams.
• Lead implementation and enhancement of enterprise corporate systems.
• Partner with business leaders to identify process improvements and system gaps.
• Facilitate and/or participate in business case development
• Ensure the product backlog is appropriately maintained via grooming and prioritization exercises
• Oversee project planning, resource allocation, timelines, and risk management across multiple concurrent initiatives.
• Translate business needs into technical solutions.
• Lead end‑to‑end delivery of system enhancements, new platform capabilities, integrations, and modernization initiatives.
• Ensure delivery teams follow best practices in requirements definition, development/configuration, testing, change management, and deployment
• Provide mentorship to the IT Support Teams and Technical resources by utilizing domain and technical expertise.
• Ensure IT processes are followed/implemented in accordance with defined standards (i.e. Change Management, Incident Management)

Platform Governance & Operations

• Establish and maintain governance processes for platform configuration, data quality, release management, and compliance
• Monitor platform performance, stability, and user satisfaction; drive continuous improvement initiatives
• Define and report portfolio-level KPIs/OKRs (adoption, reliability, user satisfaction) to inform prioritization and investment decisions.
• Ensure systems meet regulatory, audit, and security requirements
• Manage platform licensing, renewals and support agreements

Budget/financial responsibility

• Partner with Finance/IT Finance & Procurement to recommend and inform the annual budget for platform licensing, support, and project investment.

Vendor & Managed Service Oversight

• Serve as the primary point of accountability for third‑party managed service providers supporting platform operations
• Oversee SLAs, KPIs, contract compliance, and operational performance
• Lead monthly/quarterly business reviews, issue escalation, and long‑term vendor strategy
• Evaluate vendor capabilities and recommend changes to optimize cost, quality, and service delivery
• Assess the effectiveness of the managed service delivery model and provider performance against business needs, service expectations, SLAs/KPIs, and stakeholder feedback; identify gaps and recommend solutions to improve service quality, accountability, responsiveness, and business outcomes.
• Hold managed service providers accountable for timely, high-quality support, clear communication, issue resolution, and continuous improvement in service delivery to business partners.

Job Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree or combination of education and equivalent work experience
• 5+ years of Business Analysis/Architecture or equivalent experience
• 10+ years of Enterprise (Corporate) Systems leadership or Delivery experience
• 5+ years of experience directly managing Project Managers, Developers, Architects or similar technical/business talent
• Experience with Oracle ERP, EPM/EPCM, UKG/UltiPro or other HRIS systems a must
• Experience managing third-party vendors or managed service providers, including SLA/KPI governance and contract oversight
• Experience contributing to budget planning and financial forecasting for technology platforms
• Experience implementing large-scale, complex business and IT projects
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Ability to drive innovative solutions
• Creative problem-solving skills and the ability to think strategically
• Experience with Agile methodologies and tools (Scrum preferred)

Key Competencies

• DRIVES VISION AND PURPOSE | Communicates a compelling picture of the vision and strategy that motivates others to action by: Talking about future possibilities in a positive way. Creating milestones and symbolizing support behind the vision. Showing personal commitment to the vision.
• EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION | Can exchange ideas, thoughts, opinions, knowledge, and data so that the message is understood with clarity and purpose. 
• STAKEHOLDER FOCUS | Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external stakeholders, gets first-hand stakeholder information and uses it for improvements in products and services, acts with stakeholders in mind, establishes and maintains effective relationships with stakeholders and gains their trust and respect through honesty, integrity, authenticity, and inclusivity.
• MANAGERIAL COURAGE | Current, direct, complete, and "actionable" positive and corrective feedback to others, lets people know where they stand, faces up to people problems on any person or situation quickly and directly, is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.
• STRATEGIC AGILITY | Sees ahead clearly, can anticipate future consequences and trends accurately, has broad knowledge and perspective, is future oriented, can articulately paint credible pictures and visions of possibilities and likelihoods, can create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans.

Core Values

• LEADERSHIP| We actively listen and continually strive to provide vital solutions, counsel and advocacy for student-athletes and intercollegiate athletics.
• INCLUSION| We seek and incorporate different perspectives and experiences to drive innovation and impact.
• COMMUNICATION| We commit to an environment of openness to build trust and make timely decisions.
• COLLABORATION| We work together, based on mutual respect, to lead and serve our stakeholders.