Director of Product Management, Emphasys PHA

We are Aquila, a group within Constellation Software Inc., one of North America’s largest and most respected software companies. We invest in category-defining B2B and B2G software businesses globally, providing long-term support and strategic guidance. Emphasys Software, part of Aquila since 2008, operates across five specialized divisions, delivering mission-critical software that modernizes and streamlines complex processes for housing authorities, lenders, and government agencies in nearly every state. Through both products and services, Emphasys helps house roughly half of the families most in need in the country.

At Emphasys PHA, a division of Emphasys, we develop and support industry-leading software designed specifically for Public Housing Authorities across the United States. As a trusted provider in the affordable housing sector, our solutions help PHAs efficiently manage operations, ensure regulatory compliance, and deliver critical housing services to families and individuals in need. From applicant intake to rent calculations and unit inspections, our platform supports the full lifecycle of public housing programs—empowering agencies to focus on their mission of providing safe, stable, and affordable housing.

About the role

Reporting to the CEO, you will lead and strengthen our Product function as the Director of Product Management. You will bring greater structure, discipline, and strategic direction to how we define, prioritize, and deliver our product roadmap. Leading a team of three Product Owners, you will establish stronger product management practices, coach and develop the team, and partner closely with Development, Sales, Marketing, and industry leadership to connect customer needs and market opportunities with business priorities. This role balances strategy with hands-on leadership as we evolve our product offering, including the continued transition from a legacy desktop application toward a more modern, web-based platform. This is a remote role open to candidates based in the United States.

What’s in it for you

• Shape the Product function: Step into a team with deep industry knowledge and introduce product management structure, practices, and operating rhythm to help it evolve. You will have the autonomy to strengthen roadmapping, prioritization, and agile ways of working while coaching a team ready to build its product management capabilities. Your experience will directly influence how the function operates and how product decisions are made.
• A meaningful product transformation: Guide the evolution of an established software product as we continue moving from a legacy desktop application toward a more modern, web-based platform. Balance customer needs and commitments with innovation and technical investment to determine what we build, why it matters, and where we focus next.
• Evolve how Product works with AI: Help the Product team adopt and mature AI-enabled ways of working, including the emerging AI Delivery Life Cycle (AI-DLC) methodology. Explore where AI can strengthen product discovery, decision-making, development, and delivery, encouraging thoughtful experimentation while establishing practical approaches that can scale.
• Influence and visibility: Reporting directly to the CEO, you will have a voice in decisions connecting product direction with customer needs, market opportunities, and business growth. Work closely with Development, Sales, Marketing, and industry leadership, and engage directly with customers for broad exposure and influence over both product strategy and execution.

Responsibilities

• Set the product direction: Define and communicate a clear product vision and strategy, connecting customer needs, market opportunities, and business priorities. Translate that direction into a longer-term roadmap that provides clarity on where we are going, why it matters, and what comes next.
• Bring structure to product management: Establish stronger product management practices, operating rhythms, and agile ways of working. Introduce greater discipline to prioritization, backlog management, planning, and decision-making to help the team move from reactive delivery toward a more consistent and strategic approach.
• Lead the evolution of the product: Guide the continued transition from a legacy desktop application toward a more modern, web-based product. Partner closely with Development to balance innovation, technical investment, customer commitments, and business priorities for predictable, high-quality delivery.
• Develop and empower the team: Lead, coach, and develop a team of three Product Owners, building their product management capabilities and creating greater clarity around ownership and accountability. Operate initially as a player-coach, providing hands-on guidance while helping the team become increasingly strategic and effective.
• Bring the customer into product decisions: Engage directly with customers to understand their workflows, challenges, and priorities, and bring those insights back into product strategy and planning. Present product direction confidently, listen to feedback, and ensure customer needs are considered alongside broader market and business opportunities.
• Connect Product across the business: Partner with Development, Sales, Marketing, and industry leadership to create stronger alignment around product priorities and opportunities. Contribute product insight to positioning, packaging, pricing, strategic accounts, and growth discussions, helping connect product decisions to customer value and business outcomes.

Requirements

• The product leadership experience: You have led a product team and know how to build the structure, practices, and accountability that enable people to do their best work. Experience coaching and developing Product Owners or Product Managers while remaining hands-on to provide practical guidance when needed.
• The strategic and operational mindset: Ability to translate customer needs, market opportunities, and business objectives into a clear product strategy and actionable roadmap. Skill in prioritizing competing needs, making thoughtful trade-offs, and bringing greater discipline and predictability to product decision-making and execution.
• The product management discipline: Experience working within strong product management environments and understanding of agile principles, backlog management, roadmapping, prioritization, and product lifecycle practices. Ability to assess what is working, identify where greater structure is needed, and introduce processes that help a team become more strategic and effective without adding unnecessary complexity.
• The customer focus: Comfort engaging directly with customers to understand their workflows, challenges, and priorities, and using those insights to inform product decisions. Ability to present product direction with confidence, navigate differing perspectives, and build credibility with customers and industry stakeholders.
• The cross-functional leadership: Ability to build trusted relationships across Development, Sales, Marketing, and leadership teams, bringing different perspectives together around shared priorities. Strong communication skills for both technical and non-technical audiences, with the ability to challenge assumptions, influence decisions, and push back constructively when needed.
• The adaptability: Comfort joining an established business and product at an important point in its evolution. Curiosity and sound judgment to learn a specialized market, and openness to exploring how emerging technologies, including AI-assisted development, can support better products and more effective ways of working.
• The AI-forward mindset: Curiosity about how AI is changing the product discipline and motivation to explore how it can improve product discovery, development, and delivery. Experience incorporating AI-enabled tools or methodologies into product practices, or the willingness to learn, experiment, and help a team adopt new ways of working as technologies and approaches evolve.