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AppFolio

Technical Product Manager - Developer Productivity

AppFolio, Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60290

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Technical Product Manager, Developer Productivity Join to apply for the

Technical Product Manager, Developer Productivity

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AppFolio .

We’re innovators, changemakers, and collaborators. We’re a cloud-based powerhouse that creates products to make our customers’ lives easier. We’re revolutionizing the way people do business, and we listen to our customers; it’s in our DNA.

Description

Most of our product development teams focus on our company’s customers and their needs. Some of us have internal customers instead: other product developers. This is one of those roles; you’d be joining a team that is responsible for crafting a software development experience that your fellow AppFolio product developers will love, so that they can focus their creativity on making our product even more awesome for our customers.

Developer Productivity Mission

We are evolving AppFolio’s internal developer platform to support clear domain ownership and continuous delivery, so every team can build high-quality software quickly and confidently. The Developer Productivity team empowers engineers with scalable architecture, tools, and guidance that remove complexity and boost efficiency. We focus on high-leverage work, support a platform-first mindset, and step in to solve critical issues when no one else can.

Your Mission

The successful candidate will be instrumental in elevating our engineering velocity and experience by bringing to life a new Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) platform. Your mission is to identify and prioritize the most impactful developer experience challenges within our day-to-day development tools and processes, inspiring the team to deliver innovative solutions that empower product development teams to deploy hundreds of code commits weekly with increasing quality, speed, and happiness. You will be the advocate for simplified and stabilized deployment experiences, partnering with fellow TPMs to establish documented frameworks and best practices, and collaborating closely with engineers across the organization to generalize their creative solutions, ultimately leading the charge towards true continuous deployment for all our product components.

About The Role

We believe that a good leader is passionate about their thing and gets things done effectively by fostering healthy team dynamics. They work closely with engineers from product development teams and fellow platform teams to build and communicate platform features, priorities, and requirements. This is a high-visibility, hands-on position that requires commitment, ownership, flexibility, careful planning, and attention to detail, all with an engaging and personal approach. And can we have some fun while we’re doing it? We think so.

Responsibilities

Work with engineering leaders and technical product managers (peers) from other business segments, to help shape the technical vision and execute on delivering customer value

Lead use case development, requirements gathering, requirements analysis, and transform product and developer needs into strong platform concepts

Innovate and improve the platform that internal developers use every day by promoting an ecosystem of developer tools and best practices so that the best technology is adopted to deliver customer value

Own a platform product lifecycle from requirements gathering through production, delivery, and adoption

Identify the right success metrics to evaluate platform impact, adoption, and developer experience improvements, ensuring that product decisions are data-informed

Build business cases that address significant technology needs and efficiency opportunities, demonstrating how platform improvements can provide a competitive advantage

Provide technical expertise in identifying, evaluating, and developing solutions that are cost-effective and meet product development and business needs

Responsible for platform capabilities definition: necessary features and functionality, and the release criteria; studies platform usability and analyzes technology trends to identify new opportunities for platform improvement

Be a subject matter expert in strategic focus areas by identifying developer challenges and defining opportunities to improve the developer experience

Be the go-to source of knowledge for the benefits of adopting new platform capabilities

Make trade-off decisions between possible and desirable, balancing technical feasibility and business impact

Engage frequently with product development and fellow platform teams to facilitate discussions, clarify requirements, provide input on acceptance and refinement, testing and validation, and contribute to design decisions

Meet with engineering leaders to shape the platform roadmap

Plan platform improvement launches with engineering leadership and collaborate on adoption plans as appropriate for launches impacting downstream product teams

Communicate with internal and external audiences the business problems, developer challenges, and approaches we are taking to fulfill these needs

You know you’re the right fit if…

You have excellent organizational skills, analytical capabilities, and attention to detail

You have strong written and verbal communication and presentation skills for both technical and non-technical audiences

You have hands-on experience or a technical understanding of cloud technologies, enterprise software, and IT delivery, particularly within governance, compliance, and security

You have informed perspectives on software architecture and can articulate a platform vision that provides the best developer experience

You can operate under limited supervision and drive results independently

You have a track record of delivering large, complex projects on time and within scope

You can develop and execute a successful product roadmap

You have entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to try different things with minimal direction

You have knowledge of product and program management principles, agile, scrum, and UX-centered design principles

You can balance UX, DX, and ease of implementation when delivering platform improvements

You have leadership, communication, and presentation skills, both written and oral

You have proven ability to build strong cross-functional relationships

You can collaborate across multiple functions toward a common goal

You possess business and technical savvy, a big-picture vision, and credibility to lead software teams

You stay up to date on trends in software development and IT markets

You enjoy describing and evangelizing the positive impacts of technology

Additional Skills And Knowledge

Knowledge of software requirements gathering and use case development

Experience with lean product planning, user story mapping, or design thinking

Experience with roadmapping tools (Jira Advanced Roadmaps, Aha, Productboard, Roadmunk, ProductPlan)

Experience with agile tools (Jira, GitHub Issues, Trello)

Experience with launch and adoption of internal developer platforms and tools

Familiarity with CD/CI and deployment tools (Helm, Backstage, GitHub Actions, ArgoCD)

Familiarity with Kubernetes-based service orchestration and management tools

Location

Find out more about our locations by visiting our site.

Compensation & Benefits

The compensation for this role is $114,400 - $143,000 base pay. Actual compensation will be determined by factors including skills, education, experience, and internal equity. This figure is one part of a total rewards package.

Regular full-time employees are eligible for benefits. See our site for details.

About AppFolio

AppFolio is the technology leader powering the future of the real estate industry. Our platform enables customers to connect communities, increase operational efficiency, and grow their business. For more information, visit appfolio.com.

Why AppFolio

Grow | Learn | Impact | Connect

We foster a hybrid work environment and a culture of collaboration and growth.

Statement of Equal Opportunity

AppFolio is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We value diversity and inclusion and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. No matter race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, ancestry, disability, or veteran status, you are welcome here.

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