Product Manager - Customer Centricity

Louis Dreyfus Company is a leading merchant and processor of agricultural goods. Our activities span the entire value chain from farm to fork, across a broad range of business lines, we leverage our global reach and extensive asset network to serve our customers and consumers around the world. Structured as a matrix organization of six geographical regions and ten platforms, Louis Dreyfus Company is active in over 100 countries and employs approximately 17,000 people globally.

Overall Purpose and Objective of Position

In this role, you are the owner of the DT&A Solution for Customer Centricity. A solution is defined as the collection of DT&A Applications which covers business operations within one or more functional areas of the company. The Customer Centricity Solution focuses primarily on applications which enhance our understanding of, and relationship with, our third-party customers.  Due to the interconnected nature of the company’s business and supporting DT&A applications, the solution you will be in charge of will require frequent collaboration with other solution managers and teams within the global DT&A organization. Additionally, you will work very closely with the company’s business teams and key stakeholders. Your role will include significant elements of project management, business analysis, and application implementation management. To be a successful solution manager, you will develop considerable business expertise within your solution area, in order to be able to work hand in hand with functional management and key users.

You are responsible for your solution’s delivery road map, enhancement pipeline, and continuous improvement efforts. Importantly, the solution roadmap should be fully aligned with business needs, requiring frequent interaction with functional key users to assess and review business priorities. A strong ability to collaborate with internal users and external customers to understand what creates value for the company’s customer base is an important factor to success in this role. A key responsibility of your role is to own the end-to-end customer experience of the company’s customer service-oriented applications, ensuring a high-quality user experience with the company’s applications, both for new functionality and product support for ongoing use of the applications.

For Build activities, you will have responsibility for the forward planning of enhancement and project strategies, priorities, and other initiatives, and for developing a communication plan to provide visibility on progress to all stakeholders. This will include acting as project manager for enhancement and expansion projects for your relevant applications, as well as assuming business analysis and implementation roles, as needed. Project-related efforts may be undertaken in close collaboration with global application and development teams to jointly deliver projects within the North America region.

On a project basis, you manage the relevant activities of business analysts and functional users assigned to the project, and ensure that comprehensive requirements are developed according the relevant project management methodology. You will frequently engage actively in business analysis tasks for your projects, often serving as a source of guidance and supplement to assigned business analysts when needed.

For Run activities, you will collaborate with the Application Support Manager to ensure that day to day support (Level 1 and 2) are handled in a transparent and timely manner, with appropriate Service Level Agreements (SLAs) defined between DT&A and business teams. You will have responsibility to act as a Level 3 support escalation point for subject matter expertise or when the solution needs to be modified to ensure continuity. You own overall incident and problem management for your Solution and ensure that the support structure is effective for your applications.

Primary Responsibilities/Essential Functions

• Impeccable end-to-end management of your solution(s), covering strategy and planning through to support.
• Creation and communication of overall vision and short- and medium-term regional strategy for your solution applications
• Manage internal functional and DT&A resources to effectively execute your solution strategy
• Manage and coordinate the analysis/design and implementation of solution applications and related projects
• Manage project and release scope, develop project plans & deliverables, detailed work plans, schedules, resource plans and status reports
• Collaborates and effectively leads cross-functional teams in developing project objectives and requirements
• Strong focus on customer centricity, usability, and the needs of the customer in application design and support
• Provide progress reports to management and participate in decision-making process within the DT&A organization to guide your solution strategy
• Work with DT&A support team to coordinate the resolution of software issues and handle escalated service issues to maintain smooth ongoing operations of solution applications
• Serve as an authority on functional and technical issues in designated applications and business areas relevant to your solution
• Apply your experience and vision to define innovative solutions while simplifying and optimizing processes and operations
• Identify risks and road blocks to the successful completion of the project and work with DT&A and Business Management to resolve
• Effectively manage, and directly perform when necessary, business analysis tasks required for projects and other activities for your solution applications.

