Senior Product Manager

Job Description

This is a remote position.

JOB SUMMARY

• Job Title: Senior Product Manager 
• Job Level: Senior 
• Team: Technology 
• Reports to: Chief Technology Officer (CTO) 
• Direct (planned) reports: None at present; may line-manage capacity as the team grows and supervise interns and external partners/consultants 
• Location: Remote, Africa-based, with occasional travel for events and organizational moments 
• Time commitment: Full-time 
• Start date: Immediate, subject to notice period 

ABOUT EPIC-AFRICA 

EPIC-Africa is a pan-African infrastructure organization, dedicated to making African civil society findable, fundable, and capable. Africa is full of credible, impactful civil society organizations (CSOs) that traditional funding streams struggle to find. As a "CSO for CSOs," EPIC-Africa bridges this gap using pan-African data, sectoral research and mappings, and strategic initiatives like the African CSO Platform and the African CSO Awards, equipping funders with discovery they can trust while centering African agency and leadership. 

ABOUT THE TEAM 

The Technology team is the home of technological expertise in the organization. It is made up of three main areas: Product Management, Software Engineering and Data Engineering, supported by IT. 

Its flagship project is the African CSO Platform, a key channel to help make CSOs more findable, fundable, and capable. The Team also owns EPIC-Africa's internal technology stack and hosts the Data, Tools & AI Center of Excellence (CoE), which sets the standards every Team works to and helps colleagues develop the skills to meet them. The CoE builds the central data store that every Team feeds its data into, of which the data generated by the Platform is a major part. 

The Team is the technical counterpart to the rest of the organization, providing the technological expertise other Teams need to achieve their ambitions. This ranges from prioritizing user needs for the Platform to better serve CSOs or Funders, helping Strategy & Operations set up the best knowledge management solution for the organization, or configuring the CRM with the Programs Team. Finally, like all other Teams at EPIC-Africa, it contributes products and services to our Growth & Sustainability Strategy, to support our efforts to become less grant-dependent and more financially resilient. 

The Team recognizes technology as a means to organizational outcomes rather than an end in itself. It works in an agile way, driving delivery quickly while managing IT risk and cybersecurity appropriately. 

JOB PURPOSE 

The Senior Product Manager owns what EPIC-Africa builds. The initial priority is the African CSO Platform, which serves several audiences with demand that exceeds the capacity of a small technical team. Prioritization is the core of the role: deciding what gets built, in what order and for whom. The role owns day-to-day product decisions and delivery for the Platform, so the CTO can focus on leading the team and setting technology strategy. 

The Platform is the priority today, but EPIC-Africa expects to launch further products over time as part of the Growth & Sustainability Strategy. The role will manage these products initially, until the team adds dedicated product capacity. New products are built to validated demand. 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES 

1. Product Strategy & Prioritization 

• Own the vision and roadmap for each product, aligned to EPIC-Africa's strategy and the Growth & Sustainability Strategy. 
• Prioritize Platform features based on user needs, including features that reduce manual work (e.g. automated Platform content sourcing, approval of CSO-submitted content, and CSO profile verification vs registration). 
• Own the machine gate for CSO Platform registration (mandatory fields, valid email and URL, no duplicates) and the automation and minimization of manual profile enrichment, including the target to reduce CSO minutes spent per profile. Data Engineering defines the data rules and Software Engineering builds them. With the Senior Software Engineer, own how automated feedback reaches CSOs when a check fails. 
• Lead product discovery, market research and needs assessment with CSOs, funders, governments, partners and internal program teams across the countries EPIC-Africa serves, translating findings into clear product opportunities and requirements. 
• Work with the Research & Advocacy team to add Platform and new product questions to existing surveys, and with the Programs team as an input channel for CSO user needs. 
• Own and track the metrics that steer product strategy: adoption, activation, engagement, retention, profile completeness (for Platform), and coverage by sector and geography. 
• Analyze relevant data sets, interpret trends and use data-driven insights to inform product priorities and decisions. Agree action plans with other EPIC-Africa teams to improve them. 
• Provide product and feasibility input on potential revenue streams. Shape business cases with the CTO, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Data Engineer, and support pricing and packaging from the product side. 
• Represent the Platform and other products internally and externally with CSOs, funders, advisory groups and partners, co-creating features with users where possible. 

Example success metrics: CSO registration completion and abandonment rates, including the field where users drop out; records rejected at the machine gate; CSO minutes spent per profile and % of profiles auto-completed; Platform adoption and active use by CSOs and funders. 

2. Delivery 

• Oversee product requirements documents (PRDs), translating requirements into clear product features, user stories and acceptance criteria for the Platform and internal tools. 
• Coordinate sprints and delivery with the Senior Software Engineer and Senior Data Engineer, including external and fractional capacity. Manage delivery timelines, dependencies and risks, and ensure smooth feature deployment. Own product and launch readiness (scope, comms and go-to-market), with technical release sign-off resting with the Senior Software Engineer. 
• Build accessibility, inclusivity and multilingual usability, including for Francophone users, into product requirements from the outset. 
• Coordinate large-scale launches with the Programs and Communications teams, respecting the organization-wide editorial calendar. 
• Re-prioritize in an agile way as delivery unfolds, balancing new requests and fixes against available engineering capacity, escalating to the CTO where needed. 

