Director, Panel Product Management

The Company:

 

Founded in 1979, Information Resources, Inc. (IRI) is the world?s leading provider of enterprise market information solutions and services, empowering its clients to grow their business profitably in a complex marketplace.  Driving the transformation of the consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, and healthcare industries, only IRI provides a unique combination of real-time market content, advanced analytics, enterprise performance management software, and professional services.

 

In late 2003, IRI was acquired by the industry-visionary company Symphony Technology Group, run by Dr. Romesh Wadhwani.  IRI is owned by Symphony Technology Group, a strategic investment group with more than $ 1.1 billion in revenues. Dr. Wadhwani, Chairman of both Symphony and IRI, has successfully built three enterprise software companies over the last 30 years; the most recent of these, Aspect Development, Inc. was acquired for $ 9.3 billion.

 

The acquisition has been the catalyst for a major transformation of IRI.  IRI has crafted a new vision for itself, and for the industry it serves.  With revenues approaching $600 million annually, IRI?s mission is to increase its value proposition to clients by 10X through innovation and focus on enabling insightful decisions. Since the acquisition, the Company has continued to focus on customer satisfaction, streamlining its organization and supporting disciplines, globalizing operations, strengthening its leadership team, and launching multiple new products and services.

 

The company?s portfolio of services, solutions, and technology enable leading retailers and their suppliers around the globe to see what they are missing, act faster with greater confidence and win at the shelf. Ninety-five percent of the FORTUNE Global 500 in CPG and retail leverage IRI to power their business.  For more information, visit www.infores.com.

 

Responsibilities:

 

The Director, Panel Product Management is a unique and highly visible position that will ?own? one of IRI?s premier solution suites and will serve as its ?chief advocate officer?.  The suite consists of panel data packaged in various software applications. With this suite, the user can generate queries to gain an actionable understanding of category activity, consumers? buying habits, and consumer loyalty.  Ownership of the suite entails P&L accountability, revenue/expense management, pricing, new product development, product road map development/execution, extensions to or deletions from the existing product portfolio, substantive interaction with IRI clients and the management of multiple internal cross-functional resources.  Key points of internal interface include: the CxO-level, Project Management Organization, Applications Development and the Global Operations Center. 

 

The Director position is not a hands-on development role and as such, he/she will not be involved with intricate development details or programming.  While activities and priorities will vary, the Director will spend approximately 50% of their time managing the existing product suite and planning and developing future enhancements that anticipate or outpace industry trends.  Of the remaining time, 30% will be allocated working with field sales and with IRI clients in the capacity of a subject matter expert and 20% will be allocated to research and analysis.  Success will be measured in multiple ways.  Two key points of measurement are: Product contribution to revenue/profit and project management/adherence to pre-existing and to-be-determined product-related commitments. 

 

Requirements:

 

-  Eight or more years of experience that includes a strong and diverse background in software product  management.  Experience with household panel or POS data is a plus but is not required.

-  Basic knowledge of market research and analytical techniques is required.

-  A strong technical foundation that includes a working knowledge of common server, hardware and software platforms; a working knowledge of general programming concepts and a general knowledge of technical architecture.

-  A relentlessly pragmatic focus aimed upon commercializing software tools

-  A strong orientation towards developing relationships internally and externally; ability to sell without selling

-  Tested and proven project management skills

-  P&L management experience is a plus

-  Experience managing software products through full life-cycles

-  Strong presentation skills

-  Able to maintain focus in highly-charged environments and manage competing priorities

-  Experience managing one or more direct reports

-  Experience managing multiple projects simultaneously against tight deadlines

-  Ability to self-prioritize and delegate tasks

-  Must be live in or be willing to relocate to Chicago, IL; Fairfield, NJ; Norwalk, CT, Waltham, MA

-  Travel demands will be minimal

-  Bachelor?s degree from an accredited institution.  An advanced degree is preferred.