Marie has been working on some pretty big projects at tails.com including our very first Christmas product range. If that wasn't a big enough achievement, she's also renovated her new camper van (aka Rosa) in her spare time. I sat down with Marie to find out a little more about her role and what she's been up to...
Tell me a bit more about what you do here?
I work in a team called ‘Engagement Squad’. We look after the platforms or tools that our internal team use to engage our customers in a personalised way. This means we have two customers to think about - our internal customer (the CRM team, CX team or other squads) and our end customer - the dog owners! I work with a team of engineers to understand what our customers need and ensure our product supports them in the best way possible.
What does your day to day look like?
We’ve been working from home for over 6 months now, so with no commute I get up and do some yoga first thing before having a coffee while I plan what needs to be done that day.
At 10am every morning we have a stand-up (meeting) with the squad to check-in and see that everyone has what they need to work that day.
At some point in the day we may have a refinement session where we will talk about upcoming problems, how to solve them and what the options might be.
Sometimes I speak to customers during the day to find out about their experience - this could be a dog owner or someone from our internal team.
I’m also part of a cross-functional team that focuses on understanding and engaging customers as individuals. Throughout the day I will connect with people from that team as well (data, CX, Marketing).
How did you get into your current line of work?
At university I studied physical product design. As soon as I finished studying, I did a management training course for a retail shop I was working for but it wasn’t for me and after applying for a design based role at IKEA I actually started working within the marketing team instead. From there I stayed with the company for almost 10 years working in a few different roles and from store level, to country level, to the global team.
A couple of these roles helped me towards Product Management.
After this long spell at IKEA, I started to think about my next move. A friend of mine that works at tails.com introduced me to the Head of Product Management here who gave me a lot of good advice. I did a short course in Product Management at General Assembly and did lots more research and online courses. I realised that I have been practicing parts of Product Management from university all the way through my career.
After leaving IKEA I approached tails.com again to see if I could get some experience and they offered me a 3 month contract as an Associate Product Manager in Growth Squad which led to a permanent position after 3 months back in the world of CRM but this time from a Product perspective!
Quick Fire Q’s
Outside of work, what do you love doing?
I like spending time outdoors. Walking, surfing, skiing. I spent the last 8 months converting a van into a camper so I can get away and do this more!
What was the name of your first pet and what were they?
I had lots of pets growing up, the most memorable was a Staffie cross called Cooper - I have a soft spot for Staffies since
What’s your advice for someone thinking about applying for a job at tails.com…?
Get ready to join a friendly, fun and ambitious team!
