Job Description

Junior Product Specialist (5 month contract) Product/Project management
Cape Town - Western CapeENVIRONMENT:BE accountable for overseeing the product lifecycle management process and performance to ensure product profitability and achievement of revenue and gross profit targets as the next talented Junior Product Specialist sought by a leading Academic Service Provider. You will manage the impact of product pricing on profitability and performance while leading the Product Management teams in the refining and implementation of product strategies and roadmaps for print and digital products that support business growth objectives and evolving customer needs. You will also manage product development and enhancement promotional planning in alignment with the brand and strategic objectives.DUTIES:Product Management -

• Work with the teams to define the vision of products.
• Partner with stakeholders and users across the organization to develop, inform and execute on the product vision, strategy, road map, features, and prioritization.
• Collaborate with prospective users and clients to understand and anticipate their needs; translate them into product requirements.
• Assess value, develop cases, and prioritize backlog, stories, epics and themes to ensure work focuses on those with maximum value that are aligned with product strategy and changing requirements.
• Monitor and evaluate product progress and maturity at each stage of the process lifecycle.
• Translate product roadmap features into well-defined product requirements including features, user stories, and acceptance test criteria.
• Liaise with the digital, con tech, Product teams and end-users to deliver updates (Feature progress, training roll outs).
• Work with cross-functional teams and various stakeholders, including analytics, design/user experience, engineering, and user enablement.
• Participate in Scrum meetings and product sprints.
• Work closely with Publishing and Digital teams to create and maintain a product backlog according to business value or ROI.
• Research and analyse market, the users, and the roadmap for the product.
• Draft key objectives and results, strategies and apply the data for the product to make business decisions.
• Perform market research and competitor analysis.
• Work in an Agile environment and continuously review the business needs, refine priorities, outline milestones and deliverables, and identify opportunities and risks.
• Assist in defining the user experience for internal/externals users, including support and monitoring.
• Lead the product functional design process based on an intimate knowledge of the users and technology.
• Develop and maintain appropriate tracking and reporting of product performance to evaluate future investment.

New product development and innovation

• Responsible for guiding the success of a product and leading the cross-functional team that is responsible for improving it.
• Provide the deep product expertise needed to lead the organization and make strategic product decisions.
• Analyse market and competitive conditions, laying out a product vision that is differentiated and deliver unique value-based on customer demands.
• Responsible for defining the why, when, and what of the product that the Engineering team builds.
• Accountable and responsible for setting a product vision and strategy.
• To clearly articulate the business value to the Product team so they understand the intent behind the new product or product release.
• Own the roadmap and must prioritize building what matters most to achieve the strategic goals and initiatives behind the product.
• Responsible for wireframe, mock-ups, and prototypes developments.

Product profitability and revenue achievement -

• Full accountability for profitability of all products and achievement of revenue and gross profit targets.
• Assess the product lifecycle processes to understand the cost of product development, production (Print or digital), marketing, shipping, handing and related expenses to determine product pricing and profitability.
• Analyse financial scenarios for different pricing and sales structures and advise on pricing, packaging, discounting and other financial factors influencing product performance and market perceptions and how this impacts product marketing.
• Monitor and manage the impact of product pricing on profit margins.
• Perform financial evaluation to assess pricing action effectiveness in view of overall history and product, channel and segment profitability.
• Define and manage product pricing and forecasts to include in business cases or proposal and monitor product profitability and performance against agreed targets.
• Monitor and manage product performance against agreed turnover and product profitability metrics and report results to key internal stakeholders.
• Plan and manage departmental finances according to the approved budget and guidelines.

Pricing -

• Develop business models and optimal pricing strategies to support a balance between profit and customer satisfaction by determine what to charge for their products or services by considering production and other costs to determine the price point to make a profit and relevant market factors.
• Annually review pricing strategies and models in collaboration with Exco and Business Unit Managers to adjust measurement criteria and calculations to changes in portfolios, strategy and market.
• Maintain and update all commercial pricing models to reflect the current and expected operating costs and guide product specialists and content development on optimal pricing structures.
• Maintain a database of pricing history for reference, audit and research purposes.
• Set base prices and develop discount structures to support targeted campaigns and ensure integrity and accuracy of all pricing to enhance profitability and remain competitive.
• Manage product pricing policy and procedures, enhance processes to make most of efficiencies and ensure timely response to market conditions.
• Conduct regular research to assess and compare competitor pricing models and base prices and measure customer satisfaction based on the cost of products or services.
• Monitor competitor pricing information, market trends and feedback; analyse impacts and recommend solutions and improvement opportunities to Chief Content and Product Officer.

Governance, Risk and Compliance -

• Develop, communicate and monitor price recommendations and governance for deals and products by performing basic pricing analysis or leveraging and synthesizing advanced analytics of internal and external intelligence.
• Ensure internal governance with regards to platforms and vlogs are implemented (i.e Waivers, T&Cs, etc.).
• Identify and mitigate risks impacting Product development and management strategy implementation.
• Adhere to company governance and compliance standards and implement risk mitigation actions directed by Chief Content and Product Officer.

Stakeholder Management

• Liaise with Publishing, Product Owners, Tech Developers, Content Technology and Production to promote quality assurance of product developments to ensure alignment and execution of product strategies.
• Collaborate with Marketing and Sales teams to ensure product launches, campaigns andpromotional plans are consistent with product strategies and pricing plans.
• Establish and maintain key relationships in relevant markets, institutions, industry bodies and authors at events and ad hoc to grow networks, promote the brand, identify opportunities for partnerships and growth.
• Network with local and international publishing representations to define and analyse product and pricing strategies and trends.
• Represent the company by visiting customer groups to solicit feedback on company products, services and pricing perceptions.
• Assist with change management, communication and customer and employee education to support adoption of new products, processes or behaviours.

People Management

• Accountable for developing own skills and knowledge in achievement of career objectives.
• Define strong succession planning and identification of high potential talent to support a talent Pipeline for future contingency.
• Identify, test, contract, on-board and manage performance of third-party service providers and freelancers as required to meet deadlines.

Liaison among teams

• Ensure that all teams are aligned on product projects, including content, technology, sales and marketing.
• Harmonise the product development scheduling among different departments including submission of content by the Content team, technology decisions and build by technology and GTM requirement of Sales team.

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