Sr Product Manager

Department Description

Disney isn't just another job; it's a career. We are a global leader in entertainment and experiences, committed to delivering exceptional Guest and Cast experiences through innovation, technology, and operational excellence. As a Senior Product Manager at Disney, you can combine your passion for technology and Guest experience to create compelling and delightful experiences for our valued Guests and Cast.

Team Description:

The Senior Product Manager – Point of Sale Platform is a senior individual contributor role on the Retail and Restaurant Technology team, responsible for owning and delivering large, multi-quarter product initiatives for Disney's Point of Sale (POS) platform across Retail and Food & Beverage businesses — including POS modernization, international deployments, and enterprise platform replacement programs. Working in close collaboration with key stakeholders and partners, this role develops an understanding of business and technical capabilities, identifies gaps, and executes product roadmaps for assigned initiative threads.

A successful candidate is highly collaborative, works effectively in a matrixed organization while wearing multiple hats, is comfortable working autonomously on complex programs, and is adept at synthesizing a variety of technologies and capabilities into high-quality, simple products and applications. Serving as a product leader for assigned large programs, the Senior PM acts as a liaison to development, implementation, and support teams, and drives enhancements, backlog ownership, and the prioritization of features and capabilities. This role brings a working understanding of how POS systems connect to the broader technology ecosystem — including supply chain, mobile platforms, data warehousing, and payments — and ensures cross-system dependencies are surfaced, understood, and reflected in product decisions.

What You’ll Do:

Product Strategy & Roadmap

• Owns product direction and execution for assigned large POS initiatives, contributing to the development of product strategy and feature vision that enhances Guest and Cast experiences across Retail and Food & Beverage programs.

• Develops and maintains a prioritized, outcomes-driven product roadmap for assigned initiative threads, prioritizing initiatives relative to business needs and aligning to strategic and tactical business objectives.

• Works with the business to determine the real issue that needs to be solved or the opportunity to do things differently, translating ambiguous needs into clear, actionable product direction.

• Supports business cases and business, technical, and financial feasibility assessments to ensure benefits align to enterprise priorities.

• Identifies product improvement opportunities by staying involved in initiative delivery and stakeholder feedback, and recommends process and technology improvements that increase product effectiveness.

• Provides advice and recommendations on emerging trends and technologies useful to both the business and Technology in the delivery of POS initiatives.

POS Domain Expertise & Industry Knowledge

• Develops subject matter expertise in Point of Sale, with knowledge spanning hardware (terminals, handhelds, kiosks, peripherals), software, payment processing, menu/catalog management, reporting, and offline resilience across both retail and restaurant environments.

• Understands the distinct requirements of retail POS (item lookup, inventory integration, returns, loyalty, associate-facing workflows) versus restaurant POS (order sequencing, kitchen display systems, modifier management, table management, and speed of service).

• Applies operational knowledge of Food & Beverage and Merchandise environments — including Quick Service, Table Service, kiosk, grab-and-go, and specialty retail — to inform product decisions.

• Stays current on the broader POS industry, including leading vendors (e.g., Oracle MICROS, Toast, Lightspeed, Square, Stripe) and emerging trends in unified commerce, mobile payment, and AI-enabled ordering, and applies relevant insights to Disney's platform direction.

Feature Definition & Product Lifecycle Execution

• Owns and manages key phases of the product lifecycle — including requirements gathering, backlog grooming, and delivery tracking — from problem definition through feature delivery, adoption, and outcome measurement.

• Leads the creation of technical specifications and user stories to enable system modification or development, refined to a sufficient level of detail to allow Architects and Software Engineers to design, develop, and implement appropriate solutions.

• Defines and refines product features by synthesizing inputs from end users (e.g., surveys, analytics), business stakeholders (e.g., pricing, marketing), and industry trends.

• Combines business requirements into a prioritized backlog grouped into project iterations, and manages the scope and traceability of requirements throughout the project lifecycle.

• Reviews and signs off on solution designs, ensuring business requirements are verified, validated, and delivered, and participates in functional design, construction, and testing.