Company Conformance Statements

In the performance of their respective tasks and duties all employees are expected to conform to the following:

• Perform quality work within deadlines with or without direct supervision.
• Interact professionally with co-workers, Company business associates and the general public.
• Work together in a cooperative spirit to serve the best interests of the Company.
• Operate in a fully responsible manner and comply with the law and Company policy.

Education/Professional Certifications/Licenses

Basic qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher, from an accredited 4-year college or university.

Experience

Basic qualifications:

• 5+ years of strong technical, operational, or management experience
• Experience in participating in cross functional team in a matrix organization
• Experience establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with other business organizations and diverse groups of people
• Experience with functional and technical aspects of major enterprise business systems and related technologies

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities (including any physical demands)

Basic qualifications:

• Thorough understanding of planning, analysis, implementation, and testing techniques required to support medium-scale business operations systems on a project basis
• Strong working knowledge/ experience in functional business areas, such as finance, accounting, information technology or business operations
• Ability to act in a consultative role to understand functional business processes and related information technology needs and to develop relevant solutions and delivery proposals
• Ability to effectively manage multiple assignments and priorities concurrently
• Demonstrated history of applying varied approaches to solve complex business support challenges of significance to the organization
• Advanced knowledge of standard business tools such as MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, etc.), Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills

Preferred qualifications:

• Ability to express oneself clearly and concisely both verbally and in writing using the English language.
• Able to work autonomously and with excellent time management skills
• Ability to work with others in a team environment is required
• Proficiency with the following skill areas: budget management, project management, business process analysis

Equipment Used

• Typical office equipment: PC, telephone, fax machine, copier, calculator

Working Conditions

•     Climate-controlled office environment, with exposure to fast-paced trading floor.

•     Extensions of regular working hours are occasionally necessary to complete time-sensitive projects, attend training or to respond to emergencies.

Employee Supervision

• One direct report, and must manage indirect DT&A team and Functional team resources on a project basis.

Decision Making/Accountability

• Must interact with Business Process Owners, Functional Heads, and various teams on a global basis
• To be the owner A to Z of a solution without having control over all of the resources.
• Problem solving is a core competency of this position. Problems faced will be varied, and include but are not limited to: adapting application functionality to changing business processes, finding solutions to technical limitations, overcoming resource and financial constraints on managed projects, setting and adapting solution strategy in context of regional and global business priorities, coordination limited DT&A resources across projects and solutions, and investigating functionality or performance issues with solution applications to ensure a high level of service to the business.
• Strategy will be set within the employees’ solution area, and for his or her relevant applications.  While the Solution Manager will have ownership of this, there are always many considerations and impacting events which must be taken in account given the complex nature of the company’s business operations and the interconnected nature of applications and processes.
• The Solution Manager must be able to think creatively and approach problems from a variety of different viewpoints in order to achieve an effective solution.

Louis Dreyfus Company provides equal employment opportunities to all without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other protected status.

What We Offer

We provide a dynamic and stimulating international environment, which will stretch and develop your abilities and channel your skills and expertise with outstanding career development opportunities in one of the largest and most solid private companies in the world.

- Comprehensive benefits program including medical, dental and vision care coverage, flexible spending account plans, employee assistance program, life insurance and disability coverage
- 401k with Company Match
- Family Friendly Benefits including childbirth and parental leave, fertility and family building benefits
- Paid Time Off (PTO) and Paid Holidays
- Hybrid work available (not applicable to all roles)

Diversity & Inclusion

LDC is driven by a set of shared values and high ethical standards, with diversity and inclusion being part of our DNA. LDC is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing a working environment that embraces and values diversity, equity and inclusion.

LDC encourages diversity, supports local communities and environmental initiatives. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply.

Equal employment opportunity (EEO)

Louis Dreyfus Company provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Sustainability

Sustainable value is at the heart of our purpose as a company.

We are passionate about creating fair and sustainable value, both for our business and for other value chain stakeholders: our people, our business partners, the communities we touch and the environment around us