Purpose of the Role
The Product Operations Manager owns the "how" of the AFS product organization. You will make it easier for product managers, engineering and customer-facing teams to plan, build, launch and report on our product team's activities. You will also act as a force multiplier for the Chief Product Officer, turning priorities into clear plans, materials and follow-through across the Product organization.
This is a hands-on individual contributor role. You will not own product strategy, but you will be a catalyst to make it happen. You will help it land, scale and show measurable results, with a strong bias toward using AI and automation to remove manual work.
What you'll do
Product operating rhythm and CPO support
• Run the product org's operating cadence: roadmap reviews, release readiness checkpoints and a regular product ops forum
• Prepare executive materials, including weekly ELT updates, board and investor inputs, and product leadership readouts
• Capture decisions, actions and owners from leadership forums and track them to closure
• Translate CPO priorities into clear communication for product, engineering, sales, implementation and client support
Roadmap visibility and portfolio reporting
• Own roadmap health reporting across the full AFS product suite, flagging epics that are at risk or slipping
• Track customer commitments and contractual delivery dates so nothing surprises a client or account team
• Build and maintain dashboards and KPIs for delivery velocity, predictability, release quality and roadmap progress
• Act as data steward for product data in Jira and Confluence: consistent fields, clean hierarchies, trustworthy reports
AI and automation
• Find manual, repetitive work in tracking, reporting and handoffs, then automate it with tools such as Claude, Copilot and Jira automation
• Pilot new AI tools for the product org, measure the time saved and scale what works
• Make sure every AI and automation use follows AFS data classification and security policy, with no client production data, NPI or PII in unapproved tools
• Coach PMs on practical AI workflows for specs, research synthesis, prototyping, and release documentation
Process, release and launch management
• Design and document end-to-end workflows from intake and discovery through development, release and go-to-market
• Build repeatable playbooks for releases, early adopter programs and feature rollouts to our hosted clients
• Coordinate release readiness with engineering, QA, hosting, implementation, client support and marketing
• Keep processes audit-ready, with the traceability and evidence that SOC 2 reviews and bank vendor due diligence require
Documentation and knowledge management
• Set standards, templates and governance for product documentation: PRDs, release notes, user guides and internal playbooks
• Audit existing content for gaps and inconsistencies, then restructure and migrate it so teams can find what they need
• Own onboarding materials for new product team members
Tools and feedback loops
• Own the product team's toolset (Jira, Confluence and related tools) including configuration standards, vendors and licensing
• Build a structured channel for client feedback and enhancement requests, and report trends back to product managers
• Close the loop with client-facing teams on what was decided and when it ships
What success looks like
We expect you to move quickly. Early on, you will learn AFS's products, the release cycle and the hosted delivery model, and get the product operating rhythm running. Success in this role means:
• A single roadmap health view across all products that leadership trusts
• Leadership reporting that is largely automated
• A decision and action log running for product leadership forums
• One release and launch playbook adopted for every product
• Documentation standards and templates in everyday use
• AI and automation pilots in production with measured time saved
• PMs spending measurably less time on status and reporting
• Customer commitments tracked end to end, with no surprises
• Product processes that produce audit-ready evidence without extra effort
What you bring
Required
• 4 to 6 years in product operations, program management, product management or a Chief of Staff style role in B2B SaaS, fintech or enterprise software
• Hands-on experience using AI and automation tools (such as Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Power Automate, Zapier or Jira automation) to remove manual work, with results you can describe
• Advanced Jira and Confluence skills, including JQL, dashboards, filters and workflow configuration
• Strong data skills: building dashboards, cleaning messy data and turning it into a clear recommendation
• Excellent executive communication, including concise written updates and presentation materials for senior leaders
• A track record of building processes and playbooks that teams actually adopt, earned through influence rather than authority
• Working knowledge of agile delivery and the SDLC
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
Preferred
• Experience in banking, lending or another regulated financial services environment
• Familiarity with FFIEC, SOC 2 or NIST controls and how they shape product and release processes
• Experience with multi-product portfolios or hosted SaaS release management
• Background in consulting, analytics or business analysis
• Experience leading a documentation or knowledge management overhaul
How you work
• You bring structure to ambiguity and move quickly from idea to working result
• You prove value with a small pilot, then scale it
• You think in systems and fix root causes, not symptoms
• You treat security and data handling as part of the design, not an afterthought
Position Description Disclaimer
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty listed above satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of this role. This position description is intended to provide guidelines for job expectations and is not an exhaustive list of all functions, responsibilities, skills, and abilities. Additional functions and requirements may be assigned by supervisors as deemed appropriate.
This document does not constitute a contract of employment. AFS reserves the right to modify this position description and assign tasks as business needs require.
