Position: PM Team Lead – Maternity Leave Coverage
Location: Remote (Canada-Based Applicants Only)
Job Type: FTE or Contract Mat Leave Coverage
Reports To: VP, Strategy & Solutions
Salary Band / Rate: CAD$100k - $120k
About Us:
iamota is a boutique Shopify Plus Design and Development Partner focused on solving complex ecommerce challenges for mid-market to enterprise merchants such as Dollar Shave Club, Vega, Fox Factory, Zwift, Flamingo (Harry’s), Blundstone and more.
We’re 100% focused on Shopify and have been an implementation partner since 2018. With deep expertise in DTC, B2B, subscriptions, migrations, and rethemes - we turn merchants into Shopify success stories.
We love merchants and brands in the Health & Beauty, Performance Apparel, Sports & Recreation, Health & Wellness, and Pet Care spaces based in the US and Canada who sell globally.
Join us as we collaborate closely as a team with Shopify and App Partners to help merchants succeed on Shopify.
We’re looking for a PM Team Lead to cover our current PM Team Lead’s maternity leave starting March 3, 2025. Our ideal candidate is a proven Senior PM with at least 5 years experience managing large-scale digital projects (including ecommerce projects ideally on Shopify), and possessing strong leadership qualities with at least 2 years experience directly managing, supporting and helping other PMs grow.
If you’re passionate about people management, but also thrive as a hands-on Project Manager, we want to hear from you.
This role is split between Senior PM (70% billable), and PM Team Lead (30% non-billable) responsibilities as outlined below.
Position Overview - As a Senior PM:
As a Senior Project Manager at iamota, you will lead Shopify migration, implementation and ongoing enhancement projects, collaborating with both client and internal teams. Your role will involve managing all aspects of project delivery while fostering a positive and solutions-oriented environment. With your radar for identifying potential roadblocks and ensuring timely course corrections, you’ll ensure projects are executed smoothly and successfully with an emphasis on speed and quality.
Key Responsibilities:
- Project Leadership:
- Lead the planning of all operational aspects for large-scale complex ecommerce redesigns and platform migrations to Shopify Plus, as well as ongoing support and enhancement work for select clients.
- Lead project planning, requirements definition, timelines, and resource allocations.
- Plan, manage, and deliver projects with precision, ensuring adherence to timelines, budgets, and client expectations.
- Track complex requirements, across multiple work streams.
- Coordinate multiple stakeholder groups (including senior executive stakeholders), and confidently communicate with them, while managing expectations throughout the project lifecycle.
- Problem Solving:
- Work closely with client and internal teams to tackle technical ecommerce issues, and UX challenges, delivering creative and practical solutions, within scope.
- Translate complex technical issues and solutions for non-tech stakeholders to ensure clarity and mutual understanding.
- Team Coordination:
- Cultivate teamwork across client and iamota teams to ensure continuous alignment for the work to be done and desired outcomes.
- Foster collaboration among strategists, designers, developers, and QA testers to ensure all project components align seamlessly.
- Produce large-scale project estimates and statements of work by being responsible for leading the process and pulling contributions as required from other team members.
- Client Engagement:
- Serve as the enthusiastic point of contact for clients, building trust through proactive communication and regular progress updates.
- Obtain approvals at all appropriate stages of the project.
- Maintain ongoing client communication, gather and share feedback, and refine project outcomes where required.
- Project Tracking:
- Maintain a keen radar to identify risks, bottlenecks, or deviations, and implement corrective actions to keep the project on track.
- Be comfortable leading “tough conversations” with team members and clients alike, be it on scope, performance or budget.
- Own project related documentation: SOWs; CRs; RAID logs; invoice related details, and more.
- Project Performance Metrics:
- Ensure all stakeholders have a clear view of activities, milestones, costs, and risks at all times.
- Manage and track project budgets, resource allocation, and timelines to ensure profitability and client satisfaction.
- Monitor milestones, KPIs, and deliverables to ensure consistent progress and quality.
As PM Team Lead
With the support of our VP, Strategy and Solutions, the PM Team Lead will contribute to the continuous improvement of the PM team, with the goal to ensure a solid overall approach to project management, so that we can deliver best in class Shopify Plus solutions at speed and to the highest quality and satisfaction of our clients.
As PM Team Lead at iamota, your responsibilities include day-to-day people management for PMs and process refinement for the PM Team as set out below.
Key Responsibilities:
PM Team People Management, Support and Growth:
- Manage, lead and support the active project managers at iamota. Through recognition, feedback and encouragement, create a sense of strong PM team culture, community and resulting engagement.
- Take a coach approach to support PMs to resolve client, team, or project related issues that need escalating.
- When needed, review core documentation for project managers (eg. contracts, estimates, client communications), ensuring a high standard of delivery.
- Lead tactical and professional development (PD) 1:1s for PM team members, providing all PMs (Junior > Senior) with the appropriate opportunities to progress and grow within iamota.
- Help to define and track individual professional development goals and the functional team goals for the PM team.
- Prepare, lead and complete 3-month and annual 360 performance reviews for PMs.
- Identify and solve for performance and/or skill gaps for any PM on the team.
- Lead, plan and facilitate team meetings to share ideas, solve problems, and achieve PM functional team goals.
- Ensure each PM continues to gain Shopify IQ and knowledge of e-commerce best practices, to be able to add valuable insights and provide guidance and recommendations to clients and team members.
- Be a role model to the PM Team in encouraging team-wide contributions and sharing.
PM Team Process Execution and Refinement
- Be responsible for ensuring the organization and execution of core processes. Identify improvement areas, and either lead or enable others to solution and drive process improvement plans, in areas including resourcing, client management, project flow and others.
