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We are working with Harbor Freight Tools in their search for a Senior Manager, Web Development based in Calabasas, CA. Harbor Freight Tools is a high growth mid-to-large privately-held multi-channel retailer with 350+ stores nationwide and a recently updated ecommerce business which is growing very quickly.
The Company has a unique value proposition – offering a wide breadth of tools-across power and air tools, home and garden, shop, automotive and hand tools–under its own brands at prices that are 20 to 80% lower than those offered elsewhere.
After more than 30 years of growth, Harbor Freight went through a reinvigoration process that began two years ago, where it brought in new management and began fixing its legacy systems and processes, and, as a result, HFT has achieved among the biggest top and bottom line growth of any retailer in the U.S. over the last two years-all without opening many new stores.
HARRY’S COMMENTS: We’ve worked with these guys before, and they are incredibly sharp. Very deep expertise in each function: World-class customer acquisition talent, fantastic merchandising, excellent UX/UI capabilities, and so on. Led by Brian Beck, the ecommerce team is one of the most growth-oriented in the IR-500.
What’s driving this search is the need to create leadership for an already-great web development team. It’s a new role, and this hire needs to drive the technical development of the site. This means accelerating the development of new site features that are robust, scalable, and intuitively customer friendly: HF has a very high Net Promoter score, and there’s lots of loyalty once the customer is acquired.
The right candidate will be able to assess the team to understand what they need to do; structure workflow; structure project flow; and establish metrics to assess the site’s overall effectiveness. The name of the game here is better efficiency and laying the groundwork for world-class ecommerce site.
You’ll need to be technically competent because you’ll be leading a team of engineers. You must be detail oriented; be great at follow up and prioritization; and have a strong command presence to set expectations and communicate in a way that’s hard on the issues and soft on the people.
Please Tweet this job, and you’ll be automatically entered into our monthly drawing. Just do it and see what happens: 2010 prizes included $100 Amazon gift certs, Dean & Deluca steaks, and Keurig coffee machines …
Position Description:
The Senior Manager, Web Development is a senior position in the HFT ecommerce group. This position represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a rock star ecommerce web development technical lead: leverage deep knowledge and experience in building technology and teams for world class web businesses and apply it to a huge opportunity for a category leader in a very large ($20B) market.
This is an opportunity to work in a collaborative, focused, high-energy environment and deploy the latest, cutting edge web technologies to create the online retail industry’s #1 discount tools superstore. The ideal candidate must be extremely intelligent, creative and possess the skills to construct an exceptional technical web development operation.
He/She must be comfortable in a “high octane” environment and be that rare candidate who combines enormous ecommerce technology knowledge and talent with a passion for driving innovation that leads to continued high-growth.
This special person must also be comfortable in an environment that is informal, apolitical, collaborative, and hands-on. Senior-most management prides itself in being willing to find the right answer, no matter who comes up with it, has disdain for hierarchy and silos, and values people who can identify and drive practical yet innovative business solutions in a priority that optimizes the longer term results of the company.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
- Ownership of all technical web site development activities, including front end feature development, third party integrations, and integrations with legacy systems
- Recruit and manage a team of Web Developers and project management resources
- Drive execution of the ecommerce web site development roadmap
- Lead thorough testing of all ecommerce applications and features
- Deliver technical design documentation
- Define third party software strategies for ecommerce operations
- Build an agile web site development and release process to produce cost effective, scalable, and manageable systems
- Ensure project goals are met within scheduling and budgeting parameters
- Lead and facilitate effective technical related communication within the team and with other relevant groups such as business users to define system requirements and modifications
- Work closely with IT infrastructure and application development teams to enhance web site speed and stability, ensure systems are upgradeable, and coordinate delivery of legacy and/or downstream system integrations.
- Constantly bring new technology solution approaches to address business challenges
Position Requirements:
- BS/BA required, MBA/Master’s Degree a plus.
- A demonstrated track record of success for at least 7 years in web technology or development experience in a LAMP environment
- At least 5 years of experience in a senior leadership role is required (Senior Engineer or above)
- Prior experience leading the development of ecommerce systems (front and back end systems) in a high growth B-to-C or B-to-B online retail environment
- Experience with the full development lifecycle (planning, requirements, design/architecture, development, implementation, support/maintenance); experience in project management in an Agile development environment a plus
- Experience managing high traffic/enterprise level web applications (ecommerce, CRM, CMS, Social Media, Mobile etc)
- Ability to understand business requirements and translate into technical specifications for highly detailed and technical developers.
- Proven ability to manage ongoing development, improvements, and urgent fixes.
- Experience with guided navigation, attributes management, Magento and Adobe products a big plus; experience in web analytics desired.
- Comfortable with rapid release schedules and fast development a must.
- The ability to lead the team towards the creation and maintenance of business roadmaps for continued growth; drive collaboration.
- Ability to execute and dig deep into detail yet maintain perspective on the broad business objective; a “roll up your sleeves” operating style.
- A strategic thinker that understands the capabilities of technology and how to leverage those capabilities to achieve business results
- Flexible personality with the ability to deal with ambiguity and to think outside the box and provide a continuous flow of new ideas and technology improvements.
- Results-oriented. Ability to execute and carry out strategic and operational plans.
- Talent developer. Skilled at attracting, retaining and motivating the team. A good judge of character.
- Strong interpersonal skills. Able to maintain and develop top-level, internal and external relationships.
- Effective communication skills. Crisp and clear. Informs and directs appropriately on both verbal and written fronts.
- Dedicated to the success of the company and willing to commit to necessary hours. This is an opportunity to make a significant impact on the growth of the company.
- Tough-minded and willing to stand one’s ground when deliberating on issues, but also flexible and willing to change course as the situation dictates.
- A secure, balanced ego and someone driven by need for success rather than the need for personal imprint on every decision.
Applications for this position are being coordinated by Harry Joiner. To apply, CLICK HERE. Candidates, please be sure to ask Harry for packet #1337 of market research and company / competitive intel that will differentiate you in your candidacy. Due to the competitive nature of this search, thorough preparation for these interviews with this proprietary material is strongly recommended.
