Senior Manager - Products

Core Responsibilities:

• Support the development of overall innovative and market-leading products.
• Meet key stakeholders, understand needs, and define product vision and specifications.  
• Work with government agencies, ports, customs authorities, and private sector stakeholders to analyze current trade processes (e.g. cargo handling, clearance, inspections) and identify opportunities for automation and optimization.
• Work with government agencies, ports, customs authorities, and private sector stakeholders to analyze current trade processes (e.g. cargo handling, clearance, inspections) and identify opportunities for automation and optimization.
• Work with government agencies, ports, customs authorities, and private sector stakeholders to analyze current trade processes (e.g. cargo handling, clearance, inspections) and identify opportunities for automation and optimization.
• Support training and knowledge transfer for stakeholders to ensure sustainable adoption.
• Ensure system design supports legal, regulatory, and compliance frameworks, including risk management, advance cargo information, and digital trade document exchange.
• Identify priorities across products and provide advice with backlogged products. 
• Resolve escalated key issues with products in liaison with all stakeholders. 
• Enforce alignment on roadmaps, priorities, and dependencies – operationally calling for and facilitating the discussions.
• Review and analyze customer’s feedback and ensure retaining current customers.
• Lead and conduct market research and competitor analysis to understand customer preferences, best practices and market trends. 
• Build strong relationship with external vendors, direct resolving issues and manage backlogged products aiming to retain high customer engagement. 

People Management Responsibilities:

• Drive initiatives to instill a sense of urgency across squads and ensure a shared feeling of working towards the portfolio KPIs. 
• Provide strong and visionary leadership, supervision, and guidance to the team, setting clear expectations and creating a culture of accountability.
• Conduct regular performance evaluations for team members, providing constructive feedback and setting goals for professional growth.
• Offer coaching and mentoring to team members to enhance their capabilities and problem-solving skills.
• Ensure that the team has access to the necessary resources, including budget and technology, to support their projects.
• Foster a strong sense of collaboration and teamwork among team members to maximize their collective potential.
• Ensure a balanced workload distribution among team members, preventing burnout and promoting productivity.
• Identify skill gaps and training requirements for the teams to ensure consistent high performance. 

Strategic Responsibilities:

• Participate in developing long-term product strategy that outlines the direction of the product over time. 
• Track key metrics to evaluate the success of the product and gather feedback from users to drive improvements.
• Take a leading role in discussions about squad visions, scopes, KPIs, and resources to ensure that the cluster is working towards the same goals.
• Responsible for fostering a culture of innovation within the product development team.
• Identify and mitigate risks that may impact the success of the product.
• Constantly evaluate new opportunities for growth, expansion, and improvement.

Core Responsibilities:

• Support the development of overall innovative and market-leading products.
• Meet key stakeholders, understand needs, and define product vision and specifications.  
• Work with government agencies, ports, customs authorities, and private sector stakeholders to analyze current trade processes (e.g. cargo handling, clearance, inspections) and identify opportunities for automation and optimization.
• Work with government agencies, ports, customs authorities, and private sector stakeholders to analyze current trade processes (e.g. cargo handling, clearance, inspections) and identify opportunities for automation and optimization.
• Work with government agencies, ports, customs authorities, and private sector stakeholders to analyze current trade processes (e.g. cargo handling, clearance, inspections) and identify opportunities for automation and optimization.
• Support training and knowledge transfer for stakeholders to ensure sustainable adoption.
• Ensure system design supports legal, regulatory, and compliance frameworks, including risk management, advance cargo information, and digital trade document exchange.
• Identify priorities across products and provide advice with backlogged products. 
• Resolve escalated key issues with products in liaison with all stakeholders. 
• Enforce alignment on roadmaps, priorities, and dependencies – operationally calling for and facilitating the discussions.
• Review and analyze customer’s feedback and ensure retaining current customers.
• Lead and conduct market research and competitor analysis to understand customer preferences, best practices and market trends. 
• Build strong relationship with external vendors, direct resolving issues and manage backlogged products aiming to retain high customer engagement. 

People Management Responsibilities:

• Drive initiatives to instill a sense of urgency across squads and ensure a shared feeling of working towards the portfolio KPIs. 
• Provide strong and visionary leadership, supervision, and guidance to the team, setting clear expectations and creating a culture of accountability.
• Conduct regular performance evaluations for team members, providing constructive feedback and setting goals for professional growth.
• Offer coaching and mentoring to team members to enhance their capabilities and problem-solving skills.
• Ensure that the team has access to the necessary resources, including budget and technology, to support their projects.
• Foster a strong sense of collaboration and teamwork among team members to maximize their collective potential.
• Ensure a balanced workload distribution among team members, preventing burnout and promoting productivity.
• Identify skill gaps and training requirements for the teams to ensure consistent high performance. 

Strategic Responsibilities:

• Participate in developing long-term product strategy that outlines the direction of the product over time. 
• Track key metrics to evaluate the success of the product and gather feedback from users to drive improvements.
• Take a leading role in discussions about squad visions, scopes, KPIs, and resources to ensure that the cluster is working towards the same goals.
• Responsible for fostering a culture of innovation within the product development team.
• Identify and mitigate risks that may impact the success of the product.
• Constantly evaluate new opportunities for growth, expansion, and improvement.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Marketing, Engineering or related field; Master's degree is a plus.
• Degree in International Trade, Supply Chain, Customs Management, or IT/Engineering.
• Professional certifications: PMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, CBAP, or CILT.
• Experience on projects funded by World Bank, UNCTAD, WCO, ITC, or regional development banks a strong plus.
• Excellent English. Arabic is an added advantage
• A minimum of 12-15 years of experience in a similar role
• Deep knowledge of relevant domains and products
• Port and terminal operations
• Customs clearance and inspection processes
• Trade facilitation and risk management concepts
• Familiarity with WCO SAFE Framework, WCO Data Model, UN/CEFACT standards, WTO TFA implementation.
• Hands-on experience managing digital transformation projects (ERP, e-Government, Trade Tech platforms).
• Ability to translate business processes into functional requirements and work closely with solution architects.
• Knowledge of APIs, integration frameworks, workflow automation, and data exchange protocols.
• Solid knowledge of industry trends pain points
• Experience in agile development, with specific product owner (or similar) experience preferred, should be confident in building and managing the backlog of work.
• Experience working with engineering teams preferred, cross functional teams a plus. 
• Ability to manage complex products.
• Ability to manage parallel product development.
• Enhanced business acumen since Challenger mindset and passion to challenge status quo to find new solutions and drive out of the box ideas – loves and embraces change.
• #LI-DNI
• Port and terminal operations
• Customs clearance and inspection processes
• Trade facilitation and risk management concepts
• Familiarity with WCO SAFE Framework, WCO Data Model, UN/CEFACT standards, WTO TFA implementation.