Technical Product Manager

Location: Remote, mainly UK based individual, as travel to our London office will be required once a month.

Working at Ably means helping to build the infrastructure and technology that will power and shape the future of the internet: we handle the complex, behind-the-scenes realtime communication required to power digital experiences like chat, live updates in maps or apps, IoT device control, and remote collaboration.

Developers at companies like HubSpot, Toyota Racing Development, OfferUp, and Hopin choose Ably because, when it comes down to it, we’re the only realtime communication platform that dependably delivers at global internet scale.

The opportunity in front of us is immense. Our mission is to become the definitive realtime infrastructure of the internet while powering and accelerating adoption of realtime user experiences. We’re on track. Everyday we deliver billions of realtime messages to more than 100 million people in 80 different countries across web, mobile, and IoT platforms. But we can’t rest yet. In five years we want to reach one billion people everyday.

To see what life’s like at Ably, check out our careers page at www.ably.io/careers.

You will be responsible for transforming Ably’s ideas into reality. Each product or feature is treated like a mini-startup within Ably, with resources allocated from core engineering, web development, product marketing, project management and design teams. You will be working with close-knit teams throughout the feature lifecycle, from defining the requirements, acting as product owner during delivery, and working with marketing to ensure a successful launch.

• Know what a good product looks like and can articulate your vision to others to help inspire and focus.
• Have some experience with product delivery of APIs and developer-focussed web products.
• Like solving a diverse set of problems that may range from technical API design through to user-focussed UX challenges.
• Enjoy talking with customers to validate product development ideas and their requirements.
• Deeply care about customer experience. For Ably, we focus on developer experience, which starts with the APIs they consume, the documentation we provide, through to the online tooling and support we provide.

• Work with senior managers and the engineering teams to maintain the product and platform roadmap.
• Cultivate a deep knowledge of customer problems through research, engagement with the developer community, and customer interviews. You will drive initiatives to validate demand and commercial value of new features.
• Be embedded within the delivery teams, UX, and engineering to make trade-offs, steward the delivery process, and close gaps in requirements.
• Communicate problem statements and product (solution) requirements to engineering and document them in writing, along with UX wireframes or API scaffolding where appropriate.
• Work with product marketing and wider marketing teams to deliver go-to-market plans for new products and features.
• Define, monitor, and analyze product metrics, and feed learnings back into the development process
• Clearly communicate product plans, tradeoffs, and results to a wide range of audiences.
• Assume the Product Owner role in our agile delivery process.

• Some product management experience.
• Experience building a IaaS / SaaS / Cloud API product.
• You’re comfortable when things get technical, and are able to write code (in any modern language) to build prototypes that use our APIs.
• Experience defining APIs, documentation, and building UX prototypes.
• Strong background delivering solutions for developers.
• Knowledge of software development lifecycle process and methodologies.

• Software engineering degree or background.
• Experience working at a startup

Founded by two engineers who spotted a hard and largely unsolved problem, Ably is, at its heart, an engineering company. To provide the infrastructure required for a high-bandwidth, always-connected world, we hire engineers with a broad set of technical skills who are ready and capable of taking on challenging realtime engineering problems.

As a company and engineering team we’re committed to a future internet that’s open, with all engineers contributing to existing open source projects.

We want to work in a company of inclusive people who treat each other well. As an Ablyan, you’ll enjoy taking ownership and making an impact, with work that is both varied and challenging. To thrive at Ably, you’ll need to believe in and be prepared to do your work in line with our values, which are:

• Open for all. Open is a mindset. When open, we’re better collaborators, communicators and creators. Whether open source, standards, or protocols, open hearts, minds, and eyes. It’s better when it’s open.
• Bias for action. We avoid analysis paralysis at all costs. We lean into doing in order to move us forward. When we have enough of what we need to act, we act.
• Even The Best Do Better. We want to be the best – but that doesn’t mean we rest when we are. Improvement and growth – true betterment – is an ongoing journey. One fuelled by curiosity and taking risks.
• Technology needs humanity. Our technology means little without people – whether that’s how we treat our colleagues, or how we design developer experiences. Being human matters.
• Dependable people make dependable things. Dependability is integral to our mission and technology, but being dependable starts with our people. When we care enough to take real ownership of our products and problems – all else will follow.
• Bold creativity leads to the greatest rewards. When viewed through a different lense, what stands in the way can become the way. The bigger the challenge the easier the choice: bold creativity will always move us forward, create better outcomes, and set us apart.

• A good, competitive salary
• A great company culture
• Share options
• A remote first company. Unless you want to pop into our communal office space in Shoreditch, you’ll work from home most of the time, apart from when we have planning sessions and summits.
• Health insurance, including Doctor@Hand
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Wellness benefit
• Regular company away days and social events
• Weekly team drinks and snacks
• Ongoing professional development (training, events, conferences)
• Charity volunteer day
• 25 days of paid annual leave (33 days including bank holidays)
• Company contributions towards your pension

If you enjoy working as part of a technology company, value open source, and love solving hard problems – then we’d love to hear from you, regardless of whether you fit the spec exactly or not. If in doubt, drop us an email; we’d be more than happy to give you some advice on your application.