Senior Product Manager, Vivaty
Do you love bringing new ideas to life? Enjoy having your finger on the pulse of customers and taking those insights to build experiences that delight? Want to be on the frontlines of defining the future of the immersive web? Are you passionate about online communities, social networks, gaming/MMOs, virtual worlds, personal expression and their intersection? Can you beat Rock Band on Expert level guitar?
If so, you may be just the Senior Product Manager were seeking to join our team. Vivaty is an early stage startup at the convergence of the Web and Virtual Worlds and backed by Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (Google, EA, Amazon) and Mohr Davidow Ventures (Rambus, Brocade). The company is led by a proven management team that has been part of some the biggest names in consumer internet and digital media successes (EA, Yahoo, Macromedia, Excite). We are redefining the future of the consumer internet experience and will transform the way end users interact with a wide range of services and brands online.
The ideal candidate has a passion for building great products burning bright within. He/she loves working in fast-paced environments, and championing ideas to make them a reality. Creating a engaging and elegant immersive experience should be your mainstay. This role demands a blend of solid product/project management, with creativity and clear communication. Youll be responsible for keeping the team moving, and ensuring what gets built is what customers and partners ultimately want. Youll also work closely in helping explore, build and manage partner experiences during the business development process. Your contributions will influence the overall companys success and will have a far-reaching impact.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Contribute to roadmap by interpreting what customers want and market opportunity into compelling features and consumer experiences. Youre comfortable understanding research is a guidebook, not a blueprint.
Build thorough product requirements to guide development team. Thorough means a well-considered wiki spec and some flows, not 100-page Word docs with extensive UML, although if you can do those, well admire your determination.
Build creative solutions to uncharted usability and interaction design challenges. Edward Tufte parishioners may be cool, but first and foremost, we love clean, elegant and simple design to complement the immersive experience.
Work side-by-side engineers, artists and designers to collaboratively bring great ideas to life.
Drive the team forward with clearly communicated deadlines, milestones and just good ol project management. Were more wiki/agile folks; not necessarily MS Project/PMA zealots, but your skills should help anticipate and mitigate risks.
Help analyze market segments and opportunities, identifying the key partners for us to engage.
Provide business development support through diligent partner and project management.
Help transform partner opportunities into great experiences for both partners and customers. Then take those ideas, and make them happen.
REQUIREMENTS
3-5 years product management in online consumer services or creating immersive experiences (e.g., games, MMOs, virtual worlds). Demonstrated track record of building great products and services. Its helpful to have experiences at a variety of places, big and small. Skills in both product and project management are essential.
Know the nitty-gritty of the whole product development process. While we prefer more agile approaches, were not religious about any development philosophy. But have many tools in your toolkit so you can organize and drive the team forward the best way possible.
Experience and passion for online communities, immersive experiences, social media, social networks, gaming , MMOs, or virtual worlds. +10 points for each one.
Really Valuable Stuff: Demonstrated expertise with immersive experiences. Well think youre neat if you built a widely used online spreadsheet tool, but well think youre cool if youve built immersive experiences that take can take the customer beyond a 2D browser window. And would you rather be neat or cool?
BA/BS required. MS/MBA nice, but not essential. JD could be pretty impressive. PhD? Well, now youre just showing off.
MORE ABOUT VIVATY:
http://www.vivaty.com
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/technology/31chat.html?ref=business
Wired
http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/07/vivaty-scenes-t.html