Senior Technical Project Manager

About I See Me! and PlanetArt:

I See Me! is the leader in the personalized book market, with millions of copies sold through its website www.iseeme.com and high-end retailers. The company has developed an extensive line of award-winning personalized books and gifts that celebrate the uniqueness of each child and make keepsake gifts. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, People Magazine and other media have given I See Me! accolades for its very high quality, unique personalized books. With a customer base in the hundreds of thousands, I See Me! has continued to expand sales by developing personalized puzzles, coloring books, growth charts and other personalized products that feature the colorful and distinctive art from their beautiful books. I See Me! has recently expanded into books for adults with the launch of our new brand, Book Of Us, a relationship-based book appealing to thoughtful adult gift-givers. The company has plans to further expand its adult line over the next few years. I See Me! is owned by PlanetArt LLC, which owns leading brands in the personalized gift space.

PlanetArt's mission is to be the leading online destination for personalized invitations, announcements, home decor and other personalized products. We provide consumers with unmatched tools and content and an unparalleled end-to-end customer experience that result in high-quality and meaningful finished products and memorable celebrations of life events.

What You'll Do:

This role is part of the leadership team for the company and reports to the President of I See Me! Personalized Books. The Senior Technical Project Manager has two primary responsibilities:

Manage the team of software engineers and the projects that flow through the department.

Supervise, train and develop our team of software engineers who work both in the office and remotely. Note: This position does not require knowledge regarding how to code. This position requires someone who is highly proficient at project-management and working with software engineers to manage their workflow and to help them advance in their career.

Prioritize IT projects: Assign work to software engineers in a way that not only enables the company to meet deadlines but also helps to develop engineers. Ensure that project/departmental goals are met. Lead scrum meetings with both the US and China teams to make sure that the developers have everything that they need to complete their projects on time.

Support the preparation of our Technology Roadmap by leading offsites with the software engineers.

Proactively communicate with other departmental heads about when they can expect technology projects to be completed.

Provide project planning and management for established cross-departmental initiatives, particularly the development and launch of new books and products.

Own the project from initiation to successful completion:

Gather the business user requirements and enter those requirements into the company's project management software.

Create the project's projected timetable and identify the milestones for completion. Communicate the milestone completion dates to the respective departments.

For new books or products, complete the product set-up, and determine and communicate the detailed requirements to all departments. After the Creative Director defines the product, its pricing/format and its desired launch date, you will own that product and its requirements as it travels across departments, all the way through to its successful completion.

Regularly meet with each department to ensure that the milestone dates for the projects that you are managing are being met.

Proactively recognize and resolve technical, fulfillment, and people resource constraints with respect to timelines. Communicate with the leadership team if any projects are facing roadblocks that will hinder meeting the expected completion timeframe.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree required
• 5+ years' experience managing a team of software engineers
• 5+ years' experience managing complex, cross-departmental projects from inception to completion
• Demonstrated understanding of project management processes, strategies, and methods
• Experience mentoring, coaching, and developing rising talent in the R&D department
• Effective verbal and written communication skills
• High attention to detail

Benefits

PlanetArt offers a comprehensive benefits package including:

• Health, Dental, Vision Insurance
• Life Insurance
• 401(k) with matching
• Excellent Work/Life Balance - Paid Time Off, Sick Days, Paid Holidays, and Floating Holidays
• Hybrid Office/Home-Work Schedule
• Employee Product Discounts