Product Manager (Contractor) at Applaudo

You are a technically fluent, execution-oriented Product Manager who thrives at the intersection of product, engineering, and data. You communicate clearly, operate independently, and bring structure to ambiguous environments without losing sight of the end user. You are comfortable owning a product backlog end-to-end, writing stories, driving ceremonies, validating outputs, and communicating progress to a consulting-grade stakeholder group where precision and proactivity are non-negotiable. You connect distributed teams, surface risks early, and keep delivery moving. Additionally, you actively leverage AI tools as part of your daily workflow. Note: This position is offered under a contractor model for a period of 6 months.

You Bring to Applaudo the Following Competencies:

• Strong Agile/Scrum fluency, including backlog ownership, sprint ceremonies, user story writing, and acceptance criteria definition.
• Ability to manage the end-to-end Product Development Lifecycle (PDLC): from ideation through design, build, release, and post-deployment monitoring.
• Proven track record of translating user and business needs into structured requirements for data and analytics features.
• Proactive risk identification and dependency tracking across concurrent initiatives.
• Hands-on SQL skills, actively querying and validating data as part of your daily workflow.
• Python proficiency to read scripts and understand model outputs.
• Comfort with understanding data flow through a system: ingestion, normalization, analytics engine, front-end surface.
• Familiarity with Jira or Azure DevOps for backlog and sprint management.
• Advanced English, both written and verbal, as you will be the connective point across distributed teams and a high-expectation consulting audience.
• Comfortable presenting updates, risks, and priorities to senior stakeholders with clarity and confidence.
• Experience coordinating across distributed international teams with time-zone overlap (e.g., India-UK or equivalent).
• Active user of AI-assisted tools: Cursor, Claude Code, MCP, or similar.
• Comfortable with GenAI-based prototyping to quickly explore and validate ideas.
• Familiarity with Databricks, Snowflake, or SQL Server (a plus).

You Will Be Accountable for the Following Responsibilities:

• Own and maintain a well-groomed backlog, including detailed user stories, acceptance criteria, and prioritization aligned with business and engineering needs.
• Facilitate all core Scrum ceremonies and drive team alignment across distributed teams.
• Validate features and data outputs with real client data, including during live deployments.
• Act as the primary product point of contact for the development team and senior Product Manager, providing regular updates on progress, risks, and priorities.
• Lead release planning, documentation, release notes, and usage reporting.
• Triage bugs and enhancement requests; manage intake, prioritization, and assignment.
• Support user interviews and discovery; synthesize findings into backlog recommendations.
• Actively leverage AI tools to improve documentation quality, workflow efficiency, and delivery speed.