Senior Business Product Manager II

Technology is at the heart of Disney’s past, present, and future. Disney Entertainment and ESPN Product & Technology is a global organization of engineers, product developers, designers, technologists, data scientists, and more – all working to build and advance the technological backbone for Disney’s media business globally.

The team marries technology with creativity to build world-class products, enhance storytelling, and drive velocity, innovation, and scalability for our businesses. We are Storytellers and Innovators. Creators and Builders. Entertainers and Engineers. We work with every part of The Walt Disney Company’s media portfolio to advance the technological foundation and consumer media touch points serving millions of people around the world. 

Here are a few reasons why we think you’d love working here:

Building the future of Disney’s media: Our Technologists are designing and building the products and platforms that will power our media, advertising, and distribution businesses for years to come.

Reach, Scale & Impact: More than ever, Disney’s technology and products serve as a signature doorway for fans' connections with the company’s brands and stories. Disney+. Hulu. ESPN. ABC. ABC News…and many more. These products and brands – and the unmatched stories, storytellers, and events they carry – matter to millions of people globally. 

Innovation: We develop and implement groundbreaking products and techniques that shape industry norms, and solve complex and distinctive technical problems.

Content Platforms & Operations is responsible for the development and ongoing advancement of the technical and operational functions driving the worldwide distribution and monetization of Disney’s linear networks and theatrical content. This includes Disney’s media supply chain and storage, network and theatrical distribution operations, media localization, network transmission and origination, and more. The global team also plays a critical role as the primary collaboration point for Product & Technology with Disney’s EMEA, APAC, and LATAM regional business teams.

Job Summary:

The Theatrical Supply Chain team is looking for a Product Manager to support the day-to-day activities of the Product Lifecycle. This individual will have the opportunity to be a part of the team that will define and launch products in support of various initiatives across Monetization Platforms.

As a Product Manager, you will have the opportunity to dive deep into the business capabilities and learn the Disney processes. Your responsibilities include gathering & prioritizing business requirements and translating that into product specifications. Working in a cross-functional team environment with design, engineering, infrastructure and QA, you will help reimagine the product for the future business of The Walt Disney Company, with a focus on maximizing automation, driving operational improvements, and bringing the Disney magic to millions of consumers Worldwide.  

Responsibilities and Duties of the Role:

• Own product management for a distinct Product/Platform in the Theatrical Supply Chain domain
• Support definition of Product Strategy in the Theatrical Supply Chain core set of capabilities
• Influences the product strategy/roadmap and communicates to business partners and senior leadership around Product and Project initiatives
• Proactively develop feature ideas to improve products based on business goals and OKR’s. Collaborate with business stakeholders to develop detailed product requirements in alignment with overall product team strategy. Collaborate with UX, Engineering, QA and Scrum Master/Program Management on day-to-day execution.
• Align business partners and cross-functional teams on product vision and strategy
• Collaborate with internal cross functional teams to define, design and deliver user stories using an Agile approach. Launch new features within budget and on schedule. Perform required project management tasks for products under the Product Manager’s direct responsibility
• Define and track realistic OKR’s in order the manage and improve delivery
• Write user stories by conducting interviews, workflow analysis, process analysis, and observation sessions
• Produce clear and concise workflow documents to drive balanced solutions that consider people, process and technology components
• Evaluate information from multiple sources and help distinguish user requests from user needs
• Facilitate and clarify customer business needs and translate them into application and operational requirements
• Assist in business case development using modeling techniques and methods as needed
• Define precise and accurate User Story acceptance criteria that will be used by developers, automation test frameworks and by product owners to ensure that product owner intent is effectively captured
• Arrange client reviews of software under development, ensuring client satisfaction
• Collaborate to develop user acceptance testing (UAT) specifications
• Interface with all levels of internal clients and analyze current business and software development processes
• Foster Agile principles and methods for requirements gathering
• Adhere to Agile development methodology best practice
• Assist in the creation of project approval request documentation
• Work with the Project Manager/Scrum Master to help facilitate and ensure successful user acceptance testing
• Work with the business to ensure business adoption
• Measure impact of solutions on the business
• Understand the underlining technologies of your applications and how to trouble shoot business issues
• Establish appropriate stakeholder relationships, oversee governance processes, and lead discussions with external partners such as retailers, sub-distributors, and industry leaders to ensure Disney priorities are met

Basic Qualifications:

• 7 years of product management experience
• Demonstrate strong product understanding and platform familiarity
• Self-starter and can work independently under time constraints and meet deadlines
• Demonstrate strong presentation and ability to clearly communicate goals, status, and issues
• Demonstrate strong technical writing skills
• Demonstrate ability to derive actionable insights or alternative solutions through research
• Demonstrate ability to craft and validate problems
• Efficiently support experimentation execution and analysis, such as proof of concepts
• Demonstrate ability to define Product Roadmaps
• Demonstrate understanding of business modeling and analysis vis structured cost/benefit analysis
• Demonstrate understanding and ability to write and prioritize user stories
• Demonstrate ability to adjust and pivot as business strategy and product priorities shift
• Experienced in leading and/or facilitating business workshops
• Exhibits a clear understanding of development processes, methodologies, and tools
• Can provide informal guidance to junior team members
• Exhibits appreciation and experience in incorporating data science and analytics in holistic product solutions
• Experienced in communicating and translating product features across all functional areas (Design, Engineering, Marketing, QA, Change Management, and Project Management)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge of or experience in media & entertainment industry
• Digital/mobile environment experience within product management
• Enthusiasm and interests in Disney brands
• Understanding of media production workflows, supply chain workflows or Finance workflows
• Experience in SOX complaint applications

Experience with:

• Exposure or experience with Agile development tools, such as Jira and Confluence
• Data querying and analysis using tools such as SQL to extract, manipulate, and interpret large datasets for business insights and decision-making.

Required Education  

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience required

The hiring range for this position in Burbank, CA is $155,700 to $208,700 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.