Senior Product Manager- Core UI

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Manager - Core UI

Company: SAS

Location: Cary HQ, North Carolina, United States

Job Type: OTHER

Category: Product Management (Core UI Foundation)

Date Posted: September 23, 2026

Experience Level: 8+ Years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive product strategy and roadmap for SAS's Core UI shared foundation, focusing on reusable components, graph, and visualization capabilities.

• Enhance consistency, accessibility, and dependability of user experiences across SAS products through domain-aligned UI kits and foundational elements.

• Act as the primary liaison between customers, product teams, R&D, UX, Accessibility, Architecture, and Engineering for UI foundation initiatives.

• Bridge technical and business priorities by translating user needs into actionable product requirements and strategic roadmaps.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is focused on internal product management, specifically for a foundational UI platform that serves other product teams within SAS. The "customers" are primarily internal SAS product development teams, though external customer feedback will also influence strategy. The emphasis on "Core UI" and "shared UI foundation" indicates a platform-oriented product management approach within an enterprise software context.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define, prioritize, and maintain roadmaps for reusable UI foundations, including UI Component Libraries, Graph/Visualization foundations, and Domain Kits.

• Gather and synthesize requirements from business drivers, customer inputs, internal product teams, accessibility standards, and field contributions.

• Translate complex business and user needs into detailed technical, functional, and non-functional requirements for engineering, design, and architecture teams.

• Develop user personas, adoption scenarios, and use cases to guide the development and consumption of shared UI foundations and domain kits.

• Drive product development cycles in close partnership with software development teams, UX designers, architects, program managers, and consuming product teams.

• Prioritize investments that reduce duplicate implementations, improve product consistency, accelerate adoption, and minimize breaking-change impact for consumers of the UI foundation.

• Present product vision, roadmap, adoption progress, and demonstrations to a diverse range of internal stakeholders, including leadership audiences.

• Identify emerging technology, market trends, and consumer needs that present opportunities or risks for Core UI foundations, graph/visualization capabilities, and Domain Kits.

• Support product launches, migration planning, release readiness activities, and knowledge transfer to product teams, enablement, marketing, sales, and support organizations.

• Ensure adherence to all applicable security policies and processes to uphold the organization’s secure software development goals.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities clearly delineate a platform product management role focused on enabling other development teams. The emphasis on "adoption," "reusable components," and "domain kits" points to a need for strong strategic thinking around internal product adoption and developer experience.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s Degree, preferably in Business, Marketing, Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Engineering, or a related discipline. Equivalent combination of related education, training, and experience may be considered.

Experience: 8+ years of experience in Product Management, technical product strategy, platform product management, or related functions within the technology industry.

Required Skills:

• Proven experience managing or consuming enterprise UI platforms, design systems, component libraries, graph/visualization frameworks, or reusable developer platforms.

• Demonstrated success in building or delivering technical solutions that solve customer or internal product-team problems at scale.

• Strong understanding of accessibility standards, UX best practices, API/platform adoption strategies, release planning, and migration/change management principles.

• Familiarity with the modernization of legacy codebases to modern languages and software development practices.

• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, adept at engaging in technical and product discussions with diverse audiences.

• Excellent critical thinking and analytical skills, with a proven history of making sound prioritization decisions in fast-paced, cross-functional environments.

• Ability to translate complex technical capabilities into clear, compelling product narratives, adoption plans, and customer value propositions. Preferred Skills:

• Deep understanding of API-driven platforms, component libraries, and shared engineering frameworks.

• Ability to guide teams in building consistent, scalable, maintainable, and high-quality software solutions.

• Aptitude for defining creative solutions that deliver consistent, accessible, and compelling user experiences.

• Experience with graph and visualization libraries, especially in an enterprise software context.

