Vice President of Products

The Vice President, Product is responsible for defining and executing the long-term product vision, strategy, and investment priorities for a portfolio of GS1 Canada's products and digital platforms. This role owns the strategic direction, commercial performance, and lifecycle of the product portfolio, ensuring investments create measurable subscriber value, business growth, and industry impact while advancing GS1 Canada's mission of enabling trusted data across the Canadian economy. As the senior product leader for their portfolio, the Vice President translates customer, subscriber, industry, and market insights into differentiated products and services that strengthen GS1 Canada's leadership position. Operating with a three years strategic horizon, the role balances long-term platform evolution with near-term business priorities, making strategic investment decisions that maximize customer outcomes and enterprise value. The Vice President builds and leads a high-performing Product Management organization, establishes product management best practices, and creates the operating mechanisms required to deliver products consistently and at scale. Working in close partnership with Technology, Design, Marketing, Community Engagement, Standards, Operations, Finance, and Executive Leadership, the role ensures product investments are aligned with organizational strategy and executed through empowered cross-functional teams. Key areas of focus include product strategy, portfolio management, customer insight, commercial performance, organizational capability, product governance, and cross-functional leadership. Success is measured by the organization's ability to deliver products that solve meaningful customer problems, achieve broad adoption, drive measurable business outcomes, and position GS1 Canada for long-term growth. This is a hybrid position requiring regular in-office attendance in accordance with GS1 Canada's hybrid work policy. Key Responsibilities ENTERPRISE PRODUCT STRATEGY & PORTFOLIO LEADERSHIP Define and own the long-term vision, strategy, and roadmap for an assigned portfolio of products and digital platforms. Develop and continuously evolve a rolling three year product strategy aligned with organizational priorities, subscriber needs, and industry trends. Lead portfolio investment decisions, including product expansion, modernization, rationalization, and retirement, ensuring resources are allocated to the highest-value opportunities. Identify emerging technologies, market shifts, competitive threats, and industry opportunities that influence future product direction. CUSTOMER & MARKET LEADERSHIP Champion a deep understanding of subscriber, customer, and industry needs through direct engagement, research, analytics, and market intelligence. Translate customer insights into differentiated product strategies that address meaningful problems and create measurable value. Build trusted relationships with strategic subscribers, industry partners, and external stakeholders to inform product direction and strengthen market relevance. Ensure customer discovery, validation, and feedback are embedded throughout the product lifecycle. PRODUCT BUSINESS PERFORMANCE Own the overall performance of the product portfolio, including adoption, customer satisfaction, usage, growth, retention, and strategic business outcomes. Establish product success metrics and performance frameworks that measure both customer value and business impact. Partner with Marketing, Commercial, Finance, and Executive Leadership to define product positioning, pricing, packaging, and commercialization strategies. Regularly assess portfolio performance and adjust priorities based on customer outcomes, market conditions, and organizational objectives. PRODUCT ORGANIZATION LEADERSHIP Build, lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing Product team. Establish product management standards, governance, operating mechanisms, planning processes, and prioritization frameworks across the product organization. Foster a culture of customer obsession, ownership, innovation, accountability, experimentation, and continuous learning. Recruit, coach, and develop Product Managers while strengthening overall organizational product capability. CROSS-FUNCTIONAL EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP Lead cross-functional alignment across Technology, Design, Marketing, Community Engagement, Standards, Operations, Finance, and Executive Leadership. Influence strategic priorities and organizational investment decisions through data-driven recommendations and executive communication. Resolve competing priorities while balancing customer value, business outcomes, technical considerations, and organizational capacity. Represent Product in executive governance forums, strategic initiatives, and industry engagements. PRODUCT EXCELLENCE & INNOVATION Champion modern product management practices that enable continuous discovery, evidence-based prioritization, experimentation, and outcome-driven roadmaps. Ensure disciplined execution across the product lifecycle from opportunity identification through launch, adoption, optimization, and retirement. Promote the effective use of emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, to improve product development, customer experiences, and organizational effectiveness. Continuously improve product quality, launch readiness, governance, and organizational performance through scalable mechanisms and best practices. Position Requirements Bachelor's degree in Business, Engineering, Computer Science, or a related discipline. MBA or equivalent graduate degree is considered an asset. 10+ years of progressive Product Management experience, including experience leading Product teams. Demonstrated success defining and executing long-term product strategies for complex digital products, platforms, SaaS, or technology-enabled businesses. Proven experience managing product portfolios and making strategic investment decisions that resulted in measurable customer adoption and business growth. Experience building and scaling high-performing Product Management teams and operating models. Strong commercial acumen with experience developing product strategies that balance customer value, organizational priorities, and financial performance. Experience leading cross-functional organizations and influencing executive stakeholders in complex environments. Demonstrated ability to use customer insights, product analytics, experimentation, and market intelligence to drive strategic decisions. Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with experience presenting complex product strategies to executive audiences. PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS Experience in Product Information Management (PIM), Master Data Management (MDM), Digital Commerce, Data Exchange, Platform businesses, or SaaS. Familiarity with AI-enabled product development and modern Product Operating Models. Critical Competencies STRATEGIC PRODUCT LEADERSHIP Defines long-term product vision and investment strategy, translating customer, market, and business insights into clear strategic direction that delivers sustainable organizational value. PORTFOLIO & COMMERCIAL MANAGEMENT Applies strong business judgment to prioritize investments, manage product portfolios, and optimize customer adoption, commercial performance, and long-term product sustainability. CUSTOMER & MARKET INSIGHT Develops deep expertise in customer and industry needs, anticipates market changes, and translates insights into differentiated products and experiences that solve meaningful problems. EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP & INFLUENCE Builds alignment across executive stakeholders, influences strategic decisions without direct authority, and effectively communicates vision, priorities, risks, and recommendations across the organization. ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP Builds high-performing Product organizations by developing talent, establishing scalable operating mechanisms, and fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, customer focus, and continuous improvement. INNOVATION & PRODUCT EXCELLENCE Champions modern product management practices, evidence-based decision making, experimentation, and emerging technologies to continuously improve product outcomes and organizational capability.