Product Director (f/m) Job in Berlin 10119
At the moment, we're looking for a:
At Ableton, every feature for our desktop application, our website and our dedicated hardware is developed by a cross-functional
"feature team" that combines members from the organization's development and product divisions. The development division is
comprised of some thirty software engineers and testers and is led by the Development Director. The product division is comprised
of about fifteen members: PO's (Product Owners, per SCRUM definition), UX/UI designers, user researchers and testers. Currently, the
product division is led directly by the CEO. To accommodate the organization's growth and its ambition for industry leadership in
quality and innovation, we are recruiting a Product Director to lead the product division. The Product Director will report to the CEO.
He/she will work as a peer to the Development Director, Web Director, HR Director, Sales Director, Controlling Director and Support
Director.
Mission
As Ableton's Product Director, your mission is:
- to lead the strategic product development process in close cooperation with the CEO, and to relieve the CEO from his
operational responsibilities; - to build a product organization that does the right things, and does them right;
- to recruit world-class PO's, designers and researchers and to develop the product team to the highest level of professionalism
in their respective disciplines.
Responsibility
As Product Director, your are responsible for:
- User research - usability testing, surveys, panels, lab facilities.
- Design - interaction, usability, graphics, methodology.
- Competitive analysis - identification of best practices.
- Requirements management - sourcing, disambiguating, distilling of user feedback to requirements.
- Feature definition - definition of development projects in terms of outcome, scope, user stories, method and milestones.
- Feature selection - leading stakeholder negotiations, driving decision process.
- Feature and release planning - keeping a rolling forecast for all feature development.
- Budgeting - the assignment of resources to features (including the elimination of features).
- Managing of the feature life cycle - from kick-off through sprint iterations to post-mortem.
- Team leadership - recruiting, coaching and professional development for the product team.
- Substitution for the CEO - acting on the CEO's behalf in all product matters during absences.
- With the Development Director: Development process - roles, responsibilities, routines.
- With the CEO: Product strategy.
As Product Director, your do NOT answer for:
- Code, the software engineers, programming methodology, software architecture, quality assurance (from a technical
point of view) - but you will work closely with the Development Director.
Profile
To qualify for the Product Director position, you need:
- Years of experience as a lead executive in a technology business at least the size of Ableton.
- Proven experience managing projects that resulted in sophisticated technology products.
- Fluency with research on the design and development of technology products.
- Excellent people skills and conflict-management skills.
- Excellent analytic and problem-solving skills.
- Fluent English.
- Appreciation for elegance in technology solutions.
- Solid understanding of technology for musicians.
- Willingness to relocate - this position is permanently located in Berlin.
To qualify for the Product Director position, you do NOT need:
- Deep, up-to-date, domain expertise - you don't need to know about every VST plug-in (our PO's do), but you do need to
know your way around technology for musicians in general.
Opportunity
This is a life-time opportunity for a distinguished professional who, like us, finds music-making one of the most fascinating applications
of technology.
How to Apply
If you think this job might be right for you, please send your résumé to: jobs@ableton.com. Please put "Product Director" in the subject
line of your e-mail.