• Comfort delivering presentations, demos, workshops, roadmap reviews, and technical/product content.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for "8+ years" combined with a "Bachelor's Degree" suggests a mid-to-senior level product management role, likely requiring significant experience in platform or developer-facing products. The emphasis on "consuming" enterprise UI platforms indicates that experience as a user of such systems is also highly valued, not just as a builder.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Case studies demonstrating successful product strategy development and execution for complex software platforms or foundational technologies.

• Examples of roadmap creation and prioritization, showcasing how business drivers, technical feasibility, and stakeholder needs were balanced.

• Documentation of requirements gathering processes, including how user personas, use cases, and technical specifications were defined and communicated.

• Evidence of cross-functional collaboration and leadership, highlighting how you partnered with engineering, design, and other teams to bring products to market.

• Demonstrations of how you have driven adoption of shared platforms or components among development teams, including metrics on impact and success. Process Documentation:

• Showcase experience in defining and documenting product requirements, including functional, non-functional, and technical specifications.

• Provide examples of process flows for managing product backlogs, prioritizing features, and communicating roadmap updates to various stakeholder groups.

• Illustrate methodologies used for gathering and synthesizing customer and internal team feedback to inform product direction.

• Detail experience with agile development methodologies, including sprint planning, backlog grooming, and release management.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Senior Product Manager role focused on a foundational UI platform, a portfolio should emphasize strategic thinking, cross-functional influence, and the ability to drive adoption of shared assets. Demonstrating a structured approach to requirements, roadmapping, and stakeholder management is crucial.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for Senior Product Managers with 8+ years of experience in the Research Triangle Park (RTP) area of North Carolina, a competitive annual salary range is estimated to be between $130,000 and $180,000. This range can vary based on the candidate's specific experience, skills, and the final negotiation.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive Health: Medical, prescription, dental, and vision plans. Options include a PPO with low deductibles/copays or a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) with an HSA contribution from SAS.

• On-site Health Services: A free Onsite Health Care Center and pharmacy are available at HQ for employees and their families enrolled in the PPO plan.

• Retirement Savings: An industry-leading 401k plan is provided.

• Professional Development: Tuition Assistance Program and other resources to support continuous learning and development.

• Generous Time Off: Includes vacation time, a variety of paid holidays, and a U.S. Winter Wellness Break (December 25 - January 1).

• Additional Leave: Volunteer Time Off, parental leave, and unlimited paid sick days.

• Family Support: Generous childcare benefits for all full-time employees.

Working Hours: A standard full-time work schedule is expected, likely around 40 hours per week. The hybrid work arrangement allows for flexibility in how these hours are distributed between on-site and remote workdays.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimate based on typical compensation for Senior Product Managers in the Cary, NC area, considering the company's industry and the role's seniority. The benefits package is extensive and reflects a strong commitment to employee well-being and professional growth, which is common for established tech companies like SAS.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Data and AI software and services. SAS is a well-established leader in analytics, artificial intelligence, and data management, serving a global customer base across various sectors.

Company Size: SAS is a large enterprise company, typically employing thousands of individuals globally. This scale implies robust processes, established career paths, and significant resources for R&D and employee development.

Founded: Founded in 1976, SAS has a long history of innovation and stability in the technology sector. This longevity suggests a culture that values long-term vision, deep technical expertise, and sustained growth.

Team Structure:

• The Core UI department likely comprises product managers, UX designers, accessibility specialists, and engineering leads focused on foundational UI elements.

• The Senior Product Manager will report into a Product Management leadership role, likely a Director or VP of Product Management for Platform or Core Technologies.

• Collaboration is expected to be highly cross-functional, involving numerous product teams across SAS's Foundation, Applications, and SaaS divisions, as well as R&D, Architecture, and UX departments. Methodology:

• Data-driven decision-making is a core tenet, with product strategies informed by customer feedback, usage analytics, market trends, and business objectives.

• Emphasis on agile methodologies for product development, allowing for iterative progress and adaptability.

• Focus on building scalable, reusable, and maintainable solutions that adhere to established design systems and accessibility standards.

