We are Diesel Laptops, one of South Carolina’s fastest-growing companies! Founded in 2015, Diesel Laptops has grown from 1 employee to almost 200 employees and nearly $50,000,000 in annualized sales in just 6 short years. After outgrowing several buildings, we’ve now put down roots in Irmo, SC, where this position will be based. We’re currently an industry leader in providing diagnostic solutions to fleets and repair shops. Whether it’s on-highway (like tractor-trailers), off-highway (like cranes and similar heavy equipment), or marine (like powerboats), if it has a diesel engine, we help fix it by providing the highest quality diagnostic kits, repair information, parts information, and related training and support services as a one-stop shop efficiency solution!
We’ve already disrupted an industry by providing fleet shop total solutions that no one else offers. Now it’s time to revolutionize the industry by strengthening our brand through our revolutionary products and services you will help support.
We are seeking an experienced Product Manager to lead the charge in bringing user-driven software enhancements to market, helping us build better products that our customers love to use.
At Diesel Laptops, the user experience is king. This is important as we think about leveling up Diesel Laptops to take a dominant market position, understanding the best UX will almost always win battles for market share.
A successful candidate will have…
- An understanding of Agile software delivery practices, user experience-driven roadmap development, and requirements definition practices.
- A respect for user experiences with clear strategies for fostering a collaborative environment.
- An entrepreneurial mindset with experience distilling business values/goals into roadmaps/product backlogs.
- An understanding of common UX best-practices, curiosity, and laser-focus on what’s best for end users.
- An ability to understand various pressures software development teams face and manage them effectively.
- A focus on team success versus individual success with clear, succinct, communication skills.
- A strong will, clarity of purpose and direction, yet flexible and curious.
The Project Manager (PM) roll will…
- Continue the maturity of our Agile systems, increasing clarity and adding stability to our delivery process.
- Manage/groom development backlogs to ensure delivery of our highest-priority software projects.
- Ensure backlogs meet definition of ready, write, and refine solid requirements
- Answer developer/QA questions, helping to resolve blockers, articulating the “what and why” of each project.
- Manage/present quarterly roadmaps for their team(s) and provide input on annual roadmaps.
- With SVP direction, be responsible for strategic planning, business case development, product-market fit, and validation efforts.
- Articulate value, target personas, and provide user-experience details our Marketing and UX Writing teams will use to create compelling messages.
- Pioneer, evangelize, and evolve our practices, paving the way for a team and platform growth.
Job Responsibilities:
- Successfully apply your deep knowledge of Agile software development principles, methodologies, and practices within functioning software engineering teams to ensure delivery goals are regularly achieved.
- Succinctly and effectively define user stories, requirements, issue resolution criteria, acceptance criteria, and associated artifacts for steady, predictable, and value-driven Agile software delivery.
- Gather data, expert insights, various perspectives, and more to develop a well-defined backlog and near-term roadmap that will increase revenue and user stickiness; measure success with reported KPIs on a quarterly basis.
- Generate, manage, and deliver to a clear and well-articulated vision for your product areas.
- Show flexibility and curiosity as you adapt to change when new opportunities or data becomes available while balancing disruption to planned work and delivery team stability.
- Advocate for the best user experiences in roadmap and backlog grooming exercises, requirements definition, and release planning.
- Thoughtfully plan and manage feature releases to optimize user value and decrease negative impact.
- Continuously manage and groom each development backlog for 2 teams of software engineers such that we remove bottlenecks and blockers to delivery, and we have several weeks of work that meets the definition of ready at any given point in time.
- Deploy your strong sense of clarity, purpose, and direction to resolve issues and solve problems with regards to conflicting priorities, urgent needs vs planned work, unclear requirements, cross-team dependencies, etc.
- Collaborate and build trust with internal stakeholders, subject matter experts, UX experts, and engineers.
- Ensure strategic goals are reflected in your work and communicated effectively and often to the teams you collaborate with.
- Lead through influence to achieve delivery and roadmap goals while focusing on team success rather than individual success.
- Apply succinct, clear, and audience-driven communication skills to messages regarding roadmap, scope, and value when discussing these with customers and internal stakeholders.
- Pioneer and evangelize Agile software delivery practices, user experience-driven roadmap development, and requirements definition practices. Help the rest of the Diesel Laptops company understand these topics and how they affect their domains.
Required Skills & Experience:
- Intrapreneurial, self-starter mentality, and the experience to put them to good use in a team environment.
- Emphasis on team building and collaboration.
- Leadership and team-management interpersonal skills, even if only with influence and not direct control.
- Outstanding communication and presentation skills, both written and verbal, for internal and external audiences.
- Proficiency in communication for end-users and prospective users.
- Experience communicating value and usage details to internal and external audiences.
- Ability to build trust with new teams as they mature their own practices and experience change.
- Adaptability and a willingness to pivot or manage change as new opportunities or issues arise.
- In-depth knowledge of Agile processes and principles within a software context.
- An understanding of computer science principles as applied to modern software products.
- Understanding of business value around features/functions.
- Sharp analytical and problem-solving skills applied to tough decision-making needs.
- Ability to effectively manage conflicting stakeholder needs.
- Strong alignment with and a deep understanding of strategic goals and how they should influence near-term roadmaps.
- Proactive rather than reactive mindset.
- High-level appreciation, respect, and experience managing projects with a user experience focus and a deep bench of complementing UX-focused roles, including research and design.
- Curiosity and empathy with end-users so that you can identify needs vs. wants.
Preferred Skills & Experience:
- Proficiency with applicable work management technology and tools such as Jira.
- Familiarity with continuous delivery and deployment strategies such as truck-based development models.
- Experience with design system tools, such as Figma.
- Experience creating mockups or wireframes with tools like Figma or Whimsical.
- Experience with user behavior tools, such as Pendo, Amplitude, or FullStory.
- Familiarity and experience with product-led growth methodologies and psychology-based product design
Preferred Education:
- Prefer 3-5 years of product management experience or 3 years of experience in product design, Agile delivery, business analysis, data science, software engineering, or related field
- Or a bachelor’s degree in a related field and a minimum of 3 years of related experience
- Or an advanced degree with a minimum of 3 years related work experience.
- Equivalent certification programs also accepted.
Portfolio: If there’s a project you’ve worked on, a presentation you’ve given, or a doc that you think really showcases your talents, we want to see it! Send it our way, and we’ll be sure to look it over.
Travel: No regular travel required, though we may occasionally have you travel to the Irmo office if you are not local
Attire: Casual attire permitted. Professional attire may occasionally be required for specific events or meetings.
Other:
- Remote with the option of working from our Irmo, SC offices as COVID restrictions allow.
- Full-time, 40 hours per week.
- Direct-hire strongly preferred.
- For direct-hire employees, the salary range is $85,000 to $115,000 USD or commensurate with experience.
- Competitive benefits packages are available to direct-hire employees.
- US-based preferred.
- We are interested in every qualified candidate who is eligible to work in the United States. However, we are not able to sponsor work visas.
- May be subject to criminal background checks.