Example success metrics: Roadmap outcomes delivered against agreed priorities; % of machine enrichment suggestions accepted without edit; user satisfaction with released features. 

3. Process Improvement & Team Mechanics 

• Own the intake process for requests from every source: CSO users, funders, governments, grant commitments and internal teams. 
• Design and own a transparent, repeatable prioritization framework. 
• Define and track service levels and performance measures for the team. 
• Keep the team's delivery process lean and agile. Run the cadences and tracking tools that keep priorities, progress and blockers visible. 

Example success metrics: Requests triaged through the intake process within agreed response times; team process measures visible and improving over time; build decisions traceable to the prioritization framework. 

4. Team & Enterprise Contribution 

• Contribute product expertise to the CoE's tools and AI standards. The IT Manager owns and sets these standards. Work within them, including approved tooling and the responsible use of AI. 
• Contribute to organization-wide moments, including flagship reports and surveys, convenings, campaigns, funder reporting and organizational planning. 
• Provide supervision and direction to any interns and external partners or consultants as directed. 
• Maintain clear, up-to-date documentation of own work, processes and decisions, including product decisions, requirements and roadmap changes, so colleagues can pick it up easily at handover or during leave or emergencies. 
• Undertake other reasonable responsibilities appropriate to the seniority of the role. This job description captures the main elements of the post but is not exhaustive and may evolve alongside the organization. 

Example success metrics: Product input delivered on time for organization-wide moments such as flagship reports, convenings and campaigns; interns and external partners delivering agreed work to scope.  

Requirements

PERSON SPECIFICATION 

The ideal candidate is a confident prioritizer who makes clear, well-reasoned calls among many competing needs and brings people with them. They combine empathy for user needs with a strong sense of what makes a good user experience, turning CSO, funder and partner needs into features with the engineers and explaining product decisions back to stakeholders. They are practical problem-solvers who can navigate ambiguity, identify root causes and develop workable solutions. Strong communication and collaboration are central to the role.  

Essential qualifications, skills and experience 

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, business, development studies or a related field, or equivalent demonstrable experience. 
• At least 7 years of progressively responsible product management experience covering digital platforms, marketplaces or software-as-a-service products, including delivering user-centered products from concept to launch, demonstrating empathy for user needs and a strong sense of what makes a good user experience, and iterating products on evidence. 
• Demonstrated track record of prioritizing roadmaps against constrained capacity and competing stakeholder demands, and communicating those decisions transparently. 
• Strong experience translating requirements into user stories and acceptance criteria, and running agile delivery with engineering teams. 
• Proficiency with product and project management tooling for roadmapping, backlog and sprint tracking (e.g. Asana or equivalent). 
• Familiarity with agile delivery methods (e.g. Scrum and Kanban) and the cadences that go with them, such as backlog grooming, sprint planning and retrospectives. 
• Experience designing operational processes such as intake, routing, service levels and their measurement. 
• Experience defining and using product metrics to steer decisions. 
• Experience leading cross-functional delivery without direct authority, and the ability to influence peers. 
• Flexible and adaptable mindset, suited to working in a growing and evolving organization. 
• Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to navigate ambiguity, identify root causes, evaluate trade-offs and develop practical solutions. 
• Strong understanding of the African civil society, philanthropy or nonprofit ecosystem. 
• Excellent communication, facilitation and stakeholder management skills, and the ability to work effectively in a cross-cultural, pan-African, multilingual and remote environment. 

Desirable 

• Experience with community platforms, marketplaces or knowledge hubs. 
• Experience of commercial or revenue-generating digital products, including data products or subscriptions. 
• Commercial acumen for product feasibility and pricing: able to assess the viability of new products and inform pricing and packaging decisions. 
• Experience introducing AI-assisted features or automation into a product, with responsible use of AI. 
• Working knowledge of product analytics and business intelligence tools used to track adoption, engagement and other product measures. 
• Familiarity with accessibility standards and multilingual product delivery. 
• French proficiency in addition to English. 
• Experience in donor-funded or mission-driven initiatives. 

COMPENSATION 

This is a senior role offering a competitive compensation package, commensurate with experience and qualifications.

HOW TO APPLY 

Interested candidates should submit a CV and a cover letter outlining their vision and fit for the role through this form. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and early submissions are encouraged. Acceptance of submissions will close once the ideal candidate has been identified. 

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT 

EPIC-Africa is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all. We particularly encourage applications from individuals from underrepresented communities across Africa. For more information about us, please visit our websites: EPIC-Africa and African CSO Platform.