Description
Hello! Paper Leaf is an award-winning digital product agency located in Edmonton, AB. We design & develop innovative custom websites, web applications, and mobile applications –and we are looking to add a full-time Digital Product Strategist to our current team to help us do that. We have a fun, relaxed & flexible environment; a tight-knit team where your voice is heard; a variety of challenging, rewarding, and creative work; and room for professional development. We are remote-first (with in-person and drop-in time as required) as well; this position is open to applicants in Canada, with preference given to those near Edmonton, AB and/or within the MST timezone.
We work on projects for clients across the globe, and you'll be working on a team that values high-quality execution – not one that is hellbent on burning you out and churning out as much work as possible. You can learn more about our work on the Portfolio page , our team on our About page, and get a good vibe of our culture from our Instagram feed. Sometimes mission statements are bogus, but we believe in ours: to help businesses and organizations grow through elegant execution of design and technology.
As well, we believe that diversity in all regards contributes to a broader collective perspective that will consistently improve Paper Leaf and the work we do. We are working hard to increase the diversity of our team wherever we can and we actively encourage everyone to consider becoming a part of it.
Position Overview
The Digital Product Strategist (DPS) position is primarily a user and software research and consulting role. Often, their work takes place in the Discovery phase that precedes a Design and Build Phase, but they will also undertake their work in consulting, research-only, or post-initial launch projects. The DPS helps our clients, and internal teams, discover and define the specifics of what their digital product – usually large websites, web apps, mobile apps, or multi-platform software – can and should look like. They need to be able to walk the line between user needs and stakeholder needs; uncover requirements both stated and unknown; come up with solutions that others might not see; and ultimately make recommendations to our clients and projects teams with regard to features, workflows, and the macro digital products themselves.
The types of questions the Digital Product Strategist needs to help answer might include:
- What are the business goals we’re trying to achieve, and how will we measure them?
- What functional requirements are expected, and what are their priorities?
- How could we improve this product to help solve the client’s problem, and the user problems?
- What is the current state for this product, and what should the future state be?
- What should the MVP of this product encompass?
They frequently need to touch base with: the Design Director in order to maintain project quality and value; the Project Manager to stay on schedule & on budget; and the project Designs and Developers for iterative collaboration to ensure decisions made at the strategic level aren’t negatively impacting Design or Development’s role in the project.
Requirements
- >5 years UX/UI design experience, web development experience, OR experience in a product strategy, product management, business analyst or similar role
- 1-2 years of client-facing consulting experience
- Formal education in design, web/software development, product management, product strategy or business analysis is considered an asset
- A portfolio of work or projects – either product management, consulting, UX, UI, or development work related to websites, web apps, SaaS and/or mobile apps. You can provide a link to live work or a short PDF explaining 2-3 work samples.
Ideal Candidate
Are you the ideal candidate for this position? We’re looking for someone who...
- has an entrepreneurial spirit - you can see opportunities where others can’t, and can also weigh those ideas against business goals and feasibility.
- is highly organized and a superb communicator.
- cares about the user experience and can work to balance both user and client needs.
- is comfortable taking a nebulous idea from a client and working with them to create clarity.
- can understand and pull valuable information out of a variety of data sources
- works well in a team and can build rapport and collaborate effectively.
- has a strong sense of personal responsibility, accountability & organization.
- isn't afraid to ask questions.
Responsibilities:
As a Digital Product Strategist you will be expected to:
- analyze existing and competing digital products
- review analytics and other data sources to bolster product understanding
- recommend KPIs to measure hypotheses and goals
- recommend and use industry-standard methodologies (e.g. Top Tasks, user stories, etc) to capture requirements
- prioritize those requirements with clients into version releases and product roadmaps
- collaborate cross-functionally with content strategists, UX / UI designers, developers, project managers and clients.
- organize and conduct stakeholder interviews, user testing, user interviews and other quantitative and qualitative UX research sessions.
- create information architectures and workflow diagrams.
- make recommendations for features, criteria, and 3rd party services
- participate in and present at client meetings.
Expected Ramp-Up
Month 1:
- Learn about our company and processes
- Observe a variety of meetings and research processes
- Learn about the type of work we do
Month 2 - 3:
- Have an active role in 2-3 consulting and discovery projects while supported by another team member.
- Learn about our outputs and process and suggest changes to them
Month 4:
- Start leading individual activities related to your role
- Relatively independent in your activities and deliverables
- Deliver on time and on budget
Month 6:
- It is easy to draw back clear wins in our client’s business to your work.
- Projects you work on have a clear set of KPIs
- Able to work independently as part of the consulting team
If you don’t meet one or two of these requirements, but still feel you’d be a good fit, throw your hat in the mix anyway. You miss every shot you don’t take.
Please apply via external posting link.