Technical Project Manager
Software Engineering/Product Development | Oakland, CA, United States


Join one of the fastest growing web search properties on the Internet: Ask.com combines world-class search technology with one-of-a-kind search tools to help people get what they are looking for faster. Ask.com, a wholly-owned business of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI), is one of the leading general search engines on the Internet. The Ask Network of sites has more than 174 million worldwide unique monthly users according to June 2009 comScore data. Ask.com syndicates its search technology and advertising solutions to a network of affiliate partners.
 
Ask.com part of IAC InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI).   Fortune magazine recognized IAC as the most admired company in the Internet Services and Retailing industry for 2007 and 2008.

Ask Partner Networks (APN) is a B2B organization providing online web services such as sponsored search, in addition to developing client applications to continue our user growth and global reach. We are looking for a top-notch technical project manager who can join our toolbar engineering team.
 
Interested in small teams? Or applying various project management methodologies and leadership skills to drive projects forward?  At Ask.com, we encourage people to bring the best ideas to the table as we continually reassess our approach to make sure that we're getting the best possible products out the door as quickly as possible.  Come be a leader in an organization where you can really make a difference.
 
You are passionate about web technology and customer satisfaction.  You thrive in a fast-paced, innovative, creative environment.  You know how to pave the way for successful project releases. You look at the PMBOK as part of the toolkit, but not the answer to every problem.  You have a passion for helping people, solving problems and delivering products.
 
The ideal candidate will have successfully delivered projects in client software and have the ability to balance formalized project management methods with real-world 'what it takes' leadership.
 
Key Responsibilities:

    * Lead high-visibility full-lifecycle development projects
    * Ability to coordinate multiple release cycles (daily, weekly, bi-quarterly, etc)
    * Coordinate deliverables with dependent teams, and 3rd parties clients
    * Ability to multi-task in a chaotic environment, with minimal guidance
    * Evaluate project requirements, tradeoffs, and drive team commitments
    * Detail oriented and develop clear project plans and schedules
    * Eliminate team hurdles & facilitate issue resolution

 
Critical Skills:

    * Planning - work directly with all stakeholders, as well as, designer, developers, testers, and operations to create and maintain clear, concise project plans that keep the team on track
    * Issue resolution - facilitate timely resolution to project & team issues
    * Communication - effective & efficient communications up to management and with the team; know the best communication method for the audience as well as the subject
    * Leadership - recognize the best way to keep your team motivated and moving in the right direction at a swift speed; be the 'go to' person for your projects and the people on your team
    * Facilitation - ensure common understanding across groups of people; you have a strong ability to bring people together and help teams reach consensus and/or agree on direction

 
Required Experience:

    * 5-7+ years of project management experience in a fast-paced environment, minimum of 2 years experience in releasing client software.
    * Ability to work in a technical software development environment and understand technical issues/requirements in order to facilitate the right solutions
    * Excellent written and verbal communication including ability to appropriately tailor messages to different levels of management/stakeholders accordingly
    * In depth experience with MS Project or equivalent scheduling and analysis tools, MS Office suite
    * Hands-on experience with multiple software development methodologies, preferably including hands on Agile experience
    * Ability to adapt to different team dynamics and be flexible in the type of processes used to track project schedules
    * Excellent analytical abilities - ability to understand the complexities of a situation and identify the appropriate process / people required to solve it
    * Proven track record of working closely with the engineering, QA and operations team through the full project lifecycle
    * Ability to work closely with engineers to understand technical issues/requirements and determine next steps to keep project moving
    * Proven ability to balance multiple long- and short-term projects simultaneously.

 
Nice To Have:

    * Experience in distributed system design and development environment
    * Experience with release management / coordination
    * Experience in toolbar applications / browser extensions.
    * Experience with Agile project management / iterative development
    * Software development experience with FireFox AZUL, Internet Explorer MFC/ATL, C/C++, Javascript, and various Installer technologies, Innosetup, WISE, Installshield
    * Prior usage of Bugzilla, JIRA or other bug tracking programs
    * Prior experience as a Certified Scrum Master


Ask.com's engineering teams are located around the world. This job is located in Oakland, CA.