Reporting to the Vice President of National Geographic Labs (NatGeo Labs), the Sr. Program Manager is responsible for directing and coordinating the implementation of projects and products under NatGeoLabs, including the Geographic Visualization Lab, the Exploration Technology Lab, and Citizen Explorer Lab. The Sr. Program Manager will work in close collaboration with the NatGeo Labs Leadership Team, digital product teams, and other internal and external stakeholders to advise on and manage Labs programs and products strategy, requirements gathering and facilitation of iterative technology solutions. S/he will be responsible for working with project and product teams across National Geographic Society to manage the day to day, timetable, communication, and progress of projects and products relevant to Labs programs. The Sr. Program Manager will be the Labs interface with all National Geographic’s relevant service units for product development. S/he will ensure that projects and products are ultimately being created for their role in documenting, communicating, and preserving, the importance of cultural and biological diversity globally.
- Distill requirements from NatGeo Labs Leadership Team for executing on the overall Labs’ vision across the three labs, product teams, and core support organizations. Represent Labs on a day-to-day basis among project and product teams internally and externally. (40%)
- Assist labs leadership in establishing and maintaining external relationships (vendors, contractors, partners) as well as engaging on a programmatic level with the National Geographic Explorer community. (20%)
- Ensure a program support framework is in place within NatGeo Labs, to include the creation of training materials, technical support, and management of current and future product inventory. (15%)
- Ensure an iterative learning based community. Support NatGeo Labs initiatives and projects by providing advice on technology solutions. (15%)
- Lead project management efforts in collaboration with products and projects teams for prototyping and demonstration purposes. (10%)
- 3 years of experience as a program manager; at least 2 year of experience as a product manager/owner preferred
Knowledge and Skills Required
- Candidate should be team oriented, but confident in the value of his or her own ideas, contribution, and role, and be able to exercise independent judgment. Not afraid to work as an individual contributor or take on a project manager role as needed. Understanding of systems integration and web technologies including working managerial knowledge of PHP, Javascript, Python, ArcGIS and SQL.
- Experience leading Agile, Burndown, and Waterfall development paradigms and has a product mindset.
- Sensitivity to audience needs on both a content and interactive level.