Senior Product Manager - API
Reports to: VP of Product

Who You Are

Ascent is reducing the cost of compliance to encourage innovation, help existing companies stay in business, and make it possible for new companies to get started. As trailblazers in our space we’re searching for people passionate about building new and innovative products, who aren’t afraid of challenging the status quo and solving generations-old problems.

The Senior Product Manager - API will embody the “knowledge-as-a-product” vision at Ascent, helping build knowledge via algorithms and models rather than with humans. The Senior Product Manager is responsible for the roadmap, vision, definition, design and delivery of our API platform and associated features and capabilities. You are an excellent, high-energy communicator who engages on a daily basis with nearly every function at Ascent — from sales and go to market to customer experience, design, and engineering. By doing so, you will develop the roadmap, vision, functional specifications and delivery of features that satisfy the evolving business needs and requirements of our customers. Your objectives will be directly linked to business metrics such as revenue, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Job Description

• Quickly build a clear understanding of the entire customer lifecycle and the Ascent platform and features. 
• Lead the strategy and roadmap for Ascent’s API offering
• Drive the vision and requirements, translate them to functional specifications, facilitate a sound design and deliver a compelling experience for our API consumers
• Own insights on the markets and segments in which these applications compete in order to stay abreast of industry trends and channels to anticipate customer needs.
• Evaluate and prioritize requirements in partnership with the business, leveraging industry best practices and new innovations. 
• Lead product discussions with the customers and partners discovering detailed requirements
• Prioritize and manage the backlog for effective release and sprint planning. Engage regularly with the engineering team responsible for implementation and execution.
• Facilitate requirements definition across teams to decompose and document releases, epics, functional requirements to developer-ready user stories and acceptance criteria
• Work with cross-functional teams (engineering, sales, marketing, customer support and success, etc.) to deliver the product meeting delivery and quality KPIs.
• Collaborate with marketing in development and execution of the product marketing strategy

Skills:

• Vision for designing products around outcomes, not features.
• Ability to transition across big picture strategy development and hands on execution management
• Advanced written and verbal communication skills, and collaborative approach to problem-solving and execution.
• Proven ability to lead and influence cross functional teams through discussions, retros and workshops
• Strong sense of design and empathy for the users
• Knowledge of customer support processes, tools, and technologies including  JIRA, Confluence, Service Desk, and/or any SCM systems

Experience:

• Minimum of 3-5 years’ technical experience in product management; demonstrated commercial success with emphasis on product development and execution.
• Experience with complex / technical business systems and an ability to strategically analyze how pieces of data impact a customer experience.
• Experience with API or data product management is strongly preferred.
• Understanding of the Financial Services industry as it relates to Compliance, Risk and/or Legal is a plus
• Experience with artificial intelligence and machine learning is a plus.

Benefits

Ascent employees enjoy many benefits and perks, including:

• Competitive compensation
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance; premiums paid 95% for the individual 
• Medical premiums paid 50% for covered dependents
• Medical HSA/FSAs
• Life insurance 
• 401K 
• Disability benefits
• Commuter benefits
• Dependent Care FSA 
• Flexible PTO
• Professional development stipend
• Charitable matching gift program
• The opportunity to work with smart people on challenging problems!

Who We Are

Ascent is a Chicago-based startup that closed its Series B funding round of $19.3M in Fall 2019. Founded only four years ago, the team has since grown to over 50 full time employees, led and supported by an executive team and board of directors with extensive experience in technology, regulatory compliance, sales and business operations. Ascent serves global financial institutions such as ING and CommBank, and is also working directly with regulators around the world in order to continually improve and advance our product.

A first mover in building proprietary RegulationAI™, Ascent delivers market leading regulatory knowledge as a groundbreaking new way for financial firms to manage compliance. It is our mission to help our customers protect their business from regulatory and reputational risk while reducing their overall cost to comply. 

We prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion and believe strongly that a team with different backgrounds and perspectives produces better results. Together, we are solving a $64 billion global problem in regulatory compliance. Watch this video to learn more about what we do.

Ascent is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.