hi there, thanks for stopping by.
What follows is a bit lengthy, but will give you a better idea of what we do, what this role entails and how to apply.
what we do
We’re a boutique growth agency that gives a damn about our work, our clients, our people, and doing the right thing. We specialize in:
- user experience research and design
- full-service a/b testing and personalization (aka conversion rate optimization)
- data analytics
about your role and the team
If you would rather feel trusted to use your expertise and problem-solve than have your manager hawking over your shoulder micromanaging you, keep reading! Here at surefoot, we carve out time for you to get shit done and deliver real value to clients. Leave the wasted time, infighting with colleagues and finger-pointing to someone else. You didn’t become a project manager to deal with that stress mess day in and day out!
As a project manager, you’ll enjoy closing out tasks and collaborating with kind, supportive co-workers who respect you and your time – both at and away from the virtual office. You’ll be recognized by peers, leadership and clients for your organizational skills and attention to detail, which are critical to your success. In fact, disorganized, dependent personalities don’t last long here. Nor do people with “that’s not in my job description” attitudes. When smart people collaborate instead of compete and bring solutions instead of problems, amazing things happen.
Speaking of collaboration, that’s something you’ll do regularly with our clients. We bend over backwards (but not forwards) to make sure they’re happy. Our goal is to be the best, most helpful agency they’ve ever worked with. To help us achieve that goal, we encourage you to share and celebrate your authentic self day in-and-day-out with co-workers and clients alike. Even if it means letting your “weird” show every once in awhile.
We’ll be honest; surefoot isn’t for everyone. We encourage and expect you to use your expertise, make decisions without a lot of oversight, go above and beyond to help a teammate or client, spend time to thoughtfully communicate asynchronously, and manage your own work schedule. If you’re a humble team player who likes to see and contribute to the success of something greater than yourself, then we want you to apply. Now.
project manager role description
As a project manager at surefoot, you’ll ensure our client engagements stay organized and on track and serve as the primary point person for client questions and requests. You’ll need to be task-oriented and enjoy learning new technical concepts, and feel comfortable collaborating with co-workers and clients alike. Most of our clients are e-commerce, so an understanding of that world and experience in it are beneficial, though not required.
We’ll look to you to write detailed specs for designers and developers, assist clients with technical implementations and move projects through our internal queue in a timely fashion. You’ll collaborate most frequently with product managers and work in tandem to ensure our clients feel heard, happy and confident in our work. Successful project managers are collaborative, organized and able to clearly understand and articulate technical concepts. Oh, and it helps if you pride yourself on delivering thoughtful, customer-centric experiences to end users.
a day in the life of a project manager
- start your morning with a cup ‘o joe and fire up your computer to check emails, Slack, check-in on live test results, prep a call agenda, etc.
- it’s 10:30 CST, time for our team video stand-up to chit chat with teammates a bit, then talk about what you worked on yesterday, are doing today and any blockers.
- shortly after stand-up, you’ll hop on your first hour-long client call of the day (video camera on!) along with a surefoot product manager, where you’ll start by talking with clients about anything other than the weather (weird news you recently read, the trip you know they just got back from, y’know, actual interesting stuff). Once you’ve chit-chatted a bit, you’ll walk the client through the status of tests in their pipeline and talk about the hypotheses you and the product manager have prioritized for the upcoming month. You’ll re-iterate next steps and to-dos and bid your client friends goodbye ‘til next time.
- after a stretch break and a #self-care Slack post to enter the monthly gift card drawing, you’re back at your desk knocking out follow-ups from the call – Slacking the client a recap, adding new tests to their roadmap, getting those tests into our designers’ and developers’ backlogs, and making sure everything is on track for the next few weeks.
- a few urgent Slack messages come in from another client, so you take a break from call follow-ups to assure them you’re available and ready to help troubleshoot.
- you spend your early afternoon putting together the deck for an upcoming executive business review with one of your clients, building a content matrix for a test, fielding questions from clients and team members, or helping project manage various tests in Asana.
- around mid-afternoon, it’s time for your second client call. You’ll rinse and repeat the above, except this time you’re spending part of the call advising the clients on how to implement an update with their product feed that is needed to run a test. Fortunately, you’ve anticipated their questions and know most of the answers, but for those you don’t, you confidently admit as much and promise you’ll circle back after digging in some more. Adding those to your to-do list, you carry on with the call.
- after this call, it’s another round of post-call follow-ups, then perhaps a few email/slack responses and checking in on #watercooler to interact with teammates before you wrap things up for the day.
role requirements
must-haves
- 5+ years of professional experience in user experience-centric role, including 2-3 years in a development, design or other technical role.
- 2+ years of e-commerce experience, either agency or client-side.
- the ability to relate to clients as peers and make them feel “heard”.
- top notch communicator with approachable, grammatically correct writing style.
- enjoy a fast paced environment and checking off a lot of tasks of different types in a day. You’ll hate this job if you can’t task switch or love endless back-to-back hours of “deep work” time.
- have exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail (e.g., if you found an error in this job description, it is still bugging you).
- experience with tools like Google Analytics, HotJar or FullStory, Google Drive suite.
- experience running efficient, organized meetings.
nice-to-haves
- cursory knowledge of HTML/CSS/JS and Chrome dev console.
- experience with A/B testing or personalization.
- experience creating low fidelity mock-ups.
- experience developing Google Slides or Keynote presentations with a strategic focus.
- working knowledge of statistical frameworks and concepts pertinent to A/B testing, including Frequentist and Bayesian statistics, p-values, confidence intervals, minimum detectable effect, etc.
- experience with tools like Optimizely, Dynamic Yield, VWO, HotJar, Asana and Airtable.
- interest in the outdoors or staying active (many of our clients fall into the outdoors and active lifestyle industry).
- funny GIF library, good emoji usage, sense of humor
salary and benefits
The position is full-time W-2 and open to U.S.-based applicants only. No Visa sponsorship is provided.
- Base salary: $80,000 to $100,000 (depending on experience)
- Benefits and perks:
- fully-remote team (even pre-COVID!)
- health insurance – we pay 80% of your premium, up to $400
- 401k with match
- 2.5 weeks paid vacation to start (more accrued annually)
- $2,000 technology / WFH office budget
- 11 paid holidays
- two 1/2 day Fridays per month
- self-care bonuses
- company-paid all-hands trips
- Climate Neutral smart thermostat reimbursement
- $400 learning budget
- client discounts
- new hire and client referral bonuses
- …more as the company grows, with your input solicited on benefits that matter to you!
ready to apply?
Great, we’re looking forward to meeting you! To get the ball rolling, please submit your application.
If all is well there, you’ll move on to phase two which involves a Zoom video call or two to get to know one another a bit better. If we’re feeling good about that, we’ll contact your references.
And finally, if your references check out and confirm you’re not a stabber, we’ll ask you to do some actual paid work with us to determine fit for both parties. This paid project is a nice way for both parties to get a feel for one another’s work, communication style and more.
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All applicants will receive a response. We know through experience that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds foster a stronger and more creative work environment that delivers better business results. We strive to create workplaces that reflect the clients we serve and where everyone feels empowered to bring their full, authentic selves to work. We are an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to building a company that embraces and celebrates diversity and inclusion. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We are also committed to working with candidates from all ability levels throughout the recruitment process to ensure they have what they need to be at their best. If you need accommodation during the application or interview process, please contact us to begin a conversation about your individual accessibility needs throughout the hiring process.