Senior Manager, Product Operations
Job Description
The Senior Manager, Product Operations is a high-impact leadership role responsible for transforming how DDN’s product and R&D organization operates at scale. This individual will lead strategic planning processes, drive cross-functional initiatives from conception to execution, and build the operational infrastructure that enables product and engineering leaders to make faster, better-informed decisions.
Key Responsibilities
Own and orchestrate the annual and quarterly strategic planning cycle for the Product and R&D organization, including goal-setting (OKRs/MBOs), investment prioritization, and portfolio review.
Partner with CPO, VP Product, VP Engineering, and Finance to develop multi-year product investment strategies and resource allocation frameworks.
Translate business strategy into actionable operating plans; maintain a live view of strategic commitments, resource coverage, and trade-offs.
Lead preparation of quarterly business reviews (QBRs), board deck inputs, and executive strategy off-sites.
Identify, scope, and personally drive high-priority cross-functional initiatives that cut across Product, Engineering, Finance, Sales, and Customer Success.
Design the operating model for strategic programs: define charters, assign DRIs, establish decision rights, and govern execution through structured reviews.
Lead organizational effectiveness initiatives: process redesign, tooling modernization, and ways-of-working improvements that measurably increase team output.
Act as a trusted strategic advisor to product and engineering leaders, surfacing insights, challenging assumptions, and driving clarity on prioritization.
Enhance product operations function: product launch readiness, go-to-market coordination, release management, and feedback loop integration.
Define and track a product and R&D performance scorecard — covering velocity, quality, time-to-market, and investment efficiency — with monthly reporting to senior leadership.
Partner with Finance on headcount planning, vendor spend governance, and ROI analysis for R&D programs.
Establish scalable operational playbooks and templates used across the product and engineering teams.
Required Qualifications
12+ years of experience in product operations, strategy & operations, program management, or management consulting within a B2B technology company.
Demonstrated experience owning and leading strategic planning processes (annual planning, OKRs, portfolio reviews) at a VP or C-level-adjacent scope.
Proven track record designing and driving cross-functional strategic initiatives from ambiguous starts through measurable outcomes.
Strong business and financial acumen: comfortable with P&L visibility, headcount planning, and investment frameworks.
Exceptional executive communication skills — can write a compelling strategy memo, run a QBR, and present to a board.
Experience managing and developing direct reports and influencing without authority across senior stakeholders.
Bachelor’s degree required; MBA or advanced degree strongly preferred.
Preferred Qualifications
Background in infrastructure software, data storage, HPC, or AI/ML platform companies.
Experience at a high-growth technology company or in a corporate strategy / management consulting role.
Familiarity with Agile at scale, SAFe, or lean product development frameworks.
Experience working with geographically distributed product and engineering teams.