Product Manager

Position Title: Product Manager

Department: 9037|Center for Applied AI (CAAI)

Responsibilities:

The Product Manager at the Center for Applied AI at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette leads user-driven product development and coordinates cross-functional efforts across agency partners, researchers, students, and technical teams. The Product Manager serves as the connection between end users, agency partners, and the technical and research teams responsible for developing data, analytics, and AI-enabled products.

The position translates user needs and stakeholder priorities into clear product requirements, roadmaps, and measurable outcomes, ensuring that technical capabilities are developed into practical solutions that address real-world needs. The Product Manager reports to the Director of the Center for Applied AI.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Conduct user interviews and usability research; maintain product requirements catalog and decision log
• Meet with clients to identify requirements, gather feedback, and navigate regulatory constraints
• Work with students and AI researchers to define project scope and deliverables
• Build and maintain a 3–6-month product roadmap with the director
• Meet with data, analytics, and technology teams to align priorities, track progress, resolve blockers, and manage dependencies
• Translate client requirements into technical and UI/UX requirements; coordinate with design teams
• Hold regular meetings with clients, teams, students, and researchers to review progress
• Keep stakeholders informed of project status, completed work, and upcoming priorities
• Report weekly to leadership (co-investigators) on completed work, learnings, roadmap changes, and client impact
• Manage stakeholder expectations around timelines, scope, and resource constraints
• Define and track key metrics for adoption, product health, and project progress
• Create and maintain product documentation (requirements, specs, feature briefs)
• Coordinate with the director on strategy and resource allocation

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Product Management, User Experience, Statistics, Computer Science, or related field
• 2-3 years of professional experience in product management, user research, project coordination, data analysis, or related roles
• Experience conducting user research and translating user needs into actionable product requirements
• Experience coordinating work across multiple technical and non-technical teams

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proficiency in documentation, roadmap planning, and project tracking tools
• Experience in startup, research, or early-stage product environments
• Familiarity with geographic information systems
• General familiarity with AI/ML concepts and limitations

Skills, Knowledge, Abilities, Etc.:

• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to build relationships with stakeholders and manage expectations without formal authority
• Strong analytical skills, attention to detail, and organizational skills
• Understanding of data governance, data quality, analytics, or metrics concepts
• User research and synthesis (interviews, identifying patterns, translating insights into product direction)
• Assessing systems to identify improvement opportunities for user experience
• Product roadmap development and prioritization
• Cross-functional coordination and communication with technical and non-technical teams
• Project tracking, timeline management, and milestone tracking
• Tracking and interpreting key metrics (usability, adoption, performance)
• Ability to work autonomously and influence without formal authority
• Comfortable with ambiguity, adaptable to new tools/systems, trustworthy with sensitive data

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