Director - Data Platform Product Management

Title: Director – Data Platform Product Management
 

When BlackRock started in 1988, its founders envisioned a company that combined the best of financial services with innovative technology. They imagined a business that would provide financial services to clients as well as technology services to other financial firms. The result of their vision is Aladdin, our industry leading, end-to-end investment management platform. With assets valued over USD $10 trillion managed on Aladdin by BlackRock alone, and over 150 other investment managers and asset owners using Aladdin, our technology empowers millions of investors to save for retirement, pay for college, buy a home and improve their financial wellbeing.

About Aladdin Data (AD)
 

Data is at the heart of Aladdin and increasingly the ability to acquire, store, analyse and gain insight from data has become a key component of what differentiates us. The Aladdin Data (AD) team is responsible for the data ecosystem within BlackRock. Our goal is to build and maintain a powerful Enterprise Data Platform (EDP) that provides highly available, consistent data of the highest quality for all users of the platform, notably investors, operations teams and data analysts internally and at investment management firms around the world.

EDP supports four outcomes that, together, enable BlackRock’s data strategy:

Provide high quality, reliable data and services to power the core investment processes for Aladdin clients Enable Aladdin clients to reduce operational overhead and improve client service by offering Aladdin data through a commercial data warehouse, Aladdin Data Cloud (ADC) Supply high quality, well-governed data for use by AI agents and teams building them Allow non-Aladdin BlackRock teams to focus on value generation, by providing a general-purpose data platform as a service

Members of the AD team get to experience working at one of the most recognized financial companies in the world while being part of the team designing and building a next generation Enterprise Data platform to automate data acquisition, ingestion, transformation, and distribution processes, and to support enterprise-wide data processing. Our product managers and engineers design and build data systems to solve some of the most complex technical and business data management problems in the industry, and they partner with data and analytics experts to deliver high quality analytical and derived data to our internal and external customers.

About this role
 

We are looking for a Director of Product to lead the product team responsible for defining the vision, strategy, and design, and for driving delivery of EDP’s Data Plane: the core set of capabilities that power data ingestion, processing, transformation, storage, and distribution across the firm.
 

In this role, will help build the platform to support internal data flows, and to open up data and platform monetization opportunities externally. You will partner closely with our engineering teams to build a scalable, high-performance platform that supports structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. Further, you will ensure tight integration with EDP’s Management Plane, which delivers EDP’s metadata, controls, and service management components.

Responsibilities:

• Strategic Vision: Balance technical feasibility, business impact, and the diverse requirements of EDP’s customers. Establish and articulate a clear strategic roadmap for EDP’s Data Plane, aligned to the business outcomes of the key customers and to EDP’s technical architecture.
• Product Management: Lead the end-to-end product lifecycle from ideation to delivery, ensuring the timely and successful release of features and enhancements. Partner with team members to develop data capabilities that enable the commercialization and monetization of proprietary data and other premium content.
• Engagement: Collaborate closely with internal and external customers and partners - including adopting teams, engineering teams, and business analysts - to gather requirements and to scope and prioritize the build work.
• Market Analysis: Stay abreast of industry trends, market offerings, and customer feedback to inform product decisions and maintain our competitive edge.
• User Experience: Champion a user-centric, low-friction approach to the platform user experience, focusing on usability, intuitiveness, and overall user satisfaction.
• Adoption and Evangelism: Promote adoption of EDP across the organization, providing training, documentation, and support as needed. Act as a vocal advocate for the product both internally and externally.
• Performance Monitoring: Establish key performance indicators and metrics to track EDP’s success and effectiveness, iterating based on insights and feedback.
• Product Team Development: Mentor and grow the next generation of BlackRock product managers, helping to mature the team’s operating model and working practices

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Business Administration, or related field; advanced degree preferred.
• Minimum of 8 years of experience, with at least 5 years focused on data platforms or related domains.
• Experience leading and developing globally distributed product management teams.
• Proven track record of successfully leading product initiatives within complex enterprise environments.
• Experience leading the definition and development of commercial products and go-to-market strategies.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to acquire and translate data-driven insights into actionable product strategies.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to effectively engage and influence both technical and business stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Experience working with global cross-functional teams in a scaled agile development environment.
• Experience using industry standard product management tools and technologies, e.g. Aha, Miro, Visio, Microsoft ADO, PowerPoint.

BlackRock is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to age, disability, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation and other protected characteristics at law. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.