Product Manager

Description

Winchester, MA  DuraSpace (http://www.duraspace.org) is seeking a dynamic and entrepreneurial Product Manager for the open source Fedora Repository project (http://www.fedora-commons.org), a world-wide community focused on creating a robust, modular, open source repository system for the management and dissemination of digital content. The Fedora Product Manager will have the opportunity to play a key role in the evolution and growth of the Fedora platform as it positions itself for the coming decade through a major new development effort.

Fedora is especially suited for digital libraries and archives, both for access and preservation. It is also used to provide specialized access to very large and complex digital collections of historic and cultural materials as well as scientific data. Fedora has a worldwide installed user base that includes academic and cultural heritage organizations, universities, research institutions, university libraries, national libraries, and government agencies. The Fedora project is supported under the stewardship of the DuraSpace organization.

The Fedora Product Manager is a new, full-time position. The Product Manager, accountable to the Fedora Steering Committee and employed by DuraSpace, will lead the Fedora community in accomplishing its goals by fulfilling the following responsibilities:

Primary Responsibilities

Product Management

● Set vision for the product working with the steering committee, establish the long-term roadmap
● Serve as strategic liaison to steering committee, advisory group, sponsors, service providers, and other stakeholders
● Seek out and engage in collaborations and partnerships that will leverage resources and expertise for the advancement of Fedora and digital preservation
● Raise annual funding for project through sponsorship, grants and in-kind contributions
● Articulate non-technical needs to technical stakeholders; articulate product functionality to non-technical audiences
● Be an effective spokesperson for the project through outreach, public speaking, and advocacy

Operations Leadership

● Work with stakeholders, committees, and staff to ensure timely implementation of products and services.
● Plan and manage budgets and resources for the project
● Provide regular status and financial reports to the steering group, DuraSpace, and sponsors.
● Work together with Technical Lead to oversee key project processes such as gathering requirements, setting work priorities, coordinating user acceptance testing, coordinating efforts to produce documentation, and others essential to project operations.

Community Management

● With the Steering Committee and DuraSpace, solicit new institutional and corporate sponsors as well as providers of services to the Fedora community
● Perform international outreach to institutions, government organizations, sponsors, funding agencies, and others
● Recruit and cultivate new adopters and contributors.

Marketing and Communications

● Develop marketing strategy for product
● Develop and document key use cases within community
● Explore and define market opportunities in new areas
● Develop and execute communications with stakeholders, contributors, sponsors, partners, service providers, etc.
● Coordinate representation for Fedora community at key conferences and workshops

Skills and Competencies

Required

● A bachelors degree with at least 7-10 years of progressively responsible experience in higher education and/or business, or equivalent work experience
● Experience working with technology project teams; ability to communicate effectively with technical staff
● Excellent product management skills and demonstrated success with managing teams working in disparate locations
● Entrepreneurial skills, especially the ability to successfully promote innovative concepts and enroll stakeholders in new solutions
● Strong ability to think and act strategically, and demonstrated success at bringing concepts to realization
● Able to communicate effectively both in person and virtually using a variety of media and technologies.
● Experience creating and managing fiscal budgets

Preferred

● Experience working with Fedora Repository
● Experience with digital preservation issues and solutions and working with libraries and/or IT organizations
● Analytical skills in crafting successful funding and business models for innovative projects.
● Fund raising skills in a non-profit domain.

About DuraSpace

DuraSpace is a small not-for-profit organization providing leadership and innovation for open source technologies that promote durable, persistent access to our digital culture. We collaborate with academic, scientific, cultural, and technology communities by supporting projects and creating services to help ensure that current and future generations may discover and access our collective digital heritage.

DuraSpace is an equal opportunity employer. Non-traditional applicants are welcome. We offer health and retirement benefits. Salary is commensurate with experience. We are headquartered in the Boston MA area, but most of our employees work virtually and are located around the USA. We are a true believer in the virtual office and use a variety of online tools to facilitate our ability to work as a collaborative and collegial team. Extensive travel is expected for this position, both
within the US and internationally.

To Apply: A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position, include your salary requirements, and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position. Please email the cover letter and resume to jobs@duraspace.org.