We’re hiring a Product Strategist.
At Sanctuary — we’re a different type of product shop. Based in NYC’s Chinatown, the way we approach building things is more like a restaurant than a traditional agency, with an emphasis in providing our clients with an outspoken sense of layman comfort and hospitality.
Recently, our needs have been changing. We’ve been taking on larger projects, and working to solve bigger and more interesting problems for our clients. These solutions often start in the ideation phase, so we’re hoping to find someone who can help us take better grip of these challenges, and ultimately, create better products across the board.
We build high-design technology, with clients like General Electric, The Light Phone, Herman Miller, Adobe, Dig Inn and many others. We partner with the best design shops in NYC like Gin Lane, RoAndCo, PlayLab & Human NYC to create world class user interfaces & digital experiences.
That same thoughtfulness is applied inward, too. We understand that technologists & engineers have a strong sense of art and integrity, and are happier being a part of a team that promotes those values.
—
Who we’re looking for:
Right now, we’re looking for a Product Owner & Strategist to join our team. This person is excited to own every phase of the product lifecycle, from running early stage discovery activities like journey mapping and client interviews, to overseeing (and participating in) iterative prototyping and design delivery, and finally working tightly with technologists and coders to document and prioritize the agile development process though to successful launches and onward.
This person should have at least 2+ years working in (or adjacent to) digital product development
This person will work autonomously to research, synthesize and frame discovered technical opportunities, build out roadmaps and documentation, and ultimately oversee all steps in the creation of new work and products for our clients.
We believe people with backgrounds or interests in design, art, music, food or fashion tend to have a well rounded sense of design & quality — so a variety of hobbies or side projects is a big nice to have!
Key Competencies:
- Complete fluency in a wide variety of presentation, documentation & analytical tools such as Keynote, Airtable, Github/Zenhub, Google Docs, Notion, Mixpanel, GA, or equivalents
- Strong user centric & product landscape research skills, combined with a knack for turning those discoveries into a cohesive vision with clear actionable insights, through the lens of technology
- Excellent communication & organization skills, confidence talking directly with clients and leading projects by working autonomously and presenting high level findings & direction
- A passion for maintaining product requirement documentation such as user stories, functional requirements, key performance metrics, and post-launch analytics
- Confidence working with technical teams of designers & developers, planning sprints, prioritizing workflows and managing timelines
—
Nice to Have Competencies:
Our work is dynamic and alive, and for that reason, the below skillsets are super useful in our studio.
- Experience using modern interface design tools like Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch, Invision, Zeplin, or Principle
- Experience running agile development teams, conducting sprint plans, standups and other such processes
- A background in UX with experience organizing information architecture through high level screen maps & flow charts
- Comfort with the differences between working in systems like responsive web, and native, and an understanding for the inherent differences between Android & iOS
—
How we work:
We believe that there’s a better balance between the poles of freelancing & full time, and for that reason, we do things a bit differently:
- Profit Sharing: Every 12 months, we put aside a portion of profit earned throughout the year to be distributed to every member, through a simple calculation based on the overall team efficiency throughout the year, and time that each team member has been with Sanctuary.
- 100% Health Care: Unlike most companies in the USA, we are committed to going over and above the minimum employer contribution in providing at least one of our health care plans free to the employee (which translates to a personal saving of $1000 — $3000 each year).
- Investment Hours: We stop client work most Friday afternoons to spend time working on side projects, learning new technologies, working on art or music projects, and generally taking time for the things we’d usually never make time for.
- Ideas & Products: In our spare studio time, we work to build our own internal products to diversify & bolster our income. We create amazing technology products for our clients, so why not for the studio?
- Premium Fridays: In the spirit of Yvon Chouinard’s “Let My People Go Surfing”, the last Friday of every month is a day off. We think that well rested, calm and thoughtful team members make far better decisions, and 12 extra long weekends each year helps everyone stay focused.
- Start Time Flexibility: We generally start between 9am & 11am everyday, and do a solid 8 hours. If you’re an early riser or like a sleep in, either works for us!
- Optional 401k: Our payroll provider integrations with Slavic401k to provide Sanctuary employees a way to save for retirement, without all that tax.
- Transparency & Ownership: We release out Profit & Loss statements to the community each year, open source our best ideas, and talk business & money with everyone in the company. We’re proud to run our business with integrity, and for that reason we share everything with our team & community.
- Anti-bloat & Efficiency: Every business tends toward complexity as time goes on, introducing procedural bloat and middle management. Sanctuary instead employs a lean, flat management structure that can only work in a small, carefully curated team like ours. The outcome: we can move quickly and with precision, while never feeling over-managed.
- We chill too! Whether it’s gallery afternoons, our halloween parties, Unity code jams on our HTC Vive or upstate weekends, we do what we can to break up the work week.
—
Drop us a line!
We’re excited to hear from you! ❤ Please apply on Working Not Working, Angel List, or send us an email at hello@sanctuary.computer!
