Project Managers with Client Service Experience (Implementation Experts for ALEX)
Of all the virtual people Jellyvision has created, the tallest and least afraid of bears is ALEX®, the virtual benefits counselor (www.meetalex.com). ALEX helps companies talk their employees through the tricky choices they’ll have to make, like picking a health insurance plan, deciding how much to put in the 401(k), or whether they might want extra life insurance. Our customers love ALEX because he helps their employees figure out what’s best for their personal situations, which, in turn, saves our customers a boat-load of time and money - everybody wins! As we sell more and more of ALEX, we need more and more non-virtual (i.e., real life) people to keep the product amazing. That’s where you come in.
THAT’S LOVELY… BUT WHAT’S THE JOB?
We’re looking for Project Managers to serve as “Implementation Experts” for employers who license ALEX. This involves working with our customers (large employers and resellers) to deliver a customized version of ALEX that will delight and truly help employees make smart benefit decisions. You will become an expert in employee benefit plans so that you can work closely with our customers to understand benefit offerings, enter those offerings into our system, launch the product and provide ongoing product support. Please read on for more specifics…
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Project management
- Analyze customer benefit packages to determine fit with Jellyvision’s proprietary software. (Don’t worry if you don’t have benefits experience! It’s definitely a nice-to-have, but we can also help you learn along the way.)
- Document and communicate any fit issues you identify both internally and externally, and propose ways to resolve them.
- Work closely with the Production team to execute individual “releases” of ALEX for each customer you’re assigned to.
- Keep each customer release on track, even when you are feeling the pressure from our seasonal business. We try to mitigate it, but we need to be honest: we are really, really busy from mid-August through mid-November.
- Think at least two steps ahead to try to make everyone’s lives smoother and happier.
- Document process and product issues and ideas for improvement so that we are continually getting better at what we do and how we do it.
- Work closely with the Production team to develop future versions of ALEX and ensure the product continues to meet customers’ needs.
- Customer relationship management
- Manage the customer transition from sales to implementation/production, ensuring a smooth changeover between steps.
- Dazzle customers with competence, charm and wit so that they love us.
- Communicate project schedules and progress to customers so that they always know where we are in completing each release.
- Help customers understand custom project options when needed.
- Document customer-specific issues and custom work for use in future years.
- First and foremost, great communication skills. You will be responsible for communicating both internally and externally about projects (verbally and in writing), making certain everyone involved knows what is going on and what has changed. You will also need to be able to understand and succinctly bridge the gap between the creative and the technical, the design and the implementation.
- Great organizational skills and impeccable attention to detail (especially with spreadsheets!). We have that annual “busy” season called “Open Enrollment” that is much like tax season for accountants. Accordingly, much of this job involves bringing order out of chaos during a compressed, high pressure period of time. We’ve found that the kind of person who enjoys organization for organization’s sake is probably the best fit - we’re looking for the kind of people who derive great pleasure from making their budget balance to the penny, who enjoy creating binders for their takeout menus, who make spreadsheets when they pack for vacation. You know who you are. And we love you.
- But that kind of organization can’t make you rigid - you will need to be extremely flexible, because you will have to be comfortable jumping back and forth between customer meetings, sales calls, entering customer data into our system, analyzing customers’ benefits packages, working with our internal staff to resolve issues, and handling anything else that comes up in a day.
- Project and time management skills in spades. You need to be capable of balancing the need for an on-time, on-budget project while delivering a highly creative and effective end product – while maintaining a schedule that allows the team to have a life outside work!
- Technically savvy – or at least a comfort level with discussing and understanding technical issues. We’re looking for someone who is capable and comfortable working with engineers and who is ready to stay abreast of tools and advances in technology related to the interactive communications industry.
- Ability to absorb information quickly. You’ll need to learn our product, our systems for implementing customers, and employee benefits (if you don’t come in with benefits knowledge) all in a short span of time. If you’ve had to learn how to work with proprietary technology in a previous role, that experience will serve you well.
- The ability to be charming, especially while being persistent. We are but one of a thousand things that our customers work on, so it’s important to make them know what we are doing and keep them engaged, but without being overbearing.
