Senior Product Development Manager

U.S. Cellular is the fifth-largest full-service wireless carrier in the United States, providing national network coverage and industry-leading innovations designed to elevate the customer experience. The Chicago-based carrier has a strong line-up of cutting-edge devices that are all backed by a high-quality network in big and small cities and rural communities, and currently,

Serve as the Marketing lead driving the development and launch of both marketing and enterprise wide initiatives for both consumer and business channels. Develop the product functional requirements, business case, go-to-market strategy, and execute a variety of other activities to enable the successful launch of products and services. Serve as product expert who drives product commercialization through partnerships with functional areas and third party vendor partners. Lead initiatives across both consumer and business channels that help drive increase in revenue and reduction in customer churn.

* Develop and refine business case based upon product requirements, desired solution, and market opportunity * Create product use cases to gain alignment on end-to-end customer and associate experience, and serve as foundation for detailed product requirements * Develop detailed product requirements through partnership with cross-functional team and third party vendors * Develop and execute go-to-market strategy that includes but is not limited to; associate training and communication plan, direct marketing, promotional opportunities, brand advertising * Partner with Information Services (IS) to understand available technical solutions. Serve as marketing lead to help ensure product technical solution supports business requirements, business case, and both the associate and customer experience. * Partner with Vendor Management and/or Business Development to identify potential vendor partners for a particular product, complete vendor selection process if needed, ensure comprehensive business terms are negotiated into Statements of Work (SOWs), and manage performance of vendor throughout project lifecycle. * Create process flows and align with in-life product owners to ensure seamless transition to product management post-launch to ensure realization of the business case * Support both marketing portfolio and enterprise-wide portfolio initiatives in leadership position * Contribute to product development team through continuous improvement of commercialization process based upon project experiences * Plan and gain approval on promotions and marketing programs designed to meet/exceed product objectives. * Support the analysis and recommend launch, maintenance and post mortem pricing structures (including promotional pricing). * Develop key metrics for product and create processes to track, analyze, and act upon post launch. * Provide content and direction for training. In some instances, lead development of training. * Monitor, evaluate and report on competitive environment (messaging, pricing, promotions, positioning, etc.) and take necessary actions. * Recognized as the Subject Matter Expert for all aspects of product/service. * Recommend pricing structure for product(s) based upon competitive market and business case. * Contribute analytical, marketing and/or product management support to product portfolio as necessary to meet business priorities and goals * Provide project management oversight for product initiatives to enable fast speed-to-market of products.

* Bachelor's degree required; MBA preferred. * 4+ years of experience in product development, product management, or equivalent experience that includes extensive cross-functional partnerships, heavy system integration, business case development, and go-to-market strategy and execution. Wireless experience a plus. * Experience creating business cases, product requirements, use case development, and go-to-market strategy is required. * Experience working on Marketing driven cross-functional, product-launch teams highly desired. * Experience with initiatives requiring integrated technical solutions is a plus. * Experience with standard MS Office applications (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.) * Demonstrated experience as a functional product manager or project manager leading the development of complex products involving marketing, operational, engineering, and integrated technical solutions. * A creative problem solver with the ability to ask key critical questions in defining product scope, evaluating the feasibility, completeness, and quality of product offerings desired. Consultancy experience is a definite plus. * Flexibility to adapt strategies, make decisions and change plans to meet shifting priorities and customer needs within dynamic market conditions and working environment a must. * Comfortable with driving product commercialization while partnering with key functional areas that are key contributors to product launch, as well as transitioning responsibilities to in-life product manager post-launch. * Clear oral presentation skills along with the ability to create concise and effective PowerPoint presentations and deliver them to cross-functional audiences up-to Senior Director level is strongly preferred. * Strong organizational skills required. Working knowledge of Microsoft Project preferred. * Proven self-starter with strong ability to work independently preferred