Technical Project Manager

Wattpad is a global multiplatform entertainment company whose vision is to entertain and connect the world through stories. Since 2006, we’ve been on a mission to use the power of community and technology to unleash the full potential of stories to the world. Every month 90 million people around the world spend over 23 billion minutes on Wattpad to share and discover stories they can’t find anywhere else.  Our brand banner includes: Wattpad, W Ventures, Wattpad WEBTOON Studios, Wattpad Books and Wattpad Brand Partnerships. We’re proudly based in Toronto, but our reach is global. Come build the future of entertainment and storytelling, and write your next chapter with us!

We are looking for a Technical Project Manager to join our Data organization. The purpose of our teams is to own and manage all Wattpad data assets as a single source of truth, democratize access and the ability to contribute to the data repository, and provide data products and data services with the goal of improving operational and product decisions.

As the Technical Project Manager, you will bring your advanced knowledge of agile and lean practices, sharing your passion to keep up with evolving practices as a way to constantly improve delivery. As a crucial member of this team, 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. You would also look at opportunities for efficient cross-team collaboration/outreach, figuring out dependencies, coaching, and facilitating discussions among groups.

If you like solving problems and tackling challenges in a supportive environment, and love shipping code at a huge scale; Wattpad is the place for you. Your work will reach a massive global audience: our apps have 130 million total downloads!

What You'll Be Doing:

• Driving delivery on a cross-functional team, or teams, working closely with Product Manager, Engineering Manager and Engineers to refine the product experience

• Motivate the team through delivery tasks and keep morale high under challenges

• Gather necessary information e.g. context from a user & business perspective, and use this to ensure that the team is working on the most important thing at any given time

• Strategize and plan the critical path; working with the team to anticipate technical & staffing investments required to enable our team as we work towards our mission

• Lead stakeholder management throughout delivery, and provide proactive guidance around how to most effectively solve your teams’ problems

• Forming a deep partnership with the Product Manager, and keeping them in the know regarding strategies, plans, ongoing delivery work, and any meaningful changes that may arise

• Provide informal mentorship to other project managers on the Delivery (Project Management) team

• Guiding and coaching the engineering teams on using Agile practices and principles to deliver high-quality products

What We're Looking For:

• 3+ years of experience as a project manager working with technical teams on agile software development projects

• A proven task manager who can empower the team through the delivery process i.e. instead of telling them what to do, working through problems collaboratively

• 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

• An advocate for IC’s and 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

• Experience leading a team in an agile environment

• Sincerely enjoy developing across platforms and technology stack

What We Offer:

• Competitive salary

• Career development; we believe in mentorship and supporting you to achieve your goals

• Health benefits, fully covered on us!

• RRSP Contributions (Canada), 401K Contributions (USA)

• Generous vacation and Parental Leave Top-up

• Monthly Transit and Home Office Allowance, choice of hardware, flexible hours, hybrid office and remote work options

• Corporate discount for gym membership for you and your family

• Summer Fridays with afternoons off!

• And a whole lot more!

Wattpad is conducting all interviews in a distributed manner using applicable third party software where needed and using visual interface tools such as Google Hangouts and Zoom.

About Wattpad

Who are we? Entrepreneurs and Do-ers. Our vision is to entertain and connect the world through stories, and our mission is to use the power of community and technology to unleash the full potential of stories to the world.

What does that mean? We are visionaries, community builders, passionate problem solvers, storytellers, coffee snobs (tea drinkers, too!), curious by nature, and culturally diverse.

What are we obsessed with? Our users. Solving complex problems and maximizing flow. Learning constantly. Building the next great storytelling product. Finding the greatest stories ever told. Dogs (and cats), coffee, and good snacks.

How do we work? Autonomously, collaboratively, respectfully. Balancing with work, family, and play...and all while having a great time.

Wattpad is a remote friendly company and encourages remote candidates to apply as long as they are located and authorized to work in either the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) as a precondition of employment. We are not able to sponsor applicants for work permits.

If you happen to live near the areas of either Toronto, Ontario or Halifax, Nova Scotia, you may also have the opportunity to work from our beautiful offices - 1 located in Downtown Toronto and the other in Downtown Halifax, both with easy access to transit.

Culture and Diversity

Wattpad is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate. Period. 

Wattpad welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process. We have taken a leadership position on creating a culture and an organization that truly values diversity. We are committed to fostering a global team that reflects the diversity of the Wattpad community. At Wattpad, we believe cultural fit doesn’t mean culturally identical, and diversity of thought helps us to challenge one another to think big and think differently. We consider employment applicants without regard to age, race, colour, national origin, citizenship, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, marital status, disability status or any other protected status.  

If you have any special needs or accessibility requirements, please let us know. We will do our utmost to accommodate, in accordance with applicable local legislation.