- You must be an assertive, resourceful, and creative problem solver. Things go wrong. But you should be looking forward to anticipate areas of concern or risk for our projects. When unanticipated issues come up at exactly the wrong time (as they tend to do), you should be world-class at quickly and constructively working with members of the team to find solutions.
- The ability to jump in and help out. This is a “get your hands dirty” position, and you’ll need to really understand our business, process and tasks so that you can help others effectively do their jobs.
- You are going to have to be firm but diplomatic. The job will require listening to many different people with different sets of priorities and finding creative solutions that work for all – and barring that, ironing out compromises that ultimately maintain the quality of our products.
- Last but not least, a sense of humor is a must. Bizarre taste in music and/or deep knowledge of useless pop culture trivia is a plus.
- Project/Account management experience
- Past roles where you had to balance internal and external (customer) requirements and budget realities.
- Responsibility for schedules.
- The demonstrated ability to rock a spreadsheet, revel in the details, and possess the kind of voodoo magic that allows you to be both a task master and generally fun person to hang around with.
- Experience performing under pressure during a “busy season.”
SKILLS
EXPERIENCE
We’re looking for the right personality type as much as we are the right experience, so we’re open to folks with a wide variety of backgrounds, but our dream candidate will have:
- Other good stuff
- You must be a critical thinker. Someone who enjoys solving problems. A person who says “Aha, I’ve got it!” on a fairly regular basis.
- Experience in the world of benefits (medical, dental, life, disability, vision, FSA) in sales or account management, working in the plan design and/or renewal process is a plus, but not a necessity. Brokerage experience would be a major plus.
- Competitive pay, stock options and benefits. 401(k) with matching. And we pay 100% of the cost of premiums for medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance for our employees (as long as you qualify for our tobacco-free discount; if you’re a tobacco user, your medical premiums will be higher than $0). We also cover a really nice chunk of the cost of premiums for spouse/partner/dependent medical, dental and vision insurance.
- Casual dress and a flexible schedule. Come in a sweatshirt, jeans, whatever, like everyone else here.
- Creative work environment. We are lucky to work in a place that is full of intelligent, talented and innovative folks. Although most hours the place is deathly quiet (we're a focused bunch), this is punctuated with hilarious outbursts and general merriment, which makes a nice way to spend the day.
- Easy transportation. We’re really close to the "L" and the Halsted (#8) bus (right by the new Apple Store and Mega Whole Foods if that’s your kind of thing), and we have a transit FSA that allows you to dedicate pre-tax dollars to public transportation expenses. Since a number of our employees like to bike to work, we also have showers and lockers in the office.
- Did we mention our yoga class? We bring a pro instructor right to the office. Fully subsidized by Jellyvision and fully optional, btw.
- Oh! And you should know that we have a massage chair. And not just any massage chair, my friend. It’s the HumanTouch HT 5320 WholeBody™ Massage Chair. Feeling a little stiff? Sit down. Relax. Feel better? Good. Okay, back to work.
- Free food. Every week, we stock our kitchen with free healthy snack foods, and we have a “hot lunch” catered once a week to give people a reason to hang out and eat together. INTERESTED?
- A cover letter that highlights three reasons you think you’d be great for the gig, focusing on how your past work experience has prepared you for this position. Writing is key to all we do, and we weigh cover letters heavily.
- Your resume.
If you decide to apply, please know that every complete application will be carefully reviewed. Seriously! We know it is a time commitment to prepare an application. And we respect that effort by thoughtfully reviewing every complete application and responding one way or the other. But that kind of thoughtful review means that it sometimes takes us awhile to get back to applicants, so please NO PHONE CALLS. The time we spend responding to phone calls and emails inquiring about where we are in the process is time that we could be spending actually moving the process along – so please be patient with us!
Thanks for your interest in Jellyvision!
Great! We look forward to reading your application - make sure it includes:
Anything else? Yes. We share a commitment to excellence and a desire to work in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere, so we only hire nice, bright, funny people who are willing to work hard. Our credo is a simple one: be helpful. And we think we can be most helpful if our workforce is as diverse in thought, perspective, and culture as the people who use our products. We are looking to add amazing folks to our team who will bring diversity across many lines, including race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity, sex, and country of origin.
DOES THE JOB COME WITH ANY PERKS?
Yes, we love perks.