Director, Client Gateway Product Owner - Assurance (50347)
Role summary
Citrin Cooperman is seeking a Director, Client Gateway Product Owner – Assurance to join their Innovation team. This role will build and own a firm-wide client gateway platform for streamlined client requests, document exchange, and status tracking. Responsibilities include defining requirements, selecting and managing vendors, leading implementation, driving change management, overseeing training, and managing the product roadmap and governance. The ideal candidate will have 8-12+ years in product management for workflow platforms, hands-on experience with secure client gateways, strong familiarity with assurance/audit workflows, and proven change management leadership. Experience with audit workflow tools like CaseWare Cloud or Suralink is preferred.
Citrin Cooperman offers a dynamic work environment, fostering professional growth and collaboration. We’re continuously seeking talented individuals who bring fresh perspectives, a problem-solving mindset, and sharp technical expertise. We know you have choices, so our team of collaborative, innovative professionals are at the ready to support your professional development. At Citrin Cooperman, we offer competitive compensation and benefits and most importantly, the flexibility to manage your personal and professional life to focus on what matters most to you!
We are looking for a
Director, Client Gateway Product Owner – Assurance
to join the Innovation team within the Methodology & Innovation department. They’ll build and own our firm-wide client gateway—a modern, secure platform that streamlines Prepared‑By‑Client (PBC) requests, document exchange, status tracking, messaging, and deliverables. This role will define requirements, select and manage the vendor, run pilots, lead the implementation, drive change management, oversee training and adoption, and serve as the long‑term product owner responsible for roadmap, governance, and measurable business outcomes.
Responsibilities Are, But Not Limited To
Strategy, Requirements, & Design
- Lead discovery with Tax and Advisory service line professionals, Assurance professional staff, firm operations, IT security, and select clients to translate needs into clear, prioritized requirements.
- Define user profiles and experience, as well as success metrics; create Product Requirement documents, feature and functionality specification and acceptance criteria.
- Partner with InfoSec/Data Privacy to set security, privacy, retention, encryption, and access-control baselines.
Vendor Selection & Contracting
- Participate in firmwide developed and coordinated formal evaluation of vendors.
- Participate in scoring vendors against criteria: data requirements, assurance workflows, integrations with existing and future assurance workflow tooling, user experience and usability, dashboarding and analytics, scalability, information logging and trails, workflows, and communication and messaging.
- Participate in firmwide led demonstrations, reference checks, and security due diligence; collaborate with Legal & Procurement for commercial terms, SLAs, data processing addendum (DPA), and service continuity clauses.
Pilot & Implementation
- Participate in pilot design and scope, success metrics, and feedback loops.
- Participate in standing up environments (development/testing/production), permissions/roles, and data migration where applicable.
- Assist in the development and orchestration of project plans, identification of dependencies, assist in the management of vendor resources and internal project management resources.
Change Management, Training, & Adoption
- Participate in building a comprehensive change management plan including stakeholder communications, executive sponsorship, and champions.
- Assist in the creation of playbooks, training documentation and videos, and office hours; run train‑the‑trainer programs.
- Assist in the establishment of a support model.
Product Ownership & Continuous Improvement
- Maintain backlog of feature and functionality enhancements, prioritize enhancements using data and stakeholder input.
- Manage technology releases, conduct user acceptance training, and post‑release support.
- Assist in the management of product updates to firm professionals; assist with budget, renewals, and vendor performance management.
Risk, Compliance, & Data Governance
- Coordinate alignment with privacy policies, document retention policies, and information security protocols.
Qualifications
The ideal candidate must:
- 8–12+ years in product management/ownership for workflow platforms, enterprise content management, or assurance workflow tooling.
- Hands-on experience implementing secure client gateway and/or workflow tools.
- Strong familiarity with assurance/audit workflow processes (PBC lists, workpaper flows, deliverables); prior experience in a Big 4 or mid‑market firm is a plus.
- Proven change management leadership (communication plans, stakeholder engagement, adoption campaigns).
- Excellent communication and executive presence; strong analytical skills and data-driven decision-making.
- Experience with audit workflow tools (CaseWare Cloud, Suralink).