Product Manager: Data & Innovation

The City of San Rafael is seeking a Product Manager to lead the Citywide Data and Insights program and help advance City Council priorities through data- and technology-enabled services. The role oversees GIS operations, partners with the Digital Service team, and guides the delivery of software and hardware products across the organization.

Role scope

This position manages product vision, roadmap execution, and service design for technology-enabled offerings. You will run discovery and validation activities with users, translate research into measurable outcomes, and support cross-functional delivery while embedding human-centered design principles and equity considerations into product development.

Key responsibilities

• Assist with the development of strategic plans for areas of responsibility and address City-wide policy and management issues.
• Define and manage the vision and roadmap for one or more City software and hardware products.
• Clarify which problems products solve and for whom; build services with an equity lens and help ensure City products work for all members of the public, including people who may have experience gaps.
• Run user research sprints and usability testing workshops, then analyze results into site and product analytics.
• Manage day-to-day and sprint-to-sprint execution of the product roadmap, including priority management, backlog grooming, and tracking task completion.
• Develop success metrics by defining what success looks like, creating and managing metrics during development and after deployment, and aligning outcomes with service vision and business strategy.
• Document City products and processes, overseeing service journeys and end-to-end business process design using user-centered design.
• Ensure qualitative and quantitative research inform product decisions, beyond opinion.
• Embed human-centered design into every aspect of product development.
• Build stakeholder relationships at every level, collaborate on resourcing with design and development teams, support Agile understanding across departments, and lead cross-functional collaboration to prototype and define end-to-end product experience.
• Work with service designers to create functional prototypes that demonstrate design or architecture options.
• Establish best practices and standards for front-end testing and support organizational adoption.

Qualifications

• Equivalent to graduation from an accredited college or university with a degree in computer science, information systems, information technology, public policy, business, public administration, or a closely related field.
• Three years of experience working as a product manager for a digital product used by people today.

Upcoming projects

• CRM discovery and implementation: Improve the community experience of Citywide intake, tracking, and responsiveness to questions and service requests, integrating workflows and tools to increase service quality and satisfaction while providing insights and analysis of trends.
• Enterprise artificial intelligence adoption and adaptation: Pilot and explore useful solutions where artificial intelligence can save staff time, increase capacity, and improve trust with the community.
• Expand performance measurement program: Increase the use of performance measurement across projects, services, and operations while advancing data maturity to be more data-centered and transparent.

Core competencies

• Human-centered civic design and product management: Develop digital solutions and rapid prototypes based on user research and community feedback.
• Data strategy and product development: Evolve the City’s data strategy and governance, develop performance dashboards, and self-service analytics to empower internal staff and external stakeholders.
• Responsible Public Sector AI governance: Implement automation and AI tools responsibly by aligning innovation with policy, privacy, and risk-mitigation standards.

Compensation and location

Location: San Rafael, CA (onsite).
Salary: USD 144,144 to 175,200 per year.

Application deadline

Apply by Sunday, December 6, 2026, at 5:00 p.m.

Interview schedule

• Week of December 14: Panel interview - in person
• Week of December 14: Finalist interviews - in person

Please check back for date updates.

Benefits

• Medical: City group health coverage, with the City paying a fixed dollar amount toward the cost of the monthly insurance premium.
• Dental and vision: Premium fully paid for employee plus eligible dependents.
• Vacation leave: 15 days annually; increases after 5 years of service.
• Sick leave: 12 days annually.
• Administrative leave: 10 days each calendar year, prorated if hired after the first of the year.
• Holidays: 12 paid City holidays plus 1 floating holiday per year.
• Bereavement leave: Up to 5 days paid leave.
• End of life care leave: Up to 80 hours paid leave.
• Paid parental leave (if eligible): Up to 300 hours paid leave.
• Life insurance & AD&D: $300,000.
• Long term disability: 66.67% of salary, up to $7,500 per month.
• Retirement: Enrollment in the Marin County Retirement System (MCERA) pension plan (defined benefit retirement program).
• Deferred compensation: City will contribute one percent (1.06%) of base pay into a City-provided deferred compensation plan.
• Gym membership reimbursement: Up to $198 per year.
• Bilingual pay (if eligible): Up to $250 per month.
• Computer loan program (if eligible): Up to $1,500 for the purchase of computer hardware.

How to apply and contacts

• Recruitment contact: [email protected]
• Job announcement URL: https://canva.link/faz929du945k7cu
• Job description URL: https://www.cityofsanrafael.org/documents/product-manager/
• Job video link URL: https://canva.link/faz929du945k7cu

Special instructions

It is recommended to plan your schedule accordingly. Questions can be directed to [email protected].