Digital Product Manager

Crowdlinker is an end-to-end digital product studio based in Toronto with a relentless focus on our customers. We connect people through technology by being the strongest link between companies, their ideas, and their clients. We do so by excelling at digital strategy, creative design, full-stack development of websites & web/mobile apps, and digital marketing (SEO, SEM, PPC, Marketing Automation). Our clients include large startups like Freshbooks, PostBeyond, League, and TopHat, as well as enterprises like Unilever, Nestlé and DHX Media. We create cutting-edge applications using the latest technologies and design them with an exceptional user-experience.

As a Product Manager, you will be involved in every aspect of the product development process, you must have some design and technical proficiency in order to confidently be able to work with the team. You’ll be working directly with our clients to devise product requirements, estimate project schedules and cost, as well as lead design and development teams to create new web and mobile products for our clients. Ideally, you will have experience with mobile design (iOS and Android) as well as desktop. You understand that shipping a product is not the end of a project while sharing our healthy obsession for quality.

We are growing quickly, which means there are always new and exciting challenges at Crowdlinker. This is the exact opposite of a slow, boring enterprise job. We are looking for someone who is comfortable taking risks and solving burning problems. We embrace change, see challenges as opportunities and focus on solutions. We do offer great pay and benefits, but we won’t hire someone who is “just looking for a paycheck”. We hope you can join us to push the boundaries of what’s possible.

Product Management is not a one-fits-all job. Please only apply if you have a passion for the software industry and fit the job description.

 

Requirements

Must Haves:

  • 2+ years experience designing, building and shipping digital products in an agile environment
  • Diploma or degree in Product Management, Software Development / Computer Science, Business / Management or UI/UX Design.
  • Familiarity working within a story and task management system such as Jira, Asana, and Trello
  • You have excellent communication skills (written and verbal) and can clearly articulate your product decisions (You will be in client meetings presenting your work)
  • You can think at a high level about creative strategy and vision (not just ‘how it looks’ but ‘why we should build’)
  • You can manage time effectively across multiple projects and thrive in a fast-paced, collaborative setting.
  • You have empathy and passion. We need people who truly care about the client and their project.
  • You are a team player who loves to collaborate and bounce ideas off others – you understand that giving/receiving feedback is crucial in your development and growth
  • Experience with prototyping tools and have a knack for beautiful, functional design
  • Experience with an iterative design and software development process: incorporating feedback, launching quickly, and testing hypotheses in an agile environment.
  • Strong work ethic with ability to meet deadlines.
  • Experience working within the constraints of a project, coordinating your efforts and output according to the specifications of what is required.
  • Experience working as a part of an end-to-end development team, collaborating with and providing design direction to talented developers, understanding the technical requirements of what it takes to implement your design.
  • And finally… always asking WHY?.

Nice To Haves:

  • Certificates and Courses in User Experience considered an asset.
  • Project Management related certifications are a plus (e.g. SCRUM, PMP, CAPM, PMI-ACP, CSM etc..)
  • Past experience working in a software development agency or tech startup.
  • Experience developing user flows, sitemaps or prototypes.
  • Experience coding in HTML, CSS, JS and WordPress is a plus.
  • Experience with writing copy.
  • Proficiency in the latest design software including Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch, InVision, and Zeplin.
  • Experience designing complex solutions for complete mobile environments.
  • Experience conducting usability studies.
  • Strong knowledge of typography, color and other design principles.

What’s In It For You?

  • Learn and implement the latest and greatest in product methodologies (Receive up to $10k to take relevant courses.)
  • Learn faster by working on a variety of client projects throughout the year.
  • Join an experienced team of developers, designers, business-leaders, and digital marketers.
  • An opportunity to execute your product vision and exercise influence on building out innovative solutions.
  • An excellent opportunity to do something you are passionate about, while having a direct impact on how users interact with your products.
  • A strong culture of excellence, mutual mentorship, and transparency.

Responsibilities

  • Take broad, conceptual ideas and turn them into something useful
  • Design flows and experiences across platforms
  • Working closely with engineers, designers and marketers on the feasibility as they build and ship ideas
  • Lead local developers and designers to execute project deliverables.
  • Organize collective work efforts, creating and allocating stories in Jira, managing backlogs, facilitating scrum and sprint review sessions, and helping the team meet their goals.
  • Ensure that all projects are delivered on-time, within scope and within budget
  • Translate product strategy into detailed requirements and prototypes, while also developing project scopes and objectives, involving all relevant stakeholders and ensuring technical feasibility
  • Foster the relationship with the client. You are their representative within our walls and their point of contact. Know their business, know what they need and collaborate with them to determine product roadmap and strategy
  • Spearhead client engagement by organizing weekly checkpoint meetings, updating on status/progress, requirements gathering and being the PM they never had.
  • Sketching and prototyping ideas to test viability and how interactions feel
  • Iterating ideas based on feedback from the whole team and our clients
  • You will take ownership of results when your product work ships because you understand that shipping is the beginning not the end. You own the success or failure of your product work in the marketplace and are free to show it and discuss it in the product community. You initiate design and engineering sprints to improve shipped work
  • Talk with customers to understand user behaviour, paints points and needs
  • Translate this insight into ideas that will make our clients product offering better, both disruptive new products/features and detailed tweaking of the existing product

Perks

  • Competitive compensation.
  • Potential for stock in the company.
  • 5 weeks paid vacation.
  • Comprehensive medical and dental plan, which includes $800 per practitioner (e.g. massage therapy, physiotherapy, orthotics, acupuncture, etc…)
  • Downtown office in trendy King West area at 548 King Street West.
  • Flexible hours with an option to work from home once a week.
  • Optional company GoodLife gym membership.
  • Optional computer hardware.
  • Optional company mobile hardware and phone plan.

Duration Of The Role

This is a full-time, permanent role, not a contractor position.