Technical Project Manager, Wattpad
More information about location
Platform for sharing original writing
Open for applications
Platform for sharing original writing
1001+ employees
Open for applications
More information about location
1001+ employees
Company mission
Wattpad's mission is to create a world where everyone's story can be heard, and anyone can belong.
Role
Who you are
- A agilist who can empower the team through the delivery process i.e. instead of telling them what to do, working through problems collaboratively
- An advocate for team members, ensuring that they remain focused on the most important issues to solve
- An effective communicator, you have the security to say no but also to recognize and negotiate effectively
- Process oriented - the idea of building something from nothing is exciting to you
- Experience leading a team in an agile environment
- Someone who relishes in creating a culture of learning and helping bring the joy of storytelling to millions around the world
- User focused - you have a desire to make great experiences for our millions of users
Desirable
- You have an engineering background, either through education or a career path
- You bring similar experience from an agile start-up or tech environment
- Previous ad tech exposure
- CSM, PMP, or equivalent
What the job involves
- We are looking for a Technical Project Manager to join our Delivery team
- In this high-impact role, you will work cross-functionally with our product and engineering teams to deliver on key initiatives and projects
- As a Technical Project Manager, you will bring your knowledge of agile and lean practices, sharing your passion to keep up with evolving practices; and constantly improve delivery
- You will think ahead and anticipate risks, blockers, and other potential barriers to delivery; working to address/remove these in advance and shield the team so they can focus on their day-to-day priorities
- Drive delivery on a cross-functional project team within time and quality constraints, working closely with the Product, Engineering and Experience Design teams
- Helping the project team with project planning, preparing a delivery plan that outlines the critical path activities, timelines and milestones of the project to ensure accurate planning and efficient delivery
- Establishing effective communication, collaboration, and decision-making within the project team
- Identifying, regularly monitoring and mitigating project risks and dependencies. Anticipating and addressing potential obstacles that may impede project progress. Encouraging an environment where issues are openly discussed and resolved
- Providing regular project updates to stakeholders. Managing expectations and ensuring alignment
- Engage with other project or technical program managers (TPMs) to discuss and align on potential risks and dependencies
- Collaborating with other TPMs and functional managers to define and establish project management processes tailored to Wattpad’s needs
- Assessing and analyzing the effectiveness of existing project management practices. Identifying areas for improvement by working with stakeholders to optimize processes, and addressing any challenges or bottlenecks that may hinder project success
- Maintaining project management standards across Wattpad’s projects
Our take
Content is king and Wattpad has managed to turn create a platform that aggregates the most loved original writing content in the world, turning the traditional publishing industry on its head.
Where authors used to submit drafts to dozens of publishing houses in the hope of getting some eyeballs on their work, Wattpad opened up the process to millions of young authors by letting them easily submit their work, and fostering a community around their software that offers feedback and help.
The e-reading platform is now looking to double down on its strategy of taking its user-generated fiction and turning it into successful intellectual property upon which original series and movies can be based. However a significant challenge for Wattpad is in producing original, marketable content from its platform given the popularity of fanfiction, stories which are based on existing intellectual property.
Another challenge for Wattpad is the current economic conditions which have affected much of the tech sector and are not sparing digital publishing. Having shelved bold plans for the future it also laid off 15% of its workforce in March 2023. Having realigned for its current business needs however, it is now well placed to weather the current market downturn.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Few candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
3% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 4 rounds)
Jan 2018
$51m
LATE VC
Apr 2014
$46m
SERIES C
Total funding: $117.8m
Company benefits
- Full health benefits
- Career development & Mentorship opportunities
- RRSP matching
- Generous parental Leave top-up
- Flexible hours
- Regular hackathons
- Healthy snacks & drinks
- Your choice of hardware
- Monthly work-from-home allowance
- Beautiful offices in Toronto and Halifax
- Easy access to transit
Company values
- UserObsessed- We make every decision by stepping into our users’ shoes
- Inclusive - We help everyone belong
- Trailblazer - We push ourselves on how we think and how we act
- BuildItForward - We’re always building a foundation for tomorrow
- PlayToWin - We’re driven to lead the pack
- Resourceful -We make the most of every minute and every dollar
- TeamWork - We do what’s best for the greater good
Company HQ
St. Lawrence, Toronto, ON
Articles
Leadership
Allen lau
(CEO)Lau attended University of Toronto where he earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering followed by a master's in the same subject. Thereafter he briefly worked as a software engineer for Brightspark before founding his first notable company, Tira Wireless, a mobile development startup. He is also the co-founder of Two Small Fish Ventures, a fund that invests in Toronto and Waterloo-based early-stage internet companies with strong network effects.
Ivan Yuen
(CSO)Prior to Wattpad, Ivan co-founded FeedM8 and served as the company’s CTO. Before that he was one of the first employees of Tira Wireless, where he helped grow the technical team and developed new and emerging wireless technologies. Ivan graduated from the University of Waterloo with a degree in Computer Engineering and also earned an MBA from the Rotman School of Management.
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