IT Product Manager

Department: Information Technology Classification: Info Technology Spec 2 Job Category: Classified Staff Job Type: Full-Time Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk) Location: Fairfax, VA Workplace Type: On Site Required Sponsorship Eligibility: Not eligible for visa sponsorship Pay Band: 05 Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience Criminal Background Check: Yes About the Department: Information Technology Services (ITS) provides technology and collaborative solutions that contribute to and facilitate innovative teaching and learning opportunities for students and faculty of the George Mason University community. ITS works transparently to drive excellence in teaching, research, and administrative operations. About the Position: The IT Product Manager will lead IT projects from definition through adoption by combining disciplined delivery management, customer-centered product thinking, and practical business analysis. The role ensures work is technically ready, operationally sustainable, and ready for successful use by customers and stakeholders. Responsibilities: • Leads projects from initiation through transition to operations, using an appropriate predictive, Agile, or hybrid delivery approach.; • Develops and maintains project charters, scope statements, integrated schedules, milestones, work plans, budgets or resource forecasts as applicable, RAID logs, decision logs, and status reports; • Decomposes outcomes into deliverables, tasks, dependencies, acceptance criteria, owners, and completion dates in partnership with delivery teams and stakeholders; • Drives teams toward agreed completion dates, identify slippage early, facilitate recovery planning, and escalate material risks or decisions through established governance channels; • Monitors scope, schedule, quality, risks, issues, dependencies, resources, and stakeholder commitments throughout the project lifecycle; • Ensures required project, security, architecture, accessibility, change, procurement, release, and operational processes are identified and followed, as applicable; • Applies product management principles to connect project deliverables with customer needs, service outcomes, strategic objectives, and measurable value; • Facilitates development of problem statements, desired outcomes, product or service goals, roadmap inputs, priorities, release objectives, and success measures; • Represents the customer and end-user perspective in planning and delivery discussions, including usability, supportability, communications, training, adoption, and feedback; • Coordinates readiness activities so solutions are not only technically complete, but also documented, supported, communicated, tested, and ready for customers and operational teams; • Partners with product owners, service owners, technical leads, change leaders, and support teams to define launch or release readiness criteria and confirm deliverables have been satisfactorily completed; • Elicits, analyzes, validates, documents, prioritizes, and traces business, functional, nonfunctional, technical, operational, and user requirements; • Facilitates workshops, interviews, process reviews, and working sessions to clarify needs, current-state challenges, future-state workflows, assumptions, constraints, and acceptance criteria; • Creates or coordinates artifacts such as process maps, use cases, user stories, requirements matrices, data definitions, business rules, gap analyses, and options assessments; • Ensures requirements are sufficiently clear and testable before work is committed, while supporting iterative refinement in Agile environments; • Supports user acceptance testing by ensuring scenarios, expected results, acceptance criteria, defect decisions, and business approvals are defined and documented; • Uses Agile values and practices to improve transparency, prioritization, feedback, and incremental delivery without weakening necessary governance or accountability; • Facilitates or supports backlog refinement, sprint or iteration planning, reviews, retrospectives, stand-ups, release planning, and dependency coordination as appropriate; • Helps teams distinguish projects, products, releases, enhancements, operational requests, and backlog work so each item receives suitable planning and governance; • Adapts delivery methods to project complexity, uncertainty, risk, compliance needs, and team maturity rather than applying a single methodology to all work; • Builds effective working relationships across business, technical, operational, security, and customer-facing teams; • Prepares concise, audience-appropriate updates for executives, sponsors, delivery teams, customers, and governance groups; • Facilitates decisions, document outcomes and owners, manage expectations, and communicate changes in scope, priority, schedule, or risk; • Navigates competing priorities and differing viewpoints using collaboration, negotiation, influence, and fact-based analysis; and • Other Duties as Assigned. Required Qualifications: • Bachelor’s degree in related field; • Demonstrated experience (typically 3 or more years) coordinating or managing projects that involve multiple stakeholders, defined deliverables, deadlines, and organizational change; • Demonstrated experience contributing to requirements definition, process analysis, backlog or work planning, and readiness activities; • Demonstrated experience delivering technology-enabled projects or services to operational teams and end users or customers; • Knowledge of project management principles and the ability to plan, organize, monitor, and deliver cross-functional projects; • Knowledge of Agile concepts and the ability to apply Agile, predictive, or hybrid practices based on the nature of the work; • Knowledge of requirements elicitation, analysis, documentation, validation, prioritization, and traceability techniques; • Knowledge of basic product management concepts, including customer needs, value, prioritization, roadmaps, outcomes, and lifecycle thinking; • Skill in defining deliverables, tasks, dependencies, owners, milestones, acceptance criteria, and completion dates; • Skill in facilitating meetings, workshops, decision-making, conflict resolution, and collaboration across technical and nontechnical groups; • Skill in identifying and managing scope, schedule, risk, issues, changes, dependencies, and stakeholder expectations; • Skill in producing clear project documentation, process maps, requirements, executive updates, and status reports; • Ability to manage multiple priorities, exercise sound judgment, and escalate issues appropriately; • Ability to use standard collaboration, project tracking, documentation, and presentation tools; • Ability to translate between business needs, customer experience, operational requirements, and technical delivery considerations; • Demonstrated knowledge of Scrum, Kanban, Lean, scaled Agile concepts, and hybrid delivery models; and • Skill in creating reusable project templates, delivery playbooks, governance checklists, readiness criteria, and reporting dashboards; and • PMP. Preferred Qualifications: • Certified Scrum Master, SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager (POPM); • Experience developing user stories, acceptance criteria, process models, requirements traceability, UAT plans, release readiness assessments, and operational transition plans; • Experience working in higher education, government, or another complex, distributed organization; • Experience with IT service management practices and enterprise service management platforms; • Use of TeamDynamix ITSM and Project Modules; • Knowledge of product discovery, product road mapping, outcome-based planning, user-centered design, service management, organizational change management, and adoption practices; • Skill with project portfolio management, work management, requirements, collaboration, visualization, and reporting platforms; and • Ability to lead complex technology projects involving infrastructure, enterprise applications, integrations, cybersecurity, cloud services, data, or digital services. Instructions to Applicants: For full consideration, applicants must apply for IT Product Manager at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a Cover Letter/Letter of Intent with Resume for review. Posting Open Date: November 4, 2026 Posting Close Date: November 18, 2026 Open Until Filled: No Mason Ad Statement George Mason University is a nationally ranked R1 research university committed to creating a more just, free, and prosperous world. With 40,000 enrolled students, George Mason is the largest and most diverse public research university in Virginia, offering degree programs at the master's, doctoral, and professional level, along with certificates and credentials. George Mason fosters an All Together Different environment for students, faculty, and staff, driven by our core beliefs. We believe in inclusivity over exclusivity; we believe in advancing our mission by being willing to take risks, not avoiding them; and we believe our best work is possible when we apply our diversity of origin, identity, circumstance, and thought. Equity Statement George Mason University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, committed to promoting inclusion and equity in its community. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or veteran status, or any characteristic protected by law. Campus Safety Information Mason’s Annual Security and Fire Safety Report is available at http://police.gmu.edu/annual-security-report/