• Establishes performance metrics and KPIs to evaluate feature effectiveness, draws inferences, and drives iterative enhancements and prioritization decisions.

• Drives Agile standups, backlog grooming, and planning, and ensures required outcomes are built, tested, communicated, and delivered on time and within budget.

Cross-System Dependencies & Platform Integrations

• Maintains a working understanding of the systems the POS platform depends on and integrates with — including supply chain and inventory, loyalty and guest identity, mobile ordering and payments, kitchen display and production systems, and data warehousing and analytics.

• Identifies and surfaces cross-system dependencies early in the product lifecycle, ensuring feature design accounts for integration complexity, data contracts, and downstream impacts before Engineering begins solution design.

• Partners with product teams and architects across adjacent platforms to align on integration standards, API contracts, and shared data definitions.

• Manages project interdependencies in support of business strategies, roadmaps, and financial commitments, and assists in identifying and managing risks, issues, and dependencies.

AI, Data & Workflow Enablement

• Applies AI-enabled tools and data insights to improve product and operational team workflows, planning efficiency, and decision quality across POS capabilities.

• Identifies opportunities to apply automation and analytics to reduce manual effort in Cast and operational workflows and improve speed to value.

• Leads or supports proof-of-concepts (POCs) that align with the product vision to validate technical viability and business assumptions.

• Partners with Technology and Data teams to ensure responsible, secure, and effective integration of AI capabilities into the POS platform and product development processes.

Collaboration, Communication & Stakeholder Engagement

• Collaborates with fellow Product Managers and cross-functional teams, contributing to team effectiveness by sharing product management best practices and lessons learned.

• Develops and maintains relationships with business, vendor, and technology stakeholders, and manages engagement, expectations, scope, and budget discussions for large or complex initiatives.

• Provides thought leadership and asserts influence by driving complex projects to completion effectively and efficiently, escalating issues and recommending appropriate solutions.

• Communicates effectively through written documentation, presentations, and verbal updates across various levels of the organization, providing updates to leadership as needed.

• Supports go-to-market efforts in coordination with marketing, content, training, consumer insights, and operations, and participates in change control processes to ensure alignment with business and technology expectations.

Required Qualifications & Skills:

• 5+ years (3+ years with a Master's degree) of product management or equivalent experience driving product strategy and execution, ideally in digital or technology roles within the retail or hospitality industry.

• Strong technical product knowledge in the Point of Sale space, with functional understanding of retail and restaurant POS environments, payment processing, and reporting.

• Demonstrated ability to identify, understand, and drive resolution of complex, critical issues, and to think strategically and drive ideas into action with a positive outlook and willingness to take personal initiative.

• Understanding of Agile technical practices, DevOps, and testing concepts (CI/CD, TDD), and strong command of agile tools (e.g., Jira, Confluence, Smartsheet, or similar).

• Basic knowledge of public cloud technologies (e.g., AWS) and an understanding of the nuances of data pipeline issues and solutions.

• Experience working in a collaborative, matrixed environment with cross-functional Technology teams and operational departments.

• Excellent analytical, written, and verbal communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex or diverse project data and information and articulate a compelling vision for complex and seemingly disparate concepts.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Direct experience with Disney theme park or resort operations, or equivalent large-scale, multi-site hospitality or retail operations.

• Hands-on experience with one or more enterprise POS platforms (e.g., Oracle MICROS, Toast, Lightspeed, NCR, or equivalent) in a retail or restaurant context.

• Experience delivering enterprise POS platforms across multi-location environments with high transaction volume and complex operational requirements.

• Experience applying AI, analytics, or automation to platform capabilities or operational workflows to improve Guest or Cast outcomes.

• Familiarity with various funding models and driving products through the stages of the product funding lifecycle.

Required Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Business Administration, or a similar field, or equivalent work experience.

The hiring range for this position in Lake Buena Vista, FL is $135,200 - $181,200 per year. The base pay actually offered will take into account internal equity and also may vary depending on the candidate’s geographic region, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience among other factors. A bonus and/or long-term incentive units may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to the full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the level and position offered.