• Collaborative approach to problem-solving, encouraging open communication and knowledge sharing among teams.

Company Website: https://www.sas.com

📝 Enhancement Note: SAS's long history and leadership in data analytics suggest a culture that values expertise, innovation, and stability. The "Core UI" team operates as an internal platform provider, meaning their success is measured by the adoption and effectiveness of their foundational components across the wider organization.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is at the Senior Product Manager level, indicating significant responsibility for strategic product direction, roadmap ownership, and stakeholder management. It requires a deep understanding of platform product management principles and the ability to influence product development across multiple divisions.

Reporting Structure: The Senior Product Manager will report to a Director or VP of Product Management. They will work closely with Engineering Managers, UX Leads, and Architects within the Core UI team, and collaborate extensively with Product Managers and development leads from various consuming product teams across SAS.

Operations Impact: The impact of this role is significant and far-reaching. By providing a robust, reusable, and consistent UI foundation, the Senior Product Manager directly influences the speed of product delivery, the quality of user experiences, and the overall efficiency of SAS's software development efforts. Success here leads to reduced duplicated efforts, faster time-to-market for new features, and a more cohesive brand experience for SAS customers.

Growth Opportunities:

• Leadership Advancement: Potential to move into Group Product Manager or Director roles overseeing larger product portfolios or specialized areas within platform product management.

• Domain Specialization: Opportunity to become a recognized expert in UI foundations, design systems, or specific areas like data visualization within the broader SAS ecosystem.

• Cross-Functional Mobility: Potential to transition into broader product leadership roles, strategic initiatives, or even into engineering leadership positions given the technical nature of the role.

• Continuous Learning: Access to SAS's extensive learning resources, tuition assistance, and industry conferences to stay current with product management best practices, UI/UX trends, and emerging technologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The Senior Product Manager title signifies a strategic, influential role. Growth opportunities are likely tied to expanding scope of responsibility, specialization, and leadership within the product organization, leveraging the foundational nature of the Core UI team.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work environment, with a primary base at SAS's Cary HQ. This offers a blend of structured on-site collaboration and remote flexibility.

Office Location(s): The primary location is 100 SAS Campus Drive, Cary, NC 27513. SAS's headquarters is known for its extensive campus amenities.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The Cary HQ likely offers modern collaborative spaces, meeting rooms, and common areas designed to foster interaction and teamwork among hybrid and on-site employees.

• Technology Enabled: Access to necessary hardware, software, and network infrastructure to support product management activities, including tools for roadmapping, documentation, communication, and design collaboration.

• Cross-Functional Interaction: Opportunities to engage with diverse teams including R&D, UX, Architecture, and various product development groups, fostering a dynamic and knowledge-rich environment.

Work Schedule: A hybrid model is in place, requiring some days on-site at the Cary HQ and allowing for remote work on other days. This schedule is designed to balance the benefits of in-person collaboration with the flexibility of remote work, supporting efficient product management workflows and team engagement.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid nature of the role at a large corporate campus like SAS's suggests a structured work environment that values both in-person collaboration and individual focus time. The specific days on-site would likely be determined by team needs and individual responsibilities.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A recruiter or hiring manager will review applications and conduct an initial phone screen to assess basic qualifications and cultural fit.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A deeper dive into your product management experience, strategic thinking, and understanding of platform/UI product management. Expect questions about your approach to roadmapping, requirements definition, and stakeholder management.

• Panel Interviews: Likely to involve interviews with key team members, including engineering leads, UX designers, and potentially other product managers or architects. These sessions will assess your technical acumen, collaboration style, and ability to articulate complex ideas.

• Product Case Study/Presentation: A common step for senior product roles. You may be asked to prepare a presentation on a past product success, a strategy for a hypothetical UI foundation challenge, or to critique/propose improvements for an existing system. This is where your portfolio will be crucial.

