Manager, Data/VoIP Content Product Development

COMPANY PROFILE:

ACN is the world’s largest direct selling telecommunications company offering highly competitive services to consumers and small businesses in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

 

ACN’s product portfolio includes:

 

Local and Long Distance services

Internet services

Wireless

Digital Phone Service with Video Phone, operating on ACN’s own state of the art network

 

ACN has tremendous success with the launch of their VoIP service earlier this year and they are currently expanding  the VoIP  to provide data product and feature adds to the product portfolio.  ACN is leading in the VoIP Video Phone success with high customer take rates and are building next generation phones that will have the capabilities to provide customers with a similar experience to what type of data features and product adds are available in wireless handsets today.  Wireless and VoIP are the growth products of the company and ACN has introduced their own VoIP network in the US including Hawaii, Canada and soon Peurto Rico in North America and is currently building out the European market.  Additionally they believe that they can provide a compelling value proposition in VoIP that will attract a significant level of new customer relationships.

 

ACN is able to offer impressive alternatives to these services and pass along tremendous savings by marketing directly to consumers through thousands of commission based Independent Business Representatives worldwide. ACN has earned the loyalty of hundreds of thousands of customers since operations began in 1993.

 

ACN is privately held with annual revenues exceeding $500 million.

 

LOCATION: Charlotte, North Carolina

 

COMPENSATION: An attractive compensation package will be provided to the successful candidate including a competitive salary ($110,000 - $140,000 base salary) plus participation in ACN’s annual bonus program.

 

POSITION SUMMARY:

 

This person will be responsible for the planning and implementation of all VoIP data features products for ACN. This will include the user interface and data applications in addition to all the necessary support for those products in the billing and customer care systems.  The Manager will play a key role in the selection and prioritization of potential products, selection of vendors to develop and support those products, and the coordination of all internal support for those products.

 

Responsibilities:Evaluate, update, and manage the development of server based pushed content and feature adds such as ringtones, downloads  to provide a rich and compelling experience for ACN customers. Manage the product development process and take the lead role in setting vendor deliverables and assuring achievement of those deliverables from all key data application vendors. Evaluate competing vendors and solutions and recommend for implementation the best solution for ACN customers. Develop the Data Products road map with consideration for emerging trends and technologies in the wireless data marketplace.  Develop, manage and lead the data product marketing revenue, gross margin analysis, pricing and attach rates. Achieve yearly goals for product revenue growth. Establish key operational goals and metrics and ensures that company is successfully developing, launching, and supporting all  data products.

 

Key Evaluation Factors:A strong technical understanding of VoIP and wireless  network technology gained at either a wireless operating company or a VoIP/wireless application software vendor.  Experience working with wireless broadband data products (i.e. EVDO or HSDPA) would be a plus.  Ideally a candidate should have some level of successful engineering experience either academically or professionally. A demonstrated ability to lead the development of a product or service that met or exceeded revenue projections.  Ideally this product need should have been identified with direct customer input and the task would have involved the full integration of marketing, sales, network engineering, operations, customer care, and billing.  Experience evaluating competing vendor products and managing the implementation of a vendor offering on a data network would be very valuable.  An ability to work effectively with senior management at a vendor to enhance the abilty of a product to meet market needs would also be very valuable. Personal characteristics such that this person can effectively represent the needs and capabilities of the organization to both vendor and client companies.  This person should be: fast paced, self directed, entrepreneurial, and driven to deliver products and services that are clearly superior to competing products from other wireless carriers. 

 

Managerial Competencies:The ability to develop a  data strategy that is well conceived, well defined, and successfully executed. A focus on constant quality improvement which will result in faster and better decision making within the organization. The ability to successfully work with an organization that is both mature and growing. The ability to demonstrate an understanding of the role of each functional department and their relative impact on company initiatives. Demonstrated strong listening skills and creativity while solving problems with a “can do” attitude.

If you are interested in this position, please visit our new careers website: www.acnjobs.com and apply online.