Product Manager

Aspen Technology, Inc.
United States, Texas, Houston
2500 CityWest Boulevard (Show on map)
Feb 20, 2025
The driving force behind our success has always been the people of AspenTech. What drives us, is our aspiration, our desire and ambition to keep pushing the envelope, overcoming any hurdle, challenging the status quo to continually find a better way. You will experience these qualities of passion, pride and aspiration in many ways - from a rich set of career development programs to support of community service projects to social events that foster fun and relationship building across our global community. The RoleWe are looking for a Product Manager to join our Value Management Office (VMO) to support key initiatives within the company, including management of early customer engagements for prototype projects, overseeing product obsolescence strategies, and organizing high-profile industry events. This will require collaboration with internal and external stakeholders as well as close collaboration with customers and advisory boards. This role will play a pivotal part in driving product strategy, ensuring alignment with market needs, and optimizing processes that enhance customer value. The Product Manager will serve as a key liaison between Product Management, R&D, and customer-facing teams to facilitate the successful development and rollout of innovative solutions. Managing the Alpha-Beta Testing Program requires excellent communication and organizational skills, supporting a variety of team needs and tasks, running project meetings, and identifying risks and issues, and developing mitigation plans. Early and frequent updates to management are important. An understanding of the entire product development life cycle is required, ensuring the delivery of solutions to customers that meet their needs. Must have the ability to adapt and quickly learn to execute according to the AspenTech VMO standards, processes, and governance structure. This individual must be able to effectively manage change and coordinate across functions: Product Management, R&D, Quality, Marketing, Customer Support, and Services. Must be familiar with developing products utilizing an Agile/Scrum/SAFe methodology. Developing and maintaining a successful product obsolescence strategy will be integral to this role, ensuring seamless transitions for customers and clear communication between internal teams. End-of-life plans, including timelines, support phases, and upgrade options, must be developed and communicated to internal teams and customers. Coordination with Product Managers, Sales, and Customer Support must be concise to manage customer concerns and minimize disruption. In-depth analysis of data will be important to identify opportunities for product migration, ensuring continued customer satisfaction and revenue retention. Additionally, this role will be responsible for identifying and implementing continuous improvement initiatives to optimize product lifecycle management. A data-driven approach will be required to assess product performance, customer adoption, and market trends to support long-term strategic decision-making. The Product Manager will work closely with leadership to refine product positioning and create go-to-market strategies that maximize impact. Your Impact Management of early customer engagements for prototype projects, including Alpha, Beta engagement, and follow-up. Internal Communications: Written and verbal presentations with Executives, PM Team, Dev Team, Field: Sales and PS. This will include action tracking with these groups to ensure timely follow-through. External Communications: Written and verbal presentations with Customers. Develop strong relationships with customers to strengthen innovation engagements. Develop a bonus program to enhance customer feedback and increase participation. Analyze customer feedback and partner with Product Management to execute high-level requests. Track all product roadmap deliverables. Lead the collection of Release Binder Activities before the release of products. Support weekly project review meetings. Provide relevant and timely reporting, metrics, and analysis through weekly updates of the Project Dashboard. Identify key risks and issues, develop risk mitigation plans, and provide early management updates with appropriate escalations. Coordinate the release planning process, including the definition of roadmap items, product requirements, and use cases, while maintaining a balanced resource management plan. In partnership with Product Management, R&D, Quality, Customer Support, and Marketing, plan and manage product development projects across the entire software development life cycle from definition utilizing an Agile SCRUM methodology. Identify obsolescence opportunities using analytical skills to ensure customer satisfaction and revenue retention. Collaboration with cross-functional teams and the ability to prioritize tasks for each team. Conduct yearly budget strategies for Alpha-Beta spend and track throughout the year to ensure accurate spending. Support the Pricing, Licensing, and Naming program. Drive cross-functional alignment on product roadmaps, ensuring clear prioritization and accountability. Collaborate with Data Analytics teams to create dashboards and reporting mechanisms that provide visibility into key performance indicators. Support strategic initiatives that improve operational efficiencies within the product development process. Listen and support teams in problem identification and decision-making. Create an environment of mutual influence. Understand and empathize with others. Encourage and support the personal development of each individual and the development of teams. Coach people with powerful questions rather than use authority. Think beyond day-to-day activities; apply systems thinking. Support the teams' commitments. Be open and appreciate openness in others. What You'll Need BS in Engineering or Computer Science required. Chemical Engineering a plus. 4+ years related experience in software development or related area. Experience with the entire software development life cycle (from project inception through release) is required. Experience in developing detailed project schedules for complex software development projects with changing requirements, limited resources and fixed deadlines. Experience creating and presenting software development plans, metrics, and progress reports. Experience working in an Agile software development environment desirable. Experience working with Azure DevOps & Power BI creating Business Intelligence reporting. Experience creating complex Organizational Change Management plans and communicating across all leadership levels. PMP, Certified Scrum Master, a plus. Must work effectively in a matrix management structure, with strong abilities to influence and build support for process change initiatives. Some process industry experience would be a plus. Excellent consultative, negotiating, listening, communication, organizational and analytical skills. #LI-WJ1