Product Management Consultant

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance

Job Title: Product Management Consultant

Type of Contract: Regular Consultant (CST) Level I

Division: TECD

Duty Station: Remote

Duration: 11 months

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT:

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger worldwide. WFP Technology Division (TEC, formerly known as IT) is the digital business engine of the World Food Programme, providing the business with multi-pronged and resilient technical capabilities able to respond with the agility required in humanitarian operations, be they manmade or in a natural disaster setting.

The Technology Division of WFP partners with units across the organization to digitally transform WFP. We design, develop, enhance and maintain a variety of digital products. The Digital Services Branch (TECD) oversees solution delivery activities, covering both the introduction of new products as well as the evolution of existing ones. Each product being delivered has a Product Manager.

The Product Manager is the custodian of the vision of the product, accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from the work of the Product Team. The Product Manager aims for an IT solution which achieves the highest quality in terms of technical usability, user acceptability, and domain suitability.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Create and maintain the Product Canvas outlining the vision of the product;
• Create and maintain the Product Roadmap outlining the evolution of the product;
• Prepare the Product Roadmap for endorsement by the TEC Demand Assessment Board (DAB);
• Perform the role of Scrum Product Owner:

• Develop and explicitly communicate the Product Goal;
• Gather and validate requirements following a Human-Centred Design (HCD)n approach;
• Ensure that the Product Backlog is transparent, visible and understood;
• Communicate requirements inwards to the Product Team:

• Identify and categorize stakeholders/customers/users/subject-matter experts;
• Decompose high-level requirements;
• Create and clearly communicate Product Backlog Items (PBI), partnering closely with Stakeholders and the Product Team to ensure everyone understands the items in the backlog;
• Ensure the PBIs pass the “Definition of Ready” criteria;
• Facilitate the Just-In-Time (JIT) detailed requirements delivery;

• Determine whether PBIs were satisfactorily delivered; and
• Give the Product Team clear guidance on which features to deliver next.

• Communication outwards to Stakeholders:

• Communicate estimates, dependencies and technical issues after grooming sessions, informing and negotiating with the Stakeholders;

• Make decisions, in consultation with Stakeholders, regarding the priority of PBIs;
• Inform of progress and host demonstrations to Stakeholders; and
• Be the first point of contact between Stakeholders and the Product Team.

• Decide when to deploy the product with the predisposition towards frequent releases;
• Take care of Backlog Grooming: regularly review items on the backlog to ensure the backlog contains the appropriate items, that they are prioritized, and that the items at the top of the backlog are ready for delivery;
• Participate in the Sprint Planning session; a team planning meeting that determines what to complete in the coming Sprint;
• Listen-in at the Daily Stand-up session: a 15-minute mini-meeting for the team to sync- up.
• Chair the Sprint Demo session: A sharing meeting where the team shows what was produced during the Sprint; and

• Participate in the Sprint Retrospective session: a review of what did and did not go well during the Sprint, with actions to make the next Sprint better;

• Manage the product budget (including support & maintenance costs), and prepare cost
• estimates based on the IT Solution Architect’s high-level effort estimates;
• Keep track of the consumption of purchased time-and-materials quotas;
• Provide guidance to vendors concerning the submission of consumption reports and invoices;
• Approve consumption reports for the insertion the corresponding Service Entry Sheets; and
• In collaboration with the TEC’s Head of Sourcing, create and renew Purchase Orders;
• When required, act as Project Manager:

• Report periodically on progress to the project management office, informing them of any issues/risks requiring attention. Identify and escalate issues that could affect the product outcomes, timeline or budget.

• Any other duties as required for the successful delivery of the product.

DELIVERABLES:

• Product Canvas;
• Product Roadmap;
• Product Backlog well-structured in Epics, Features, and User Stories, with User Stories that pass the “Definition of Ready” as per the INVEST criteria

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

• University degree in business administration, information technology, or other related fields.

Experience:

• Minimum 3 years of post-graduate experience within Agile product management environments, including a proven track record of planning, leading and executing product deliveries.

Technical Skills & Knowledge:

• In-depth knowledge and proficiency with product management (vision and product strategy), product backlog management (analyse, create, refine, and prioritize product backlog items), Agile.
• Scrum and mainstream software design & development methodologies;
• Strong customer empathy and a passion for building great user experiences across web and mobile devices
• Experience with multi-vendor project and delivery coordination and management;
• Experience with design and development team set-ups; and
• Practical understanding of how to make a solution successful at scale.
• Ability to think creatively, strategically, and identify and resolve problems;
• Excellent verbal and written communication and presentation skills;
• Well organized and detail oriented;
• Able to effectively coordinate multiple responsibilities simultaneously;
• Able to articulate complex concepts in non-technical language;
• Able to plan and organize work and communicate effectively;
• Enthusiastically work with a diverse population of people of different national and cultural backgrounds, particularly valuing respectfulness and inclusively leveraging everyone's talents.

Language:

• Fluency in oral and written English with an intermediate knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) or Portuguese (one of WFP’s working languages) is desirable.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

WFP offers a competitive compensation package, which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP.

http://www.wfp.org Click on: "Our Work" and "Countries" to learn more about WFP's operations.

Deadline for applications: 30 January 2023 at 11:59pm Rome time (CET/CEST)

Qualified female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply.

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.

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