Manager, Production

Sago Mini is an award-winning publisher of preschool apps and toys worldwide. We are supported by a team of artists, designers, developers, product managers, thinkers, and doers devoted to play. With over 100 million downloads and three subscription services featuring 45+ apps, Sago Mini brings thoughtful design to life for kids and parents worldwide. Along with Toca Boca and Originator, we’re part of the Piknik family – a collection of top-rated apps for kids in one subscription.

About the Role

Sago Mini is seeking a Manager of Production to help grow and develop our Product Owner and Production Management talent as we strategically scale our team to deliver on business goals. As a Manager of Production, you will be supporting our team of 3+ Production Managers and 2 Product Owners, in addition to collaborating with our Product Managers and Sr Leadership. You’ll focus on the team’s growth through mentorship, scaling our capabilities via internal growth and outside resources, and promoting a culture of quality across our studio.

This position is suitable for candidates with 10+ years of Production Management experience and also with People Management experience of at least 3+ direct reports. If you’re passionate about helping others grow and want to work on products you can take pride in, you’ll love being part of Sago Mini. We can’t wait to hear from you!

This is a hybrid role that requires the successful candidate to attend our downtown, Toronto studio at least once a week.

You’ll thrive in this role if you

• Take ownership and flourish in a fast-paced, agile product development environment.
• Can work collaboratively with product managers, designers, and artists and across teams
• Like to solve problems and are eager to learn new things.
• Have a deep appreciation of the details that take an experience from good enough to great.
• Are comfortable juggling timelines, content releases while focusing on the health of the collective team when faced with difficult situations.
• Can foster a culture of feedback for continual improvement
• Promote smart decision making within projects with an eye to business goals and product metrics
• Thrive in mentoring, coaching and supporting team members and direct reports
• Have a passion for processes and production pipelines and love supporting teams by breaking down complicated projects to help them focus on their immediate work.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Grow (attract, train and retain) our talented team of Product Owners and Production Managers who work on the Piknik suite of apps, helping them do their best work to make incredible experiences for kids and parents.
• Shape product roadmaps with Product Manager through better process and product improvements, delivering on quarterly goals set out by Product Managers.
• Collaborate with cross craft people managers (Engineering, QA, Production Management, Art, Play Design, Marketing) to deliver programs that support the wider growth of the team.
• Keep things organized. Have a system for cataloging past work, work in progress, assets and resources from external brands, the latest internal templates for Piknik, etc.
• Oversee and determine the tools teams will use for feedback including retrospectives and production critiques to ensure that processes are continually updated and meet the needs of team members.
• Meet regularly with production managers and product owners in 1:1s, allowing individual voices to be heard, and collaboratively find solutions or improvements to our way of doing things.
• Conduct regular performance reviews by soliciting feedback of team members and presenting it to production managers and product owners with the goal of continuous improvement in their hard and soft skills.
• Work with production managers and product owners to identify professional development opportunities relevant to their career growth, and equip them with the courses and tools needed.
• Have difficult and honest conversations with team members if their performance is not up to expectations, and we need to part ways.

Qualifications and Skills

• 10+ years of experience in the field of production management
  • Have collaborated with Product and production managers to deliver on business objectives
  • Experience overseeing growth work and experimentation
  • Experience working on mobile apps
• Experience managing teams of 10+
• Experience presenting to and working with a variety of stakeholders

• Great at gathering information from many stakeholders and filtering to achieve the best solutions
• Empathy and a desire for a strong understanding of your users

Nice to Haves

• Proficiency with a variety of project management tools
• Experience working on mobile apps
• Experience designing for children and/or families

About the Process

• You’ll get an email response confirming we’ve received your application, and we’ll let you know within a few weeks if we’d like to schedule a follow-up.
• If you’re moving ahead, we’ll book a call to learn more about your experience.
• If that goes well, we’ll send you a short homework assignment to get a better feel for your skillset.
• If the assignment goes well, we’ll book an interview with you and the hiring team to dive deeper prior to making a final call.

We welcome and encourage applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available upon request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

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Based in Toronto, Sago Sago Toys of Spin Master Limited a leading global children’s entertainment company that creates, designs and manufactures a diversified portfolio of innovative toys, games, products and entertainment properties. We hire humble and collaborative people who care about doing great work. Sago Mini is an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity at our company.