Director of Product Management

Director of Product ManagementLocation: Houston, TexasType: Direct HireSalary: Depends on ExperienceThe Director of Product Management will own the transformation of the internal software platform from a legacy system into a modern, scalable, user-centered product. This role is accountable for setting a pragmatic modernization strategy, sequencing change without disrupting customers, and driving measurable improvements in usability, performance, reliability, and business value. You will lead the software through a multi-phase evolution (e.g., stabilize ?

simplify ? evolve), balancing near-term customer needs with long-term platform transformation. You'll operate as a strategic product leader who is also highly effective in execution—leveraging Agile practices, Azure DevOps, and AI-enabled tools to accelerate discovery, documentation, and delivery.DutiesDefine and own a phased modernization strategy and roadmap for the new software, aligned to business priorities and customer impact.Balance innovation with continuity—modernize without disrupting pharmacy operations and customer workflows.Partner closely with engineering leadership to align product direction with architectural evolution, platform constraints, and sequencing.Identify high-friction workflows and legacy constraints through stakeholder interviews, user research, data/analytics, and AI-assisted insights.Translate insights into a prioritized roadmap that delivers immediate value while enabling future-state flexibility.Establish a clear product narrative that explains what changes, when, and why (internally and externally as appropriate).Make explicit, well-communicated trade-offs between technical debt reduction, platform investments, and new feature development.Maintain a transparent prioritization approach that accounts for customer impact, operational risk, engineering effort, and strategic value.Drive clarity on what is being stabilized vs.

rebuilt vs. deferred—and the rationale.Ensure product execution within Agile frameworks (Scrum, SAFe, or similar) to drive predictable delivery and throughput.Build and maintain a high-quality backlog in Azure DevOps, ensuring:Clear epic/feature/story hierarchyStrong acceptance criteria and supporting documentationTraceability from business outcomes to delivered workActively participate in (and help elevate) sprint planning, backlog refinement, reviews, and retrospectives.Partner with engineering to break modernization initiatives into incremental, low-risk releases.Align executives and functional leaders on modernization strategy, sequencing, timelines, risks, and trade-offs.Provide clear, data-driven updates using product metrics, roadmap communication, and delivery visibility.Build trust across business and technical teams by translating complex platform realities into actionable decisions.Define and track KPIs tied to modernization (e.g., task completion time, performance, defect rates, reliability, usability indicators).Leverage AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude) to accelerate discovery, documentation creation, backlog refinement, and decision-making.Drive a culture of experimentation, learning, and continuous improvement—improving both customer outcomes and developer velocity.What Success Looks Like (First 12 Months)A clear, phased modernization roadmap (stabilize ? simplify ?

evolve) with measurable outcomes.Reduction in key user pain points across core pharmacy workflows.Improved system performance, reliability, and usability metrics.Increased delivery predictability and team throughput using Agile best practices.Strong Azure DevOps hygiene and visibility (clear backlog, priorities, and execution readiness).Demonstrated, practical use of AI tools to improve speed/quality of discovery, documentation, and prioritization.Visible progress reducing legacy constraints and improving developer velocity.A pragmatic product leader experienced in modernizing legacy platforms without disrupting customers.Strong at balancing strategic thinking with hands-on execution in complex, high-stakes environments.Confident making hard prioritization calls—knowing when to improve vs. rebuild.Comfortable operating cross-functionally with engineering, operations, customer-facing teams, and leadership.Highly skilled in translating ambiguous needs and legacy constraints into clear product increments and outcomes.Adept at using AI tools to improve productivity and insight generation (not as a gimmick, but as a workflow advantage).Requirements10+ years in product management, including ownership of complex or legacy platforms.3+ years leading modernization and/or platform transformation of a production system with active customers.Hands-on experience with Azure DevOps for backlog management and delivery execution.Strong experience working in Agile environments (Scrum, SAFe, or similar).Demonstrated ability to own delivery accountability in environments without a formal PMO — including sequencing work, tracking commitments to named owners and dates, escalating blockers proactively within defined SLAs, and producing concise delivery visibility for executive stakeholders.Demonstrated ability to incorporate AI-enabled tools into product workflows to improve efficiency and decision-making.Experience managing or modernizing a product toward a SaaS or cloud-delivered model, including understanding of multi-tenant architecture implications for product decisions.Comfortable communicating product changes and modernization progress directly to customers or customer-facing teams in plain, trust-building language.