Associate Product Manager

Summary

Neighborly Software provides a cloud-based platform that helps communities administer and disburse government funds for housing, economic development, disaster recovery, and related programs. The Associate Product Manager will support product planning and execution by scoping requirements, writing engineering-ready tickets, maintaining the backlog, coordinating cross-functional teams, analyzing customer and market information, and supporting product delivery in a SaaS environment.

Responsibilities

• Partner with other Product Managers to break down features and initiatives into clear, actionable requirements
• Coordinate cross-functional product initiatives and New Product Development activities by evaluating project status, identifying risks, and recommending solutions
• Ability to assess customer insights, customer feedback, market intelligence, and product-related issues to recommend corrective or improvement actions
• Write detailed, engineering-ready tickets and user stories in JIRA – including acceptance criteria, edge cases, and supporting context
• Translate approved designs into implementation-ready specs, flagging gaps or open questions before handoff to engineering
• Maintain and groom the backlog alongside the Senior PM: prioritize, tag, and keep tickets current as scope evolves
• Participate in sprint planning, backlog grooming, and stand-ups; help unblock engineering by answering clarifying questions quickly
• Collaborate with design, engineering, QA, and customer-facing teams to keep requirements aligned and delivery on track
• Support triage of customer-reported issues and feature requests, helping route and document them for the product team
• Market, customer, and competitive analysis: Analyze market trends, customer feedback, competitive activity, customer adoption, and sales performance to identify opportunities, risks, and recommendations that inform product and portfolio decisions
• Use AI tools (e.g., Claude) to speed up documentation, ticket drafting, and research – and help find opportunities to bring AI into the team's workflow
• Track progress against sprint and release goals, flagging risks or blockers early
• Document decisions, workflows, and product changes so the team has a clear, up-to-date record
• Ability to support departmental or organizational objectives by applying specialized skills and knowledge to specific tasks or projects with sound judgment, prioritization, and autonomy

Skills

• Bachelor's degree and 2 years of experience, or equivalent experience
• 1–2+ years of experience in product management, business analysis, or a related role
• Strong, clear written communication – able to turn a vague ask into a well-structured ticket
• Comfort working in JIRA (or a similar tool) and Confluence, or a fast willingness to learn
• Familiarity with AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT for research, drafting, and day-to-day productivity
• Detail-oriented, with a bias toward digging into the specifics of how something should actually work
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, deadline-driven delivery environment
• Curious and coachable – genuinely motivated
• Excelling in customer relationship management within product lifecycle
• Able to navigate complex situations with strategic planning skills
• SaaS environment strongly preferred
• Exposure to SaaS products or cloud-based technology platforms
• Prior experience working on a product team, understanding basics of PRDs, vibe coding, requirements gathering and familiarity with PDLC
• Basic familiarity with UX/design principles (e.g., reading and reviewing Figma files)
• Familiarity with data tools such as SQL or Excel
• Interest in government, nonprofit, or public-sector technology
• Understanding or experience with federal funding, grants management, disaster recovery, affordable housing or other programs a plus

Qualifications

Must Haves

• Bachelor's degree and 2 years of experience, or equivalent experience
• 1–2+ years of experience in product management, business analysis, or a related role
• Strong, clear written communication – able to turn a vague ask into a well-structured ticket
• Comfort working in JIRA (or a similar tool) and Confluence, or a fast willingness to learn
• Familiarity with AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT for research, drafting, and day-to-day productivity
• Detail-oriented, with a bias toward digging into the specifics of how something should actually work
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, deadline-driven delivery environment
• Curious and coachable – genuinely motivated
• Excelling in customer relationship management within product lifecycle
• Able to navigate complex situations with strategic planning skills

Nice to Haves

• SaaS environment strongly preferred
• Exposure to SaaS products or cloud-based technology platforms
• Prior experience working on a product team, understanding basics of PRDs, vibe coding, requirements gathering and familiarity with PDLC
• Basic familiarity with UX/design principles (e.g., reading and reviewing Figma files)
• Familiarity with data tools such as SQL or Excel
• Interest in government, nonprofit, or public-sector technology
• Understanding or experience with federal funding, grants management, disaster recovery, affordable housing or other programs a plus

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, Vision plan options
• Company-Paid Short-Term Disability and Life Insurance
• 401K Contributions – Generous employer match with immediate vesting
• 5 weeks of PTO
• 9 paid holidays
• 3 days of volunteer time off each year