The Opportunity

Are you ready to take on an exciting new challenge as the Director of Product Strategy at Great Clips? You will have the chance to shape the vision and strategy of powerful business applications that provide outstanding customer experiences, increase company productivity, and support franchisees in the growing of their businesses. With your proven ability to work with all levels of an organization, you'll lead our product management discipline and provide critical insights to other business teams. With competitive salary, health benefits, wellness programs, and a focus on your development, Great Clips offers a GREAT culture that values kindness, teamwork, and making it fun. Join us on our journey to deliver powerful and enduring brand through technology.

Your Mission

On your journey, you will face challenges like:

• Leading the Product Strategy department which involves strategically planning and managing operations to meet business objectives. This includes crafting and implementing the vision and roadmap for technical products, structuring the department to support business needs, setting goals and objectives, and overseeing the control of current and proposed systems and processes.
• Guiding our product management strategy, you'll shape how we leverage product management to meet business objectives. Tasked with training and mentoring product owners, you'll equip them to innovate and excel. Your leadership will forge an agile, knowledgeable product management team poised to navigate a dynamic market.
• Driving new technology initiatives by developing business strategies, coordinating cross-functional teams, managing vendors, and leading projects. Additionally, you will embody the role of product owner for specific high-stakes products.
• Launching technology initiatives across the system, setting and upholding standards for how technology solutions are implemented. This includes ensuring these solutions are secure, rigorously tested, and align with our company's strategic objectives. You will manage timelines and budgets, swiftly resolving any issues that arise, and take charge of communicating these changes effectively within our organization and to the market, facilitating smooth adoption and successful integration.
• Directing solutions: Ensuring a seamless fusion of platforms and solutions that resonate with our company's strategic ambitions. Your expertise will guide the direction or offer sage advice on solutions that not only fit our technical ecosystem but also embody our technology vision. Armed with creative problem-solving prowess, you'll devise innovative solutions tailored to meet our business needs, bridging gaps and fostering an environment of collaboration and forward-thinking.
• Crafting and executing strategies for tracking and addressing product issues, ensuring a seamless feedback loop between products and their performance. You will also develop and maintain effective communication channels to keep stakeholders informed about product issues, progress, and resolutions, fostering transparency and trust across the organization. Your strategic approach will not only mitigate risks but also enhance product reliability and stakeholder satisfaction.
• Overseeing critical vendor partnerships, guaranteeing that vendors meet Great Clips' high standards. This role involves establishing both short-term and long-term objectives with vendors, ensuring accountability for outcomes within the scope of contractual agreements. Actively fosters strategic relationships with vendors to align them with our organizational goals and enhance support for project implementations.
• Vision casting and igniting belief, excitement, and commitment among stakeholders and franchisees. Leading stakeholder committees, you'll directly solicit feedback, using these insights to refine and enhance our product strategies. Your responsibilities will also extend to building robust, positive relationships with our franchisees, becoming a trusted partner. With your public speaking skills, you'll effectively communicate visions, updates, and successes, captivating and rallying our internal and external audiences around our shared future.

Your Expertise

To secure this position, you must demonstrate your leadership prowess within the product management domain, showcasing a track record of:

• A bachelor’s degree in computer science, Information Technology, Business or related field.
• Ability to develop strategic direction and plans, and then execute these plans through being willing and able to delve into the details.
• Proficient in interpreting data architecture diagrams to accurately document requirements and ensure data goals are met.
• Highly adaptable, with the ability to manage multiple tasks, respond to interruptions, and adjust to changing priorities seamlessly.
• Exceptional oral and written communication skills, capable of effectively engaging with a diverse range of stakeholders, from salon employees to franchisees and third-party vendors.
• Possesses strong leadership skills, with the capacity to both oversee and provide guidance on multiple projects while managing workloads effectively. This includes demonstrating creativity, fostering team collaboration, solving problems efficiently, and employing effective negotiation techniques.
• Skilled in building robust business relationships, assessing customer needs, fostering interdepartmental collaboration, and maintaining positive internal team dynamics.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in direct and/or indirect management of employees, contractors and vendors.
• Prior experience in the retail sector, particularly with franchisee organizations, is preferred.
• Adept at strategic thinking and crafting comprehensive technology solutions, with the capability to devise strategies for business initiatives and design overarching technological frameworks.
• A creative and passionate technologist, adept at leveraging the evolving tech landscape to innovate.

Your Work Environment

This is a hybrid position requiring in-office workdays twice weekly, including every Wednesday and another day of your choice (Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday). The remainder of the week can be worked remotely with reliable, secure internet. 

Travel Requirements: 20%

Living the Values

We Are Kind

• Treat others the way you would like to be treated. Be humble, act honorably, and express gratitude. Respect and value everyone’s role in our company’s success.

We Exceed Expectations

• Innovate; be curious about what’s possible. Be adaptable and eager to respond to challenges. Collaborate and work together to achieve our goals. Strive for greatness and inspire others by your example. Be proactive. Seek continuous improvement.

We Focus on Execution

• Make decisions with the belief it can be executed in 6,000 salons. Focus on impact of key brand measures. Prioritize on ability to execute quickly.

We Keep it Simple

• Set clear expectations. Make things easy to understand and execute. Stay focused on what’s most important.

We Listen and Earn Trust

• Be respectfully honest; react thoughtfully. Respond quickly – 24 hours or less, and remember that personal contact is always best. Be transparent through open communication and candid conversation. Be willing to admit mistakes and fix them. Listen generously: Seek to understand other’s perspectives. Act with integrity. Always. Even when no one will know.

We Make it Fun

• Smile! Find opportunities to laugh. Celebrate accomplishments and recognize the contributions of others. Approach people and situations with a positive attitude. Build a sense of community where everyone enjoys coming to work every day.

What We Offer

We offer a competitive salary, health benefits, wellness programs, a company-matching 401K and tuition assistance but some perks that set us apart are:

A focus on your development. We want to know what your dreams and aspirations are and hope to find ways of Great Clips helping you along in your journey. Your personalized development plan will create a path for your growth and promotion potential.

A GREAT culture. One the most frequent compliments you will hear about Great Clips from employees, franchisees and business partners alike is that Great Clips has a GREAT culture. Our belief is that we are strongest together and therefore find it important to have an inclusive, diverse work culture. Though we embrace our differences, we all share in our 6 core values; we are kind, we listen and earn trust, we keep it simple, we focus on execution, we exceed expectations and WE MAKE IT FUN.

A spirit of ideas and innovation. Here at Great Clips, we have a competitive lead within our industry. Though we hold a strong position, we never stop pushing ourselves forward and continue to look for new ways of delivering a powerful and enduring brand.

About Great Clips

With more than 4,000 franchised salons throughout the United States and Canada, Great Clips is the world’s largest haircutting salon brand. Our salon owners and corporate staff are dedicated to our salon communities with a focus on philanthropic and volunteer activities. Great Clips, Inc. employees are passionate about what we do and our technology team geeks out in finding ways to use technology to make what we do even better.