Manager, ITS Product Area

Reporting to the Director, Product Planning and Delivery, the Manager, ITS Product Area leads the vision, roadmap, and objectives for one or more applications. The role is the primary liaison between business, platform services, and delivery teams, ensuring alignment of priorities and product direction. It also governs the product backlog to align with enterprise strategy, business needs, and compliance and security requirements while providing people leadership through coaching and performance management.

The role oversees the full product lifecycle from ideation through launch, ensuring delivery within scope, budget, and timelines. This includes accountability for product planning and execution in partnership with technical teams and external vendors. The role ensures solutions meet business needs while maintaining product accountability and aligning outcomes with strategic objectives.

• Collaborate with MBLL business partners and external parties to define product vision and strategy, aligning it with the MBLL’s overall goals and market demands. 
• Facilitate and develop a comprehensive product vision/roadmap, to lead product teams and prioritize features and enhancements based on customer feedback and business impact.
• Obtain necessary executive approvals and inputs into business cases and business planning for products. Including justification for investment, scope, and prioritization of work and initiatives.
• Serve as the representative for business owners, ensuring product delivers on what is prioritized and committed to. Establish and maintain close and positive engagement with business owners.
• Coordinate with the Director, Product Planning and Delivery to drive enterprise alignment to technology vision, direction, and architecture. 
• Work closely with product delivery teams to meet agreed commitments.
• Ensure that the product requirements are well-documented, clear, and accessible to all relevant parties throughout the development process.
• Establish and oversee product release plans that satisfy requirements and priorities including the monitoring of product lifecycles.
• Provide leadership through solid people management practices.
• Recruit, manage, coach and evaluate the performance of employees.
• Ensure that department employees provide excellent customer service.
• Provide training, guidance and direction. Ensure positive morale, motivation of employees, and effective performance.
• Resolve problems and issues, and provide conflict resolution in a sensitive, confidential and professional manner.
• Conduct performance evaluations and actively engage in performance development discussions.
• Strategically identify high potential team members and provide training to be positioned for greater responsibility, as well as advancement into future internal opportunities enhancing MBLL’s long-term success.  Ensure employees understand the path forward towards promotion and greater responsibility.
• Communicate all strategy and organizational information changes to staff in a timely manner. 
• Develop succession planning for all departmental functions.
• Determine, where required, staff discipline/corrective action within established policies/related documentation.
• Champion Corporate Responsibility (CR) by integrating CR practices into products, plans and work practices and by assessing the business and customer risks and opportunities associated with gambling, liquor, and cannabis products, as relevant.
• Carry out all required duties and responsibilities of a supervisor of workers, as outlined under provincial safety and health legislation.
• Provide direct and/or functional supervision to contract staff. Recruit, manage and evaluate the performance of product area contract staff.
• Govern the product backlog, and ensure alignment with enterprise strategy, business needs, in partnership with platform services and compliance/security requirements. 
• Define and monitor measurable objectives and key results (OKRs), key performance indicators (KPIs), and ensure alignment to business goals, product strategy and vision. 
• Monitor product team performance to milestones and product vision.
• Resolve escalated features, enhancements and address any product level issues or bugs promptly.
• Encourages and leverages diverse perspectives to create new solutions.
• Oversee quality and gather feedback to refine the product and enhance its performance.
• Oversee the full technology contract lifecycle and ensure vendor adheres to contract obligations by partnering with Technology VMO.
• Negotiate contracts and service-level agreements for cost-effectiveness and alignment with business needs and MBLL's procurement process and policies.
• Implement vendor management strategies to mitigate risks and reduce costs.
• Act as the primary point of contact for vendor-related issues and escalations.
• Collaborate with legal and procurement teams as required.
• Manage the product area business planning, audit, operational and capital budgets supported by ITS Business Operations.
• In collaboration with ITS Senior Leadership, develop and update departmental operating budgets and cost optimization for network projects, including position funding, ongoing costs, vendor negotiations, procurement processes, discretionary items and lifecycle management of product area assets.
• Develop business cases where additional funding is needed for initiatives and product.
• Exercise proper spending, timely use of budget dollars, keeping in budget and minimizing variance.
• Adhere to established protocols, policies, and legal requirements to ensure that sensitive information remains secure and protected from unauthorized access.
• Present budget plans, reports, and analysis to leadership and other relevant parties concisely and informatively. 
• Possess access to confidential financial information and exercise unwavering commitment to safeguarding confidentiality and integrity.
• May be required to fulfill a rotational manager-on-call responsibility, encompassing a 24-hour, 7-day per week period.
• Other related duties as assigned.

• Bachelor’s degree in information technology, Computer Science, Business Administration, or an equivalent combination of education, certification, and experience in a related field.
• A minimum of nine (9) years extensive experience in an Information Technology setting, IT project management, IT operations, or IT business operations. 
• A minimum of three years of supervisory/leadership experience, ideally gained in the gaming/liquor distribution sales industry.
• Technology and business acumen with in-depth knowledge of IT Departments, roles, terminology, trends, and best practices. Expert on technology trends, solutions, standards, and methodologies.
• Strong knowledge of project delivery methodologies, best practices, and operational procedures. 
• Technically skilled to tackle barriers and enable multiple engineering teams.
• Able to deliver on a portfolio of projects and services enabling multiple engineering teams and their customers.
• Continuously innovate on new capabilities in line with industry trends and identify cost efficiencies. 
• Possesses strong project analytics skills to assess costs, risks and benefits of projects.
• Maintains a competent level of technical expertise to work effectively with team members and the broader technical community.
• Experience and proficiency in Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams and Outlook).
• Has experience working with finance business partner to plan, forecast and manage the team’s budget and expenses.
• Able to work with the legal business partner on issues pertaining to third-party licensing contracts, open source, and patent applications.
• The key accountabilities for this position include adapting to new changing conditions in a positive manner, communicating and working respectfully with co-workers, consistently delivering   excellence in customer service, demonstrating appropriate job knowledge, following direction from leadership on assigned tasks, following established Safe Work policies and practices, following Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries’ policies and procedures, meeting the established attendance expectations, meeting the productivity performance expectations and taking accountability for actions.

• Experience in, or knowledge of Supply Chain, Retail, Casino Operations, Lotteries, and other Gaming and Entertainment industries is an asset.
• Project Management Professional (PMP) designation is an asset.
• Experience in product-based IT delivery model and Agile practices.