• Final Round/Executive Interview: May involve a discussion with senior leadership to assess strategic alignment, leadership potential, and overall fit with SAS's culture and vision.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: Highlight quantifiable results of your product strategies. For this role, emphasize improvements in development efficiency, adoption rates of shared components, consistency of UI across products, and positive feedback from internal development teams.

• Showcase Platform Thinking: Include examples that demonstrate your ability to think about products as platforms, focusing on reusability, scalability, and developer experience. Case studies on design systems, component libraries, or API strategies are highly relevant.

• Detail Your Process: Clearly articulate your approach to requirements gathering, roadmap development, prioritization, and stakeholder management. Use diagrams or flowcharts where helpful to illustrate complex processes.

• Emphasize Collaboration: Provide examples of how you successfully partnered with engineering, UX, and other cross-functional teams. Highlight instances where you influenced decision-making or resolved conflicts.

• Accessibility & UX: If possible, include examples that demonstrate your understanding and implementation of accessibility standards and user-centric design principles.

Challenge Preparation:

• UI/Platform Strategy: Be prepared to discuss your vision for a shared UI foundation. Think about key challenges in driving adoption, managing technical debt, and balancing innovation with stability.

• Prioritization Frameworks: Understand and be ready to discuss how you prioritize features for a platform product, considering competing demands from different product teams.

• Stakeholder Management: Prepare examples of how you have managed expectations, communicated roadmaps, and gained buy-in from diverse groups of stakeholders, including technical and non-technical audiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process for a Senior Product Manager at a company like SAS will be rigorous. A strong portfolio showcasing platform product management experience, strategic thinking, and cross-functional influence is essential. The case study or presentation is a key opportunity to demonstrate your ability to translate strategy into actionable plans.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Product Management Platforms: Jira, Confluence, Aha!, Productboard, or similar tools for backlog management, roadmap planning, and documentation.

• Collaboration Suites: Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Workspace for communication and team collaboration.

• Design & Prototyping Tools: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD (understanding their output and integration with development).

• Analytics & Monitoring Tools: Understanding of how to leverage data from tools like Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, or internal SAS analytics platforms to inform product decisions.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Data Visualization Tools: Tableau, Power BI, or SAS's own analytics offerings for reporting on product adoption, usage, and performance metrics.

• BI Tools: For generating insights from usage data and presenting them to stakeholders.

• Dashboarding Tools: To create real-time views of key product performance indicators.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly managing CRM, understanding how UI foundations impact CRM-related products or customer-facing applications is beneficial. Familiarity with enterprise software development lifecycles and integration points is key.

• API Management Tools: Understanding of how APIs are documented and managed for platform consumption.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the role is product management, a deep understanding of the tools that engineering and design teams use is crucial for effective collaboration. Familiarity with how to leverage analytics to measure the success and adoption of UI components is also paramount.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Curiosity: Encouraging a mindset of continuous learning and exploration into new technologies, user needs, and market trends that can enhance the UI foundation.

• Passion: A deep commitment to building high-quality, user-friendly, and accessible software that drives positive outcomes for SAS and its customers.

• Authenticity: Fostering an environment where individuals can bring their whole selves to work, express diverse perspectives, and engage in honest, transparent communication.

• Accountability: Taking ownership of product strategy, roadmap execution, and delivering on commitments to internal stakeholders and the broader organization.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: A highly collaborative environment where product managers, engineers, designers, and architects work in tight-knit teams to achieve common goals.

• Process Improvement Focus: A culture that actively seeks to identify and implement improvements in development processes, workflow efficiency, and product delivery mechanisms.

• Knowledge Sharing: Encouraging the open exchange of ideas, best practices, and lessons learned across teams to foster collective growth and innovation.

📝 Enhancement Note: SAS's stated values (Curiosity, Passion, Authenticity, Accountability) are critical to understand. For this role, these translate into a proactive approach to understanding user needs, a dedication to building excellent foundational products, honest communication, and a commitment to delivering on the product roadmap.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Driving Adoption: Convincing and enabling numerous internal product teams to adopt a shared UI foundation can be challenging, requiring strong influence, clear value proposition, and excellent support.

