Director - Digital Product Management

What we are aiming for in Digital Transformation

An opportunity with USJ's Digital and Technology team is an experience like no other. From developing state-of-the-art theme park locations in Orlando, Hollywood, Beijing and Japan, to new destinations, like our Halloween Horror nights themed destination in Vegas and a kids park in Frisco… our teams are at the heart of the new and innovative digital technologies that power our guest and team member experiences.

In this role, you will be responsible for working with our business partners and product teams to understand the requirements that drive the technology solutions we will deploy and analyze key requirements needed. You will engage in the testing cycles of those solutions to align and drive that the design meets the original set of expectations. You are part of a global team that is consistently looking at ways to enhance the experience for guests, from planning their trip to their in park visit, to their post return while driving the best experience all around.

As part of the Digital and Technology team, you will work in a global and multinational team atmosphere, with team members that come to work with us, from various countries. You will engage with not only team members but with multinational vendors that support our destinations and experiences across the globe. So be prepared, as our primary language to operate in is English, daily; however, having other languages, like Japanese is a plus, for local communications.

After joining the company, you will gain a basic understanding of the latest technology for our theme parks and overall in park ride solutions. Not to worry, we will work with you to refine your business system analysis skills. Your role will be responsible for reporting to management both in Japan and within the US. Regardless of your length of service, you will be involved in operations with other parks around the world and will be able to grow significantly.

So come join the fun, with destinations all around the world, Universal Destinations and Experiences Digital & Technology team, has multiple ways to immerse you in our brand, while growing your career.

JOB SUMMARY

The Digital Product Management team is focused on driving product strategies to evolve and enhance the Guest experience across Universal Destinations and Experiences. This role will be responsible for driving of short, mid- and long-term product strategies and implementations for the Universal Studios Japan (USJ), focused on driving business results and customer experience transformation, across all digital channels and interactions.

The specific focus for this role will be to provide executive leadership for the USJ Digital & Technology Product Management and Business Transformation teams - leading engagement, collaboration, requirements alignment, and prioritization across several teams involved in planning, developing, and supporting digital capabilities for Universal Destinations. Core commerce focus areas include Web and Mobile platforms, omni-channel Commerce, and in-Park digital solutions.

RESPONSIBILITES

● Experience & Business Transformation

• Lead Guest, Team, and Business transformation initiatives over a multi-year horizon for Universal Studios Japan
• Lead the team responsible for change management, ensuring business readiness to support new digital capabilities and platforms
• Develop and launch innovative experiential concepts and platforms to address guest satisfaction and business growth opportunities
• Develop business case and value proposition for new product development and ongoing enhancements
• Drive a continuous focus on experience optimization, by regularly gathering and synthesizing consumer, operational, and business insights, to identify and prioritize product enhancements.
• Advocate for the customer experience on cross-functional projects

● Leadership & Collaboration

• Lead a Team of Product Managers to deliver upon the collective product vision for Universal Studios Japan.
• Set and manage team strategic direction, prioritization, resource planning, deliverables, and timelines.
• Lead collaborative, cross-functional teams including Operations, Business and Digital & Technology stakeholders, to drive Product planning, delivery, implementation, and ongoing support.
• Work closely with other Digital Product Executives to maintain global, cross-product alignment.
• Partner with other core functions within Digital & Technology to drive product architecture and delivery, regularly making critical business decisions around scope, time, and budget considerations, balanced against a relentless focus on the Guest experience.
• Participate on the Digital & Technology Executive Leadership team, providing executive decision-making, team resource and talent planning, and priority management. 

● Digital Product Management

• Drive the development of Guest and Team member digital capabilities across the entire product life cycle – from concept development, concept testing, user experience design, technical design, technical delivery, testing, and implementation.
• Design, implement and manage end-to-end experiences and enhancements across all customer touch points and channels
• Develop, evaluate, and implement overall experience strategies and related tactics, striving to create a simple and seamless Guest experience
• Conduct analysis as needed to determine best path for solving business problems, opportunities that may include process improvement, system enhancements, user training, and/or an enhanced product offering
• Act as the subject matter expert (business owner) for new products, integrating with key stakeholder teams to ensure ongoing product success 

● Product Strategy

• Proactively evaluate Guest experience strengths and pain points, to identify opportunities for new and improved experience capabilities
• Develop and frame up product recommendations with associated cost, value and experience analysis, to gain approval and funding for development
• Collaborate and liaise with key business partners to establish product goals and objectives
• Ensure product alignment with the holistic experience transformation vision
• Develop an ongoing approach for measuring the success of newly implemented experience enhancements, to enable well-informed future product planning 

● Product Planning

• Establish the product roadmap and coordinate with key partners to manage product delivery and implementation timelines
• Partner with other UDX Digital Product team to ensure product best practices, dependencies and integration points are considered during roadmap and release planning
• Establish product backlog priorities for release and sprint planning, considering new capabilities, minor enhancements, and defect fixes

QUALIFICATIONS

• Strong critical thinking and problem solving skills, with an ability to understand broad concepts, identify connection points and gaps, and establish product strategies that align with the broader vision and support Guest and business strategies
• Demonstrated analytical and technical skill set, with an ability to synthesize and analyze product-related data across an array of sources (e.g. Marketing, Consumer Insights, Industrial Engineering, etc.), to evaluate product effectiveness
• Extremely strong communication and presentation skills, with an ability to influence senior leadership by developing and clearly framing up options, analysis and recommendations
• Strong organizational skills with an appropriate balance of attention to detail and agility to deliver in a fast-paced environment
• Demonstrated ability to lead collaborative, cross-functional project teams with a wide range of stakeholders and key partners
• Experience supporting an operating environment, with a focus on ensuring that strategies are sound and viable from Business perspective
• Diligent, flexible, resourceful, independent worker with a strong work ethic
• Strong communicator capable of delivering concise messages to various audiences
• Positive attitude, team player with professional demeanor
• Intellectual curiosity and strong willingness to learn

In addition, consistent attendance is a job requirement.

EDUCATION

Bachelor’s degree required - Business, Technology, Digital Marketing, or Industrial Engineering preferred; Master’s degree preferred

LANGUAGE

Ability to communicate in Japanese and English to complete daily tasks

LIFE at Universal Studios Japan

▶Perks & Benefits | 福利厚生

▶CSR | L♡VE HAS NO LIMIT

Check out more information on CSR & welfare benefits at Universal Studios Japan.

▶Meet Our People

Check out more information on our employee experiences here at USJ!

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