Product Operations Director - Systems, Processes & Tools

Job Description

Role title: Product Operations Director - Systems, Processes & Tools

Team: Product Management Operations

Salary range: $160,000 - $200,000 USD

Location: Remote

Product work at Applied turns customer signals, market context, and technical possibility into clear decisions. In this role you will lead how our product organization applies AI to its own work, own the tooling and infrastructure it runs on, and own the operating system that connects them: the mechanisms, standards, and measurement that turn customer insight into delivered outcomes. You make them repeatable, measurable, and adopted.

What you’ll own

• Lead AI enablement for product teams. Set the strategy, standards, and governance for how Product and Engineering apply AI to product operations work. Own the skill registry, connectors, and shared automations. Evaluate and select AI tools, define access and data guardrails, and measure adoption and impact so AI use scales without adding headcount. Build and run training that equips product teams to use AI tools and workflows effectively.
• Own the product operations infrastructure. Be accountable for the connected stack that product teams run on: integrations between analytics, roadmap, customer-feedback, and capability-mapping systems, plus the data flows, dashboards, and automations built on them. Set architecture, ownership, documentation, and reliability standards for this stack, and make it AI-ready.
• Own the product tooling portfolio. Be accountable for strategy, adoption, ROI, and outcomes for product analytics and user behavior (Pendo, including Session Replay), roadmap and discovery (Jira Product Discovery), customer ideas (Salesforce-based PAC/AC Ideas), and other tools. Decide where to build, buy, consolidate, or retire.
• Govern tenant-level configuration and access. Be accountable for subscription architecture, instrumentation and tagging standards, privacy and unmasking governance, access and provisioning, and usage and overage forecasting. Set the standards others follow, automate where possible, and delegate day-to-day requests to the right owners.
• Manage vendors and contracts. With Procurement, negotiate renewals, expansions, and new-tool evaluations. Run vendor governance and quarterly business reviews. Hold vendors to evidence-based outcomes.
• Steward our operating system and run its mechanisms. Maintain and version the operating system with Product and Engineering leadership. Lead the working groups, adoption, and change management for the transition to 2027. Own the central calendar, agenda and pre-read standards, and sunset criteria for ad hoc meetings. Measure meeting load and retire what doesn't earn its place. This includes the mechanism for sourcing cross-functional customer feedback (Sales, Support, CX, Adoption) into annual allocation and planning decisions.
• Standardize how work moves through the lifecycle. Own the min-spec templates, launch-readiness scorecards, and telemetry and instrumentation standards. Hold teams to them, and train product roles on the operating system, templates, and tools.
• Build the measurement layer. Build the data and dashboard infrastructure that delivers the metrics defined with the Portfolio Strategy Director. Own operating-level and how-we-work metrics, such as meeting load, template adoption, and telemetry coverage.

What you’ll bring

• 12+ years of professional experience, with 10+ in product operations, product management, program management, and/or project management
• You've enabled teams with AI tools and workflows (agents, skills, connectors, automations), governed their use, and can show measurable impact on efficiency or quality
• You've owned tools end to end: strategy, implementation, adoption, ROI, vendor negotiation, and contracts
• You can design and run integrated tooling infrastructure, including data flows, dashboards, and system integrations
• You've built operating models and repeatable processes where none existed, and led the change management to get them adopted
• You lead through influence without positional authority, and you're credible with engineers, product leaders, and the C-suite
• You communicate in writing and data, and you're scrappy enough to pull your own data when the perfect report doesn't exist
• You can facilitate high-stakes cross-functional discussions and drive them to a decision
• Genuine curiosity about insurance technology

What could set you apart

• Stand up AI enablement for product teams. Launch the skill registry and connector standards, define governance for access and data, and set adoption and impact measures.
• Set the tooling and infrastructure roadmap. Define the multi-subscription Pendo architecture and 2027 budget, map integrations across the product stack, and set the vendor strategy.
• Take the operating system from draft to v1. Run the working groups, publish the min-spec and launch-readiness templates, and support the first teams to adopt it in Q1 2027.
• Build the cross-functional feedback mechanism. Turn the XFN customer feedback process into a standing mechanism that feeds annual allocation and planning, with clear drivers, inputs, and outcomes.

Build a career that moves an industry

Applied is the connective intelligence transforming how insurance works. We build the platforms, data, and intelligent systems that connect agencies and carriers across the insurance lifecycle.

Here, careers move with the work. You can own meaningful decisions, build what reaches the market, expand your scope as the business evolves, and work alongside people who bring expertise, curiosity, and care to what they create.

What you can expect

• Work with reach: Build products, services, or programs that support agencies, carriers, and teammates across the insurance lifecycle.

• Ownership with context: Make decisions with a clear view of customer needs, business priorities, and the teammates who bring the work to market.

• Growth through scope: Expand your impact through meaningful projects, cross-functional exposure, learning opportunities, and stretch work as the business evolves.

• Built by people: Work with people who bring expertise, curiosity, and care to what they build, and who share accountability for moving the work forward.

Benefits and support

Our benefits support your health, time, and life beyond work.

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage

• Holiday and vacation time

• Health and wellness days

• A day off for your birthday

The anticipated base salary range for this position is $160,000 - $200,000 USD. Starting pay reflects the role’s scope and the successful candidate’s relevant experience, skills, and location.

Candidate security

Applied communicates with candidates through an @appliedsystems.com email address or our official careers portal. Our recruiters will never request payment or ask for bank account details, government identification numbers, or other sensitive financial information during initial recruiting conversations.

Background checks

Employment is contingent on successful completion of the background checks and verification steps that apply to the role and location.

Use of AI in recruitment

Applied may use AI-enabled tools to support parts of the recruitment process, such as organizing application information, scheduling, and workflow administration. Hiring decisions include human review and follow applicable laws and company policy.

Equal employment opportunity

Applied Systems is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. We make employment decisions based on job-related qualifications and business needs, without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.