• Balancing Stakeholder Needs: Managing competing priorities and requirements from diverse product teams, each with their own roadmaps and objectives.

• Technical Debt & Modernization: Navigating the complexities of modernizing legacy UI components and infrastructure while ensuring backward compatibility and minimizing disruption.

• Staying Ahead of Trends: Keeping pace with rapidly evolving UI/UX trends, accessibility standards, and front-end technologies to ensure the foundation remains relevant and competitive.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Product Management: Opportunities to deepen expertise in platform product management, design systems, and developer experience strategies.

• Industry Expertise: Access to conferences, workshops, and training focused on UI/UX, accessibility, front-end development, and product strategy.

• Leadership Development: Mentorship programs and leadership training to prepare for advancement into senior leadership roles within product management.

• Technical Skill Enhancement: Opportunities to engage with cutting-edge technologies and modern software development practices employed by SAS's R&D teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary challenges for this role revolve around internal influence and adoption. Growth opportunities are robust, leveraging SAS's commitment to employee development and the strategic importance of the Core UI foundation.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you define and prioritize the roadmap for a shared UI component library serving multiple product teams with different needs?" (Focus on your prioritization framework, stakeholder alignment process, and metrics for success.)

• "Describe a time you had to drive adoption of a new platform or set of reusable components within a large organization. What were the challenges, and how did you overcome them?" (Highlight your influence, communication, and enablement strategies.)

• "How do you ensure that foundational UI components are accessible and meet evolving UX standards while also being efficient for development teams to consume?" (Showcase your understanding of accessibility, user-centric design, and the trade-offs involved.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your understanding of SAS and the Core UI role, what do you see as the biggest opportunity for this team in the next 1-2 years?" (Demonstrate your research and strategic thinking about SAS's business and product landscape.)

• "How do you embody SAS's values of Curiosity, Passion, Authenticity, and Accountability in your product management work?" (Provide specific examples that link your work style to these values.)

• "How would you measure the success and impact of the Core UI foundation on SAS's overall product development and business outcomes?" (Focus on key metrics related to adoption, efficiency, consistency, and developer satisfaction.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, clearly outline the problem, your proposed solution (the product/feature), the execution process (how you collaborated), and the measurable results.

• Quantify Impact: Use data and metrics wherever possible. For this role, focus on metrics like adoption rates, reduction in duplicate development, time-to-market improvements, and user satisfaction scores from internal teams.

• Highlight Collaboration: Explicitly describe your interactions with engineering, UX, and other stakeholders. Show how you built consensus and drove alignment.

• Demonstrate Strategic Thinking: Explain the "why" behind your decisions. Connect your product strategy to broader business goals and user needs.

• Be Concise and Engaging: Practice your presentation to ensure it flows well and stays within the allotted time. Focus on the most impactful aspects of your work.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic product thinking, strong collaboration skills, and a deep understanding of platform product management principles, particularly in the context of internal developer tools and UI foundations.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Manager - Core UI position:

• Submit your application through the SAS careers portal via the provided URL.

• Customize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight experience with platform product management, UI component libraries, design systems, accessibility, and cross-functional collaboration. Use keywords from the job description and emphasize achievements with quantifiable results.

• Prepare Your Portfolio: Curate 2-3 strong case studies that best showcase your experience in driving product strategy for foundational technologies, managing roadmaps, and influencing development teams. Focus on impact and collaboration.

• Practice Your Presentation: Rehearse presenting your portfolio case studies, focusing on clear communication, data-driven insights, and articulating your strategic thought process. Be ready to answer questions about your approach to product challenges.

• Research SAS: Thoroughly research SAS's products, market position, recent news, and company culture. Understand their commitment to data and AI and how the Core UI foundation contributes to their overall strategy.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

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