Web Product Development Lead

A DYNAMIC INTERNET GROWTH COMPANY in the travel and entertainment markets is seeking a Product Development & Project Management Lead to lead an expanding technology team in developing the next generation of our product.

The company is profitable and growing (even since the economic downturn) and has been around for 6 years and counting.  We still, however, go about our business like a hungry, aggressive start-up!  Our team consists of smart, energetic, fun, tireless professionals who love our clients and are out to change the world.

For an accomplished candidate who is looking for a leadership role within an emerging internet company, and who has the experience, skills and passion to create immediate results, this position provides the opportunity to lead a small and highly capable team while driving the company’s continued product development efforts.  There is no limit to the extent to which you can impact the company’s growth if you apply your skill and passion to help us succeed! 

This is a great opportunity for someone who has significant experience in the full cycle of internet product development.  We expect you to take control of a hard-charging team and direct the further development of our unique, proven and rapidly evolving web-based software product.  You need to be able to lead and inspire your team, conduct high-level strategic analysis and also get your hands dirty with specifications, product design, and in-the-trenches project management through to product launch. 

The Product Development & Project Management Lead reports directly to the CEO and works tightly with the heads of operations, sales and other areas, as well as directly with our clients, to understand emerging needs and opportunities.  Experience with a wide variety of business situations as well as a successful track record with technology project management, are absolutely crucial.

Please note that this job requires significant dedication and hard work, and commensurate with the position’s responsibility, will entail some work on evenings and weekends.  This is an aggressively growing company with ambitious goals, and the entire team works hard to achieve them. 

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JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
As the Product Development & Project Management Lead, you will be responsible for the full cycle of prioritizing, defining, and executing on product opportunities.

 

Some specific responsibilities will include:

• Define product strategy – analyze competing growth opportunities that can be seized via product enhancements, either by enabling penetration into new segments or deepening our product’s value within existing segments.

• Conduct market and product research – research ways to leverage technology and expand the product to meet emerging opportunities, including internal brainstorming, analysis of best practices and techniques used elsewhere.

• Prioritize and select opportunities – collaborate with entire company leadership to weigh strategic opportunities, needs from existing customer base and internally prioritized enhancements.

• Coordinate management signoff and approvals – for all product efforts, and manage expectations regarding scope, schedule and cost.

• Lead the development of requirements and specs – much of this will be hands-on, to fully define new features, and will involve creation of user flows, wireframes/page layouts, as well as detailed spec documents.

• Create project plans and manage project execution – work with the Lead Developer to produce development and testing estimates as well as project plans, and then manage the full team to those plans.

• Define user flows, information architecture and page structures – you will be responsible for structuring how users will interact with our product and site.

• Manage design & front-end interfaces – ensure that pages are designed and built to leverage the right combination of HTML, graphics, JavaScript, AJAX, etc. to accomplish product goals.

• Manage testing – manage testing of new product features to ensure the quality of the product, and perform final user acceptance testing of product.

• Manage external resources – identify contractors and vendors as needed and manage their efforts, schedules and budgets.

• Business impact analysis – evaluate operational, legal, sales, marketing, and other impacts of new product features, and work with the relevant teams to ensure the whole company collaborates to achieve maximum business impact from each release.

NECESSARY SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS
This position will require a broad set of skills and experiences.  In summary, you must have deep experience in website and web software product development, business analysis and project management, and you must be prepared to work hard to lead a team to achieve strong results.  You must have a track record you can point to that indicates success and business-impacting results.

 

The position will require a hefty balance of managing other people and teams, combined with getting your own hands dirty to independently conduct research, design and define detailed product specs.  The ultimate responsibility to design, develop and launch transformative products and features will be yours – through leading, managing and doing, the company will be depending on you to deliver bottom-line success.

Experience and Necessary Skills

• Must have great people management skills, for direct reports, peers and superiors.

• Must be an excellent communicator, both written and oral.

• Must have managed the full Web technology product development lifecycle, including strategy, UI/IA, requirements and spec development, implementation, and testing.

• Must have strong project management experience in creating plans and ensuring that projects are executed according to time and budget constraints.

• Experience with several of the following areas is required: e-commerce, social media, community, content applications, CRM, SEO, SaaS, Web 2.0.

• A thorough understanding of Web application development and Web technologies is a must.  (You need to understand these fully and have strong experience collaborating with programming teams to build products, even if you cannot perform these functions yourself.)

• Must be an MS Word and Excel power user.  Experience with MS Project, Visio, and Photoshop are a plus.

• A strong academic record at a top 4-year university is required.  An engineering degree, product design degree or an MBA are highly valued for this role, although not required.

Your compensation will include a base salary and benefits.  Equity compensation is a possibility for someone we are convinced will be an immediate game-changer.

You will be in the office during regular business hours, but this is an aggressive position, and you will be expected to invest significant time in your work, including morning, evening, and weekend time, depending on the project and situation.

The company is headquartered in SoHo, just south of Houston, and the office is easily accessible by the 1, 6, A/C/E, B/D/F/V and R/W subway lines.  Only individuals living in New York year-round should apply.

To apply, please send a cover letter tailored for this specific opportunity along with your resume.