Resourcing-specific:
- Lead weekly resourcing meetings to ensure all project work is accurately forecasted, with each resource tracked to hit their billable targets.
- Coordinate with other functional team leads and the PM team to flag resource concerns, gaps, and identify the best resources for projects.
- Maintain a good view of active projects, to ensure a balanced workload for each PM.
Co-ordinating process and update rollouts:
- Refine and implement incremental process improvements that will help PMs work more effectively.
- Be responsible for ensuring that core administrative practices (for PMs) are kept on top of, including;
- project budgets are accurately tracked, and invoiced;
- projects are correctly forecasted and anticipated revenues are reported to CEO monthly;
- projects are being resourced ~3-month out;
- timesheets are submitted, checked and approved weekly;
- retro takeaways for PMs are being surfaced and actioned on;
- clients are made aware of vacations and time off;
- project managers have suitable coverage, and handover for time off.
- Be responsible for coordinating and tracking the rollout of client-wide process changes or functional updates that are identified by the broader team.
Management Team Contributions
- Actively participate in weekly Team Lead meetings with the other functional leads (Strategy, Design and Development), surfacing and tackling cross-functional challenges.
- Actively participate in our monthly Management Team meeting with Senior Leadership:
- Be the voice of and advocate for the PM Team; be it surfacing PM wins or concerns, client satisfaction, process initiatives, project risks, etc.
- Participate in the agency's annual planning process, along with senior leadership and leads from each functional department.
Hiring & Onboarding
- Identify when iamota needs to hire new PMs.
- Support hiring for new PM team members; review resumes, schedule and run interviews and participate in final hiring decision discussions alongside the VP, Strategy & Solutions and the CEO.
- Create and own the onboarding schedule for any new project manager.
- Have regular check-ins with new hires to ensure they are appropriately supported, onboarded and welcomed into the team.
Qualifications:
- Education:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, IT, Project Management, or a related field.
- Experience:
- At least 5 years experience managing large-scale projects (including ecommerce projects ideally on Shopify), and possessing strong leadership qualities with at least 2 years experience directly managing, supporting and helping other PMs grow in a digital agency environment.
- Proven experience running projects independently, from planning to completion.
- Direct experience at Shopify or managing Shopify projects is a strong asset.
- Experience operating in an agile environment (in one way or another); standups, sprints, backlog prioritization, you get it.
- Technical Skills:
- Ecommerce platform experience (preferably Shopify/Shopify Plus), with a solid understanding of the associated technical considerations.
- Solid knowledge across digital, business, UX and ecommerce best practices in order to be an influential voice with clients.
- Basic knowledge of web development technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).
- Basic understanding of B2B and the function and purpose of ERP systems.
- Tools:
- Proficiency in project management software (e.g. Asana, Jira, Trello) and collaboration platforms (e.g., Slack, Google Workspace, Notion).
- Soft Skills:
- Energy and Enthusiasm: A positive, solutions-driven attitude that inspires teams and builds strong client relationships; self-motivated and ambitious with a desire to help us work smarter; detail-oriented, and highly organized with people and projects so that you are prolific with your outputs.
- Problem-Solving: Ability to analyze and address technical challenges creatively and effectively; ability and desire to contribute to strategy discussions, bringing your unique perspectives to solve complex problems.
- Radar for Details: Strong organizational skills and the ability to anticipate risks or delays before they arise.
- Exceptional Communication and Leadership: Ability to foster collaboration in a remote work environment; excellent verbal and written communication skills; and confident running meetings and presenting to clients.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Shopify certifications or equivalent credentials.
- PMP Certified; Certified ScrumMaster (CSM); or Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO).
- Experience with ecommerce platforms (e.g. Shopify, SFCC, Magento, WooCommerce, Custom).
- Familiarity with performance optimization for ecommerce sites and Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) fundamentals.
Perks & Benefits
- Opportunities to work on exciting and innovative ecommerce projects for leading brands.
- A vibrant, supportive team culture that encourages learning and growth.
- Fully remote work environment and culture.
- Monthly remote work allowance.
- Competitive health benefits plan with dental and vision.
- Competitive PTO policy plus extra paid time off for your birthday; a floating holiday to be used for a cultural or religious holiday of your choice - no questions asked; reduced summer hours; and extra time at the end of year.
- Unlimited sick days.
- Progressive parental leave policy.
- Professional development planning and related allowance.
- Bi-annual goal setting and bi-weekly 1:1s.
- MacBook (and related peripherals) for business use.
- Annual team-wide in-person agency meetup.
We’re always working to make our workplace a safe space for all people. One of our core values at iamota has always been to seek various viewpoints (be open to other perspectives). To us, this means we are smart alone but together we are genius. We are curious and trusting. We want to know what you think regardless of your gender, your gods, your sex life, your disability status, or your skin colour. If you’re smart and good at what you do, come as you are. We are progressive, open-minded, and proudly an equal opportunity employer.
Our Primary Tool Stack:
- Google Drive; Zoom; Slack; Notion; Asana; Harvest Time Tracking & Harvest Forecast Resourcing; Figma; and Miro
How to Apply:
If you’re passionate about people management, but also thrive as a hands-on Project Manager, we want to hear from you.
Submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your experience managing PMs, and managing digital projects, including ecommerce projects.
Please include at least three (3) URLs for ecommerce specific projects you’ve managed as PM and be prepared to talk through the projects to showcase your expertise as a PM and as a people manager during the interview process if you are selected for an interview.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, so apply early!
