“Zalando is going to become a fashion platform, and eventually the number one tech company in Europe.”
Robert Gentz, Zalando co-founder and managing director
Zalando’s mission is to become the world’s leading platform for connecting fashion with people. Our challenges along the way: handling massive amounts of data; meeting our customers’ constantly changing demands; designing and implementing systems that enable the best merchandising and logistics processes in the industry; and building an architecture and products that truly scale (think “billions of users”).
What excites you?
You want to make your mark at one of Europe’s most successful tech companies. You enjoy combining business knowledge with customer insights and state-of-the art technologies. You’re passionate about creating high-impact user experiences that make customers’ lives better. And you want to benefit from the market-defining knowledge and scale of resources that only a firm of Zalando’s scale can offer.
As a product trainee, your success is measured by the following key objectives:
• Advancement on your Tour of Mastery: No matter whether your first station in our rotation program involves working on a customer-facing app, our pricing engine, or new fulfillment solutions, you will demonstrate that you are mastering the key Product Management tools and techniques — from user research to opportunity assessment.
• Add value: From Day One, you will be treated as a full-fledged team member. But you’ll have to prove yourself by getting your hands dirty and working hard. The best measure of success: How many Product Owners will beg you to join their team when it is over.
• Grow your network: Join our guilds. Give great Tech Talks. Build relationships with other teams. and drive additional topics.
What are the challenges?
We have learned that our understanding of Product Management may differ slightly from a lot of other companies out there. So let’s look at the challenges you need to come equipped for:
• Master of multiple domains: Can you bridge the natural divide between business and technology? You will need to feel as comfortable evaluating the EBIT impact of a new feature as you feel writing user stories after you have spend a lot of time with customers to really understand what they need (and not just what they want).
• Fast and deep learner: You will be in for a ride. You will not just learn to apply the key Product Management toolset but you will also prove yourself on multiple products during the course of the program. For this, you will need to understand each product – from vision and purpose to the value of each user story in the backlog you will work on.
• Analytical communicator: Are you a great communicator? Can you really get to the bottom of what users need? Can you ensure that all relevant stakeholders are aware of the product’s progress? Great! But do you also bring the analytical skills and rigor to analyze large sets of data to evaluate opportunities and support your Product Owner in making well-founded product decisions?
• Thoughtful pragmatist: Can you get things done? Can you bring together all the input you have collected from interviews and data to help the team decide what to build? Don’t waste your own time with too much research but don’t jump to conclusions too fast either; development capacity is a very precious resource.
• Focussed product enthusiast: Product management is a fast moving domain. New products are created everyday. Some are competitors; a lot of them can create insights and learnings for you and for Zalando. In addition, there are hundreds of product management books, blogs and groups, with new knowledge being shared at the speed of light. Do you have a the passion to stay in top of these developments and the focus to separate the useful from the unnecessary?
What do we require from you?
If you can accomplish the above, you have what it takes. If you are not sure — ask someone in a similar role. If they think you´ve got what it takes, go ahead — apply!
What we will offer you:
• At Zalando you can have impact and be part of something bigger at the same time. We will once again revolutionize the fashion industry and as a Product Trainee, you can be at the centre of the storm, working with the teams that change the game.
• At Zalando you can grow, personally and professionally. We will fully support you on your personal Tour of Mastery and be there to provide you with experienced thought partners and multi-source feedback. You can create your own opportunities, while we encourage you to take risks. Don’t be afraid of failures. Learn from them.
• Finally, have fun! We provide one of the most international environments you can find and are dedicated to making your job fun. We know that you can only give your best, if you enjoy it. With our weekly Tech Talks, more than 100 guilds (from our API guild to our football or gaming guilds) and our semi-annual Hack Week, you can build your own Zalando experience.
Want to join us? Then go ahead and apply!
If you are interested, please apply! Or if you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact Rani Verschoor.