SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER
Location: Hybrid – Virginia - Chantilly and Brambleton area
A note on length - this posting is intentionally longer than most. That is deliberate. It gives you a realistic preview of the role and clear guidance on how to present your application, so we suggest reading it in full.
About SOVRA
SOVRA is a leading public procurement platform trusted by more than 7,000 government agencies and over 1 million suppliers across North America. Our work sits at the intersection of technology, public service, and accountability, helping governments operate more efficiently and transparently on behalf of the communities they serve.
What makes SOVRA unique is our deep focus on the public sector. Our solutions are purpose-built to solve real, complex procurement challenges, balancing compliance with usability and innovation. That commitment has been recognized with the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement (AEP) Certification from the National Procurement Institute, reflecting our high standards and impact on the market.
At SOVRA, the work you do matters. Every improvement we make helps public organizations stretch taxpayer dollars further, operate with greater transparency, and deliver better outcomes for millions of people. We're a growing, mission-driven company where smart, curious people come together to build technology that serves the public good.
Learn more at sovra.com http://sovra.com.
About the job
SOVRA is looking for a Senior Product Manager to own a product area within its source-to-pay suite as its product organization grows. The role contributes to a new generation of AI-native procurement products built on one shared platform, and offers the chance to help shape what public procurement looks like next.
The person in this role owns a product area covering part of the full source-to-pay lifecycle, from intake, sourcing, contracts, purchasing and invoices to Marketplace, analytics and integrations. They frame problems with public-sector users, set the roadmap, write requirements, take releases to market, and coach junior product managers, product owners and business analysts.
The work reaches buyers, evaluators, contract managers and suppliers, and the Marketing, Sales and Customer Success colleagues who sell and support each release. Public sector audiences expect a high standard of accessibility, security and accuracy, so the role builds those requirements into the product from the start.
WHAT WILL YOUR MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES LOOK LIKE?
Discovery & Problem Framing
- You spend time with buyers, evaluators, contract managers and suppliers, in agency visits and user groups, and map how a purchase moves from request to award, contract and payment.
- You frame problems worth solving before anyone writes code, and validate them with usage data, interviews, RFP and solicitation analysis, and win/loss feedback.
- You run continuous competitive and market intelligence, using AI to work faster, and turn it into positioning and roadmap input.
Roadmap & Delivery
- You set the vision, roadmap and priorities for your product area, balancing strategic goals, customer commitments and engineering capacity.
- You write clear, testable requirements and acceptance criteria at the pace of a short release cycle, and prioritize the backlog with the Product Owner.
- You build clickable or coded prototypes with AI-assisted tools and put them in front of customers before engineering commits.
- You treat accessibility, data residency and privacy, security review, procurement policy and ERP and finance integration as product requirements.
Go-to-Market & Commercial Ownership
- You partner with Marketing, Sales and Customer Success on launch plans, packaging, pricing, demos and RFP responses, so every release can be sold and supported.
- You own adoption, retention and commercial performance, defining success metrics up front, monitoring them, and acting when they move.
AI-First Practice & Team Growth
- You use AI tools and agents across your daily work, from synthesizing interviews to drafting specs and analyzing usage.
- You coach junior product managers, product owners and business analysts toward strong product management practice.
WHAT WILL YOU BRING TO THIS ROLE?
- Product management track record - you have 5+ years in product management at B2B or enterprise software companies, including complex or legacy systems, and have taken customer problems from discovery to shipped product.
- Knowledge of how government buys - you know solicitations and RFx, evaluation, award, contracts, purchasing and payment, supplier management and cooperative purchasing, gained in a public agency or at a govtech, procurement or ERP vendor.
- Applied AI practice - you use AI daily to draft requirements, build prototypes and analyze markets, and judge the accuracy, behavior and risk of AI features in a public-sector setting.
- AI-native product experience - you have worked on teams where AI speeds up design, coding and testing, and product works side by side with design and engineering in short cycles.
- Data and UX fluency - you run discovery and usability tests with Design, define metrics, read usage analytics using tools such as PostHog, Userpilot, Jira and Confluence, and have working awareness of WCAG 2.2 AA.
- Excellent written and spoken communication - you write precise requirements in English, brief an executive, and explain a trade-off to an agency user and an engineer in the same day.
- Education - you hold a bachelor's degree or higher, or equivalent experience.
- Authorization to work in the US - we are not able to sponsor work visas or transfers at this time.
What are the assets that would make you stand out?
- E-procurement and financial systems experience - you have direct experience in e-procurement, sourcing, contract lifecycle management, or ERP and financial systems.
- Government sales support - you have supported government sales through RFP responses, security questionnaires, demos and pilots.
- AI feature delivery - you have shipped AI features such as agents, copilots or intelligent document processing, and defined how to evaluate and monitor them in production.
YOU SHOULD APPLY IF
- You are drawn to public procurement and want to improve the daily work of the buyers, evaluators and contract managers who keep public services running.
- You want to help shape what public procurement looks like next, as part of a new generation of AI-native products on one shared platform.
- You enjoy moving between discovery and delivery in the same week and bringing people together around a shared plan.
- You see AI changing how products are discovered, specified and built, and you want to help define where product management goes from here.
WHAT WE LOOK FOR IN APPLICATIONS
- We review every application individually and assess it on its own merits rather than screening for keywords. The most impactful applications describe:
- What you shipped, who it affected, and the outcome, with numbers wherever you have them.
- When you name a tool, add a brief note on what you used it to do.
- Specific detail about your own work tells us more than a general summary of responsibilities.
WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?
- By 3 months: you know the SOVRA product suite and the roadmap for your area, have mapped its end-to-end workflow, and have met three to five customers.
- By 6 months: you have presented a problem-framed roadmap with success metrics, tested at least one prototype with customers, and own the backlog priorities for your product area.
- By 12 months: you have shipped a first release in your area with success metrics live and reviewed, and you are the product point person for a launch alongside Marketing, Sales and Customer Success.
OUR INTERVIEW PROCESS
Our process is designed to be thorough while respecting your time. Three conversations cover the substance of the role and how you would work with the team.
- Talent Acquisition screen
- Product focus interview
- Engineering focus interview
WHY YOU SHOULD JOIN US
SOVRA serves the public sector, and the work carries the weight that comes with that purpose. Every improvement to our platform helps government agencies operate more efficiently and deliver greater value to the communities they serve. We are a company in a period of deliberate growth, and we are looking for professionals who want genuine ownership of their work and a direct hand in building the organization around them. In this role, that ownership is real: your work in a product area of the SOVRA source-to-pay suite shapes how SOVRA builds for the agencies and suppliers it serves.
Our benefits include the following, with full details shared during the hiring process:
· Comprehensive health and medical coverage.
· Paid time off.
· A structured learning and development program.
· Paid parental leave.
If this role aligns with your experience and ambitions, we encourage you to apply.
Thank you for your interest in SOVRA. However, only selected candidates will be contacted.
At SOVRA, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace. We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws. We provide a work environment free from discrimination and harassment. In addition, we are committed to ensuring pay equity across our organization and regularly review our compensation practices.
International Data Base Corp doing business under SOVRA™ participates in E-Verify. If selected for employment, you will be required to provide your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the United States.
International Data Base Corp, que opera bajo el nombre comercial SOVRA™, participa en E-Verify. Si es seleccionado para el empleo, se le solicitará que proporcione la información de su Formulario I-9 para confirmar que está autorizado a trabajar en los Estados Unidos.
