For Jay Goettman, a USC Iovine and Young Academy alumnus and former USA Beach Volleyball Junior National Team member, elevating product features at Microsoft Xbox has been a professional gamechanger. 

Goettman is putting his technical and creative dexterity to work everyday as the product owner of the Xbox console search page, collaborating with software engineers and designers on features that optimize search result relevance, discoverability, and overall page look and feel. The role of a product manager requires versatility and control, but Goettman is attacking any challenges with conviction(and learning a lot along the way). 

“At Xbox, there’s never a dull moment,” he shares. “Everyone here is so incredibly creative, sharp, and approachable. The work experience I’ve gained since I started my internship has helped me grow into the young professional I am today. I will cherish that throughout my career.”

Goettman’s road to Xbox kicked off during his time at the Academy, where he was able to nurture both his tech side and a flair for innovation. Deep-diving into a variety of valuable skill sets academically led him on a product management path that directly intersected his interests.

“I feel like the Academy was built for aspiring product managers,” he observes. “There’s been a lot of momentum of current IYA students getting into this space because software engineering and design are deeply ingrained in the Academy curriculum. I felt confident in my ability to communicate across disciplines and it put me in a great position to be successful as a product manager at Xbox.”

For Goettman to succeed in his position, he has to shuffle between varying responsibilities daily. The hats he wears are plentiful and traverse titles, from designer to researcher to software engineer and business developer. He credits the Academy’s “real-world” preparation and collaborative project scenarios as to why he feels so comfortable in his product management skin. 

Harkening back to freshman year’s Innovators Forum workshop, he recounts being handed two envelopes – one containing the name of a country and one with a movie, his random selections being Russia and Gone With the Wind. A week later, he was pitching the concept of selling Gone With the Wind to a theoretical Russian audience in front of the head of marketing at Paramount Pictures. It was an awe-inspiring catalyst that inspired him to appreciate the business side of things as well as craft a compelling narrative behind an idea. That emphasis on storytelling diametrically connects to his job today.

Goettman chose to lend his talents to the gaming industry for a reason. A casual gamer growing up, he began to recognize the deeper impact of Xbox during the pandemic, considering the product’s capacity to unite users longing for community. 

He elucidates, “I started to think more about the role gaming played in enriching the lives of so many socially isolated people across the world. Gaming has this incredible ability to connect cultures with a universal language. It offers a sense of escape, comfort, and community for millions of people. I love being a part of that mission. It took me the pandemic to realize how much good can come from gaming.”

Now Goettman is the one enriching that massive community’s overall experience. He’s not only tasked with improving a high-profile “forward-facing product,” but ensuring a diverse set of perspectives get behind his direction. This is an ability, or, in his words – “superpower” – that gives him a leadership edge. 

“Cross-disciplinary consensus is a product manager superpower,” he declares. “You have to be able to navigate the kitchen sink of opinions across employees from design, engineering, business development, and user research. Then you carve an educated path forward for the team, which isn’t always easy.”

From Goettman’s perspective, the Academy is the perfect incubator for a role like his, where both innovation and informed leadership are imperative. 

"The Academy not only builds product thinkers, but also product leaders. That’s why I think being a product manager is such a natural progression for Academy students.” 

Academy alum Jay Goettman stepped into his product manager role at Microsoft armed with the skills to not only make him an innovative thinker, but an effective leader and storyteller. Working as the product owner of the Xbox console search page, he collaborates across a multidisciplinary team to bring feature ideas to life. Find out his professional “superpower” and why he thinks gaming has the power to do good.

Why This Xbox Product Manager Is Game for Any Career Challenge