Major League Baseball is on a multi-year mission to reimagine the fan journey and bring innovation to the baseball experience. The MLB Ballpark app and ticketing products are the primary touch points for converging the physical and digital worlds for fans, providing deeper interactions when planning or attending live games at the ballpark and creating lifelong memories.
The Product Operations Manager role within the MLB Ballpark Experience and Ticketing Product organization will be responsible for operationally delivering "phygital" experiences (i.e., those combining physical and digital elements) that will enhance the fan's experience getting into the ballpark, while at the game, and leaving the stadium. This role will be a key member of the MLB Product team to activate key elements of the fan's ballpark experience related to attending games. You will be responsible for operationalizing the "Phygital Experiences" roadmap, working with Product Owners and Product Designers, Software Engineers, as well as cross-functional internal MLB and Club stakeholders, to see initiatives through from ideation and development, to pilot, to scaled deployment across MLB ballparks and related locations.
By way of example, you will be involved with the activation of several innovative technologies, including but not limited to the Ballpark Wallet, the league-wide centralized payment method that allows fans to quickly and easily pay for tickets and other experiences through the Ballpark app while at the stadium and the evolution of MLB Go-Ahead Entry, the stadium ingress solution that combines free-flow security screening with facial authentication-based access control, resulting in a fast, hands-free, eyes-up entry into the ballpark for fans.
With a focus on venue activations, the Product Operations Manager will participate in the creation of and lead the coordination and execution of tasks in the go-to-market ("GTM") strategy, often with hands-on involvement at the stadium. The ability to travel is required to be an in-person subject matter expert to both identify and execute deployments to ensure success. You will be required to handle all aspects of logistics for individual GTM strategies in partnership with Clubs in their respective MLB markets. You will also be a key stakeholder for future Phygital Experiences.
Additionally, the Product Operations Manager will be responsible for communication regarding progress to both internal and external stakeholders, prioritizing process and project management of all tasks and exploring continuous measurement opportunities for experience success. This role will actively work with program leads to decisively propose and activate adjustments for any GTM and fan education strategy based on hands-on experience and previous results and feedback, ensuring solutions deliver value to baseball fans.
The ideal Product Operations Manager has operationally delivered consumer-facing products and features and is obsessed with delighting fans. They will be forward-thinking in how to identify problems and associated risk mitigation tactics, suggest and implement improvements, and effectively iterate on processes to create a streamlined and efficient activation plan to move ideas into action. The ideal candidate is highly organized, detail-oriented, creative, pragmatic, and able to corral many different requirements to craft an inspiring yet feasible product launch plan. The successful candidate will operate effectively in a cross-functional partnership with the MLB User Experience Design, Product, Marketing, Engineering, Stadium Operations, and Security teams to bring business decisions to life.
This role requires an estimated 30%-40% travel to serve as an in-person subject matter expert at various venues.
Responsibilities
- Partner with Digital Product and Technology teams to operationalize the "Phygital Experiences" roadmap, managing operational projects and explorations from initial concepts through GTM, carrying initial conceptual work through to a shipped product that scales across multiple venues
- Provide hands-on support for operational tasks in-market to support seamless and effective product launches
- Manage all project management tasks associated with operational logistics for a program launch in-market
- Advocate direction and business needs cross-functional team members for successful fan-centric execution based on hands-on experience
- Develop relationships with other departments to ensure cross-functional alignment on features, design, development, testing, and deployments to orchestrate phygital product activations and GTM effectiveness. Includes both internal and external tech partners (e.g., Software Engineering, UX, Customer Support, Marketing, Security, Infrastructure, Operations, etc.) and business stakeholders (e.g., Clubs, vendors) on feature scope, delivery, and execution.
- Participate in the evaluation and exploration of innovative products and partnerships that will keep baseball on the leading edge of the technology experience for decades to come
Qualifications & Skills
- 3+ years in a technology-related field delivering projects of the highest quality and with measurable impact to end users and the business
- 5+ years of notable experience in operational roles, with a proven track record of operationalizing large-scale events, complex projects, or consumer-facing service roll-outs
- Possess a strong ownership mindset and maintain excellent project management skills in driving complex and multifaceted initiatives to the finish line
- Detail-oriented and a solution-based thinker with demonstrated success in managing large-scale, multi-vendor projects with complex approval and quality assurance processes
- Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills
- Must be able to work independently and have strong working relationships with relevant stakeholders
- Ability to understand new technologies quickly
- A passion and experience with using metrics/analytics to deliver on business objectives
- Previous Access Control/Ticketing/Stadium Operations experience within Theme Park or Sports Industries is a plus
- Previous experience with hardware & physical rollouts is a plus
- Ability to make quick strategic decisions, prioritizing and executing on goals
Salary Range: $100,000 - $130,000 (Base Salary) + Bonus
As a candidate for this position, your salary and related aspects of compensation will be contingent upon your work experience, education, skills, and any other factors MLB considers relevant to the hiring decision. In addition to your salary, MLB believes in providing a competitive compensation and benefits package for its employees.
Top MLB Perks & Benefits
- Competitive Benefits Package
- Company 401K Contribution
- Paid Time Off and Holidays
- Paid Parental Leave
- Access to Free Tickets to Baseball Games & MLB.TV
- Discounts at MLB Store | MLBShop.com
- Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)
- Onsite/Online Training & Development Programs
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Disability Benefits (short term and long term)
- Life and Accidental Death Insurance
- Pet Insurance
Why MLB?
Major League Baseball (MLB) is the most historic of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. Employees love working at MLB because of the culture of growth, teamwork, and professionalism. Employees who are most successful at MLB take initiative, know how to identify problems and provide solutions, and always put the Team first. For those ready to step up to the plate and join the major leagues, MLB takes the same approach as teams do with their players: empowering our "workforce athletes" to be at their best by engineering experiences that put employees in the best position to succeed. Major League Baseball is looking for candidates who are passionate about growing America's pastime to best serve its fans for decades to come.
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