Job Posting:

Product Manager, Affordable Housing Navigator 

OPEN Technologies (OPEN) seeks a Product Manager to guide its new Affordable Housing Navigator product. The Affordable Housing Navigator aims to enhance the supply and the carbon performance of non-profit housing across Canada and has a strong mandate with national partners.  

As a Product Manager on a small but growing team, you will work closely with the CEO, Manager of Custom Software Solutions, and Development Team to ensure that OPEN’s products serve the company’s critical mission and business goals. Your accountability will be centred on ensuring that initial and future versions of the products offer unique value in addressing the business and mission purpose of the software.

This is envisioned as a full-time permanent role, but contract models will be considered for the right candidate.  

 

About Us

OPEN’s data and software tools help the people that shape our cities to make pro-climate decisions with confidence. For policymakers, incentive designers, capital providers, and industry participants, we translate complex datasets into actionable data to achieve energy and carbon savings from buildings.

OPEN’s suite of products and custom solutions informs energy efficiency and carbon reduction decisions across the built environment, from high performance design solutions for new homes to benchmark and retrofit options for existing towers. And everything in between. 

We are also a small but ambitious group of people aligned around an outward facing mission and a commitment to building a culture of shared exploration, curiosity, and growth.

We have a hybrid work structure where in-person days are based out of our office in Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood.  

 

Project Context: 

In 2021, OPEN Technologies became part of the CMHC Housing Supply Challenge (HSC) to develop the Affordable Housing Navigator, a tool that allows developers of non-profit housing to quickly find the right balance between construction costs, energy performance, and climate resilience in new development projects. 

Through our consultations with stakeholders (housing providers, development consultants, and capital providers), it became clear that – in addition to the new construction focus of the original scope – there was a need to expand the scope of this project to include additional functionality to track the current performance and retrofit potential of existing non-profit housing.  

OPEN is excited that CMHC has now engaged us to expand the scope of the Affordable Housing Navigator project to help affordable housing providers to:

1. assess the retrofit potential of their existing portfolio and prioritize which properties are best candidates for retrofit incentives and financing, and 
2. assess the acquisition and conversion potential of existing market housing.  

The CMHC engagement will enable OPEN to tailor our existing GRID benchmarking, disclosure, and performance analytics software tool for this use case, and integrate it into the existing Affordable Housing Navigator tool.  

We are aiming for a product launch in Q4 2023, and key elements of the go to market pathway include: 

• ongoing private beta testing of the original Affordable Housing Navigator for New Construction; 
• market and UX research plan to hone product market fit for the existing buildings offering
• enhancement of OPEN’s existing data integration and retrofit potential analysis tools
• enhancement and/or development of key back and front end technical capabilities
• go to market planning and implementation in collaboration with strategic allies in the housing sector across Canada (including, but not limited to housing providers, capital providers, development consultants, and regional housing associations).  

 

About You

Every OPEN team member has the same top line item on their role description: to be a part of making OPEN successful, its work impactful, and its work culture collegial, creative, and productive. 

As the Product Manager for a large, strategically critical initiative, your role will be multifaceted. As a strong Product Manager candidate you:

• have at least three (3) years of experience in an early stage product role, with some leadership experience in bringing new technical products to market – ideally in an enterprise software context – and/or experience in managing an existing product through its early launch and development.
• have grounding in key methodologies and practices in user research, user experience design, and software production; working with the technical and design teams, you will play a key role in understanding market and user insights and helping to translate those into valuable functional offerings
• are an effective and empathetic people person, skilled and insightful in understanding the motivations and challenges of OPEN’s customers and users

In addition, particularly strong candidates will:

• have subject matter expertise in the affordable housing, green building, and energy efficiency sectors 
• an understanding of the dynamic between stakeholders and a working knowledge of the key market drivers (regulatory, technological, and financial) affecting both that sector and the market potential for OPEN’s product offering
• have conceptual knowledge and industry understanding in key areas of data science and analysis, including database design, machine learning, and visualization.

 

Compensation and Benefits

The Product Manager will receive a will receive a competitive compensation package commensurate with experience and will be eligible to participate in OPEN’s benefits program after a three month probationary period. 

                                                      

How can you apply?                                                        

We will recruit until we find the right candidate.  If this is you, at your earliest convenience please send the following to info@opentech.eco with the subject line “Last Name, First Name, Product Manager – Affordable Housing Navigator”.  

1. A brief resume showing relevant experience
2. A brief cover letter that explains how you meet the requirements and why you are interested in working with OPEN   

 

OPEN strives to build a team that reflects the diversity of the communities we are a part of.  We particularly encourage applicants from groups that are underrepresented in tech such as women, visible minorities, Indigenous persons, LGBTQ2 persons, and persons with disabilities.