Director of Digital Products

DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL PRODUCTS

We’re looking for a director of digital products to lead our small but mighty software development team, manage our agency’s product development roadmap, and participate in agency governance. Over the next year, this position will be particularly focused on ensuring the success of a critical project for our agency: redeveloping a legacy software application that is used by child welfare systems in all 50 states.

This position is an opportunity to use your technical expertise in service of a greater good: helping kids in foster care. You will work with dedicated and talented colleagues in a culture that values work-life balance, and together, we will make the world better.

ABOUT US

Northwest Resource Associates is a nonprofit child welfare agency. We envision every young person having family that nurtures their growth and potential. We work toward this vision by designing and delivering programs and technology that empower youth, strengthen families, and improve child welfare systems. More than four decades old, we are headquartered in Seattle, WA, and have offices in Alaska and Oregon as well. You can find our program work at the following websites:

• AdoptUSKids (https://adoptuskids.org)
• Alaska Center for Resource Families (https://www.acrf.org/)
• Northwest Adoption Exchange (https://www.nwae.org/)
• Oregon Post-adoption Resource Center (https://www.orparc.org/)

Equity and inclusion are priorities across all programs at Northwest Resource Associates. We are committed to valuing and celebrating staff diversity in ability, age, ethnicity, gender expression, privilege, race, religion, and sexual orientation. We prioritize equity and inclusion in our culture and our work.

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Our ideal candidate will be an empathetic and collaborative leader who can listen to and learn from all team members and colleagues. Their energy, optimism, and leadership will be matched only by their product-management expertise. They will share our commitment to building user-centered technology and communications for families and child welfare professionals.

Our ideal candidate understands the software development lifecycle, can scope and schedule projects, build roadmaps, and assemble and lead teams. We’re a small shop, so our candidate can hold the big picture, but roll up their sleeves and pitch in on tasks like diagraming business processes or project management. They are fluent in agile but can be creative in its implementation. They champion the user, always. The director of digital products won’t be expected to code, but our candidate must be able to discuss technical concepts, communicate about them to nontechnical partners, and work with their team to make wise decisions.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Leadership (10%)

As a senior leader in our agency, the director of digital products will:

• Serve on the agency leadership team, contributing to policies and practices, strategic plans, cross-program initiatives, and business development activities.
• Champion equity and inclusion.
• Equitably recruit, interview, select, and retain talented staff.
• Serve as the manager for members of the digital products team, ensuring they are supported, have balanced workloads, and continue to develop professionally.
• Model professionalism and uphold our agency policies and values.

Agency product management (10%)

We are in the process of centralizing digital product development within our agency and are looking for the director of digital products to:

• Further establish digital product governance – the way we identify, prioritize, and accomplish the work of digital product development across our programs and their websites and applications.
• Scope, resource, and schedule projects. You’ll assemble teams from in-house resources as well as our roster of regular contractors.

Manage the AdoptUSKids systems and team (80%)

AdoptUSKids is a federally funded project that supports child welfare systems across the United States. Northwest Resource Associates builds and maintains the project’s websites and applications, including the popular adoptuskids.org and the national AdoptUSKids photolisting, a web platform that connects children in foster care with families who are looking to adopt. The digital product manager will oversee the strategy, development, and maintenance of this digital system and manage the team, which includes two software engineers, a QA and technical support manager who also serves as product owner, a project manager/business analyst, and some consultants.

Over the next year, we hope to begin a year-long, $3 million modernization of the AdoptUSKids application. We are in the process of drafting an RFP for this work and will take on a technical partner. The director of digital products will be responsible for ensuring the project’s success.

Other responsibilities will include:

• Manage and continuously improve our overall strategy and existing product roadmap.
• Facilitating agile team meetings and decision-making about individual projects as well as overall team processes and priorities.
• Manage the project budget—normally about $1.2 million per year.
• Represent the team and our agency on the core leadership team of the AdoptUSKids collaboration, a coalition of six nonprofit organizations partnering with the US Children’s Bureau.

QUALIFICATIONS

Minimum qualifications

• At least five years of experience working as part of a software or website development team.
• BA or equivalent.
• Three years of experience being a collaborative leader invested in your team’s success.
• Experience in product management.
• Strong project management skills, including experience with Agile project management and tools.
• Experience scoping and budgeting for software development projects.
• Ability to discuss technical concepts.
• Knowledge of best-practices in software and website design, development, user experience, and accessibility.
• Track record of championing the user.
• Supervisory experience.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated commitment to racial equity practices and ongoing learning.
• Commitment to continuous improvement and innovation.

Bonus skills and experience

• Experience working with .NET or similar frameworks or WordPress.
• Knowledge of ISO 270001 or other information security frameworks.
• Familiarity with Jira.
• Experience managing a budget.
• Experience hiring and managing contractors.
• Professional or lived experience in child welfare.
• Experience working in the government or nonprofit sectors.
• Experience in grant writing and business development.

LOCATION, SALARY AND BENEFITS

LOCATION

Puget Sound. We use a hybrid work model. The director will be expected to work in the downtown Seattle office at least one day per week.

SALARY AND BENEFITS

This is a full-time, exempt position with a salary range of $115,000 to $140,000.

We offer flexible work schedules, 3.5 to 6 weeks of paid vacation per year, 15 to 16 paid, holidays per year, paid sick leave, a generous family leave policy, a retirement plan contribution, optional 403b plan, medical and dental insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and commuter benefits.

HOW TO APPLY

Submit a brief cover letter describing why you might be a fit for the position and your resume via our AirTable form: https://airtable.com/appJa7Tzmj8eJ4ehT/pag0jWmgM2Ll3VH5k/form.

We will accept applications until the position is filled, but we will prioritize applications that come in on or before March 19. After March 19, we will prioritize applications that come in by March 26, April 2, and so on.

We offer flexible work schedules, 3.5 to 6 weeks of paid vacation per year, 15 to 16 paid, holidays per year, paid sick leave, a generous family leave policy, a retirement plan contribution, optional 403b plan, medical and dental insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, and commuter benefits.