Head of Product - Catalyst

Who are we?

IOHK, is a technology company focused on Blockchain research and development. We are renowned for our scientific approach to blockchain development, emphasizing peer-reviewed research and formal methods to ensure security, scalability, and sustainability. Our projects include decentralized finance (DeFi), governance, and identity management, aiming to advance the capabilities and adoption of blockchain technology globally.

We invest in the unknown, applying our curiosity and desire for positive change to everything we do. By fueling creativity, innovation, and progress within our teams, our products and services are designed for people to be fearless, to be changemakers.

About Catalyst:

IOG’s Catalyst Tribe is a pioneering innovation platform for the Cardano blockchain ecosystem. It enables decentralized communities to propose, evaluate, and fund projects, fostering innovation through efficient grant allocation, verifiable decision-making, and voter privacy. With core products including Catalyst Voting application and upcoming advances for idea incubation, and distributed decision-making, Catalyst solves critical challenges in ecosystem growth hacking and decentralized governance while exploring network effect-led monetization opportunities.

What the role involves:

As Head of Product at Project Catalyst you oversee an expansive governance for ecosystem innovation product line from end to end, from inception and ideation through to implementation and release. You will manage a Product team of skilled managers, designers, and production operatives to carry out the vision. You report into the General Manager with regular milestone updates and progress on strategic objectives. You are tasked to develop a strategy around Catalyst’s role in your respective vertical, rationalize and elaborate a strong offering by capitalizing on existing products and on emerging opportunities.

Global Product Strategy & Management 

• Collaborate with GM to drive Catalyst’s strategy, global product vision and realize business goals. 
• Manage product lifecycle from strategic planning to tactical activities. Oversee product roadmaps for Catalyst products based on market research and collaboration with internal and external groups and stakeholders
• Engage new pipeline prospects through customer and partnership development activities.
• Execute roadmap strategies and bringing valuable, highly differentiated and elegantly designed capabilities to market
• Working in an Agile Product Development process creating well thought-out and consumable user stories

Customer Support 

• Work with customers and partners to ensure that their needs are addressed in the roadmap and that they are kept apprised of new releases and updates
• Conduct market research, surveys and customer/prospect visits to understand and specify requirements for target markets
• Work with prospects to define new products and quantify opportunity size 

Marketing, product marketing, PR and business intelligence  

• Work with marketing, design and communications to understand industry and ecosystem needs in order to develop a product roadmap. Ensure successful launch and positioning of our offerings
• Analyze competitive offering in our market of voting systems, ecosystem incentivization, community governance, and funding mechanisms
• Collaborate with marketing and communications teams to explain how changes will impact the user community and support development of collateral and communications to the wider market
• Develop a detailed understanding of new developments / trends in the product landscape to drive  product excellence.
• Attend and present at relevant conferences as required.
  

Cross-discipline collaboration (Business development, Product management, Operations) 

• Managing the collection, description, analysis and prioritization of requests for new product functionality from customers, prospects, partners, sales, and market-driven forces
• Working with operations to gain awareness of potential defects and prioritizing their resolution in the product release plan and roadmap
• Working with Product Managers, Delivery, and Engineering to ensure that features are delivered in the right sequence and meet business expectations in terms of quality, function and schedule. 
• Helping product managers in defining priorities for product development
• Working with engineering and design teams to deliver a captivating, reliable, and easy to use experience with excellent UI.
• Providing support on product selection, presentations and pricing strategy.

Leadership

As Leaders it is our responsibility to motivate, develop and progress our fellow team members. As a Leader there is a need to communicate openly with all members of your team, address any issues head on and not shy away from difficult conversations.

Empowering your team to provide the best results by organizing clear processes and coordinating team efforts should be your top priority.

Please read our Leadership at IO Global document for more information on your duties and responsibilities as a leader at IOG

Who you are:

• A BS/MS in Computer Science (or equivalent)
• Product Management certification is a plus (CPM, AIPMM)
• Experience as a Product Manager or Associate Product Manager
• A background in distributed computing and experience with blockchain technologies.
• At least 1 year of business experience of blockchain or cryptocurrency ecosystem governance.
• Experience working in an Agile environment and leading highly technical engineering teams.
• Experience implementing processes to define metrics and measure the success of products that are launched.
• Experience working with software development and marketing teams,  preferably in fintech.
• Experience implementing processes to define metrics and measure the success of products that are launched.
• Experience leading highly technical engineering, design and business teams.
• Proven ability in developing productive relationships with a variety of levels and roles and managing user expectations effectively.
• Have strong leadership skills, be resourceful and use initiative
• Demonstrate competency with requirements elicitation, analysis, specification, verification, and management practices and the ability to apply them in practice.
• Develop productive relationships with a variety of levels and roles and manage user expectations effectively.
• Leverage strong interpersonal skills to drive innovation in product development with a team of world-class engineers and Scientists.
• Have exemplary people and communications skills coupled with the savvy and maturity needed to garner the respect of senior management and clients.
• Have a keen interest in Blockchain and Cryptocurrency technology developments and trends in the product landscape. 
• Engage, champion and contribute to Open Source Software communities.
• Keep up to date with the status of competitors from a technical and business perspective.
• Set clear strategic guidelines and objectives for the Product Managers under his responsibilities 
• Identify team objectives and KPIs to attain, ensure completion of objectives
• Be a single point of contact for coordination and decision making and coordinate Product Managers activities and priorities

Are you an IOGer?

Do you find yourself questioning the status quo? Do you tinker with ideas and long to turn those ideas into solutions? Are you able to spark thoughtful debates, bringing out the inquisitiveness in others? Does the promise of continuously growing excite you? Then get ready to reimagine everything you thought wasn’t possible because that’s what it means to be an IOGer - we don’t set limits, we break them. 

• Laptop reimbursement
• New starter package to buy hardware essentials (headphones, monitor, etc)
• Learning & Development opportunities
• Competitive PTO

At IOG, we value diversity and always treat all employees and job applicants based on merit, qualifications, competence, and talent. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.