DIRECTOR OF DELIVERY & OPERATIONS

Location: Remote / West Coast of Canada

Target Start Date: June 7, 2021

iamota is a leading Shopify Plus Design and Development Agency. As the Director of Delivery & Operations at iamota, you will be accountable for the overall delivery of all client ecommerce work across the agency. This includes leading and managing the project managers to ensure all projects are running smoothly and being delivered to the highest quality work for our clients, within timing and budget goals.

What we’re looking for:
We are looking for a Director of Delivery & Operations with a passion for ecommerce and at least six (6) years of experience within a digital agency or similar environment to join our team.

Working collaboratively with our Director of Development, Chief Strategy Officer and CEO, we’re looking for a team player with a business operator mindset to: own overall project delivery; manage and support the growth of our Project Managers; refine internal processes to optimize operational efficiencies; and contribute to the overall strategic direction and vision of the agency within our OKR model.

This position reports to our CEO.

What you’ll do / day-to-day responsibilities and areas of focus:

Oversee project delivery across all active projects:
As the leading “Promise Keeper” in the shop, ensure all active projects are running smoothly.

Take a lead role in defining the assignment to be done and providing a solid recommendation for the overall approach on each project.

Create a smooth project experience for clients by clearly outlining our goals and approach, ensuring better project definition up-front and overseeing the management of all projects from planning to delivery.

Help establish the right project team composition and ensure it aligns to the defined assignment.

Look for ways to improve the collaboration and communication of our internal team to produce better, smarter work.

Be an influential voice internally and with clients – be sought after and listened to through strategic thinking, problem solving, solutioning, relationships and true understanding of end user needs and the assignment.

Provide guidance as to how to most successfully and efficiently deliver various project types.

Play one of the leading roles in the discovery and planning phase of large scale projects.

Lead discussions to gather, refine and define project requirements and scope (business, content, user, technical and ecommerce).

Work closely with the Director of Development to outline the technical scope, as well as reviewing and recommending the appropriate Shopify Plus tech stack.

Support and guide the creation of project estimates and statements of work (SOWs).

Ensure all stakeholders have a clear view of activities, milestones, costs, and risks at all times.

Ensure PMs are obtaining approvals at all appropriate stages of strategy, creative and technical production.

Ensure PMs, designers and developers are not over-scheduled on project tasks and have everything they need to work effectively and efficiently.

Have line of sight into all active and upcoming projects, to manage resourcing at a high level on an ongoing basis.

Collaborate and communicate regularly with internal team leads on project resourcing, progress, and challenges.

Support and resolve client, team, or project related issues that need escalating.

Management / People Growth:
Manage, lead, guide, mentor, motivate and support our Project Managers.

Support PMs through bi-weekly 1:1s, annual performance reviews and progression plans.

Guide Project Managers in their professional growth, helping them shape their OKRs with regular reviews to ensure they are working towards their goals (aligned with the agency OKRs).

Meet regularly with Project Managers to discuss active project status and ensure PMs report on team capacity, utilization metrics and any project related issues in advance of the weekly health check meetings with the leadership team.

Guide the PM team through any project or people related issues. In escalated situations, step in and take responsibility to resolve issues.

Take the lead on hiring and on-boarding any new Project Managers as required.

Refine internal processes:
Refine and tune internal processes to optimize operational efficiencies.

Help increase profitability by sharpening our estimation of projects (being involved at an early stage) and by identifying any gaps where we can improve overall processes and efficiencies for project delivery.

Ensure iamota continually improves upon our project delivery foundation so that we can scale the agency over time.

Ensure our workflows are transparent, openly shared within the team and using more consistent methods through tools, documentation, team structure, meetings, presentation formats, etc.

Contribute to the overall strategic direction and vision of the agency within our OKR model.

Play an active role in creating and refining Agency OKRs along with the CEO, CSO and Director of Development.

Address and propose solutions to any issues related to delivery be it resourcing, deadline concerns, team member issues, project processes, and flag any gaps in talent, delivery or execution during our health check meetings held twice per week.

Provide strategic agency-wide inputs and solutions to improve overall delivery and operational efficiencies.

Who we’re looking for

EXPERIENCE / EDUCATION

At least six (6) years experience executing medium-to-large scale website design and dev projects, including requirements gathering and SOW creation.

At least two (2) years experience leading Project Managers, Product Managers or Producers in a digital agency or similar environment.

Shopify ecommerce platform experience, with a solid understanding of the associated technical considerations for ecommerce design and dev work.

Set up and keen to work within a digital first remote / hybrid model.

Self-motivated and ambitious business operator with a desire to help us work smarter.

Ability and desire to contribute to strategy discussions, bringing your unique perspectives to solve complex problems.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills – confident running meetings and presenting to clients, partners and the broader team.

Experience within an agile environment – standups, sprints, story pointing – you get it.

Experience with project management tools (e.g. Trello, Jira, Asana), creating project plans and timelines and working within Google Suite and Notion.

Capable of running projects independently, from planning to completion.

A relevant degree, diploma or equivalent experience.

BONUS POINTS (NOT ESSENTIAL)

PMP Certified.

Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) or Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)

PERKS & BENEFITS

Competitive health benefits plan.

Remote work environment (optional co-workspace in Vancouver post COVID-19).

Career and personal growth planning through our OKR framework.

Quarterly goal setting and bi-weekly 1:1s.

Lunch & Learns.

MacBook (and related peripherals) for business use.

Professional development allowance.

Remote work allowance.

OUR PRIMARY TOOL STACK

Google Drive

Zoom

Slack

Notion

Trello

Harvest Time Tracking & Harvest Forecast Resourcing

TeamGantt

Figma

Miro