From time to time, Michael Kitces of Kitces.com has positions available for hire, either associated with Kitces.com itself, or one of Michael’s related businesses.
Current Career Opportunities At Kitces.com
Director of Platform & Reader Experience – 2019
Kitces.com publishes the leading financial planning industry blog Nerd’s Eye View, producing award-winning commentary on financial planning strategies and practice management trends for financial advisors ranked as the most Influential, Objective, Relevant, and Useful content amongst any online media publication for financial advisors. Our Members Section provides additional white papers, webinars, and the opportunity for financial planning professionals to earn continuing education credits, and we are invited to speak regularly at financial advisor conferences across the US and around the world to present our analysis and insights.
Unlike traditional media sites, though, Kitces.com deliberately generates no revenue from advertising or sponsored content. Instead, we remain solely focused on creating value directly for our readers, strengthening the awareness of and integrity of the Kitces brand, and being compensated both directly (for those who join our Members Section, hire us to speak and consult, or purchase Kitces Research), and through our co-owned financial services solutions for consumers (who may engage with our related financial advisory firms) as well as for financial advisors themselves (for whom we have a number of businesses providing service and technology solutions for advisory firms).
Kitces.com is hiring a Director of Platform & Reader Experience to be responsible for managing the Kitces.com technology platform, and leading efforts to enrich the reader experience on Kitces.com, both to strength our brand and value proposition for our core readership, and also to help shepherd the small subset of readers who may be interested in and the right fit for our Members Section or related consumer or financial advisor business solutions (without detracting from the reader experience for those who are not interested).
In essence, the Director of Platform & Reader Experience would function as a Product Owner for the Kitces.com platform itself, responsible for the entire reader experience of the Nerd’s Eye View blog, as well as reader journeys to our related Education and Research content, and the buyer journeys for those (both consumers and financial advisors) who would be a good fit for our related businesses (without interrupting the reader experience of the rest who aren’t interested).
So if you’re a technology and data nerd with very strong project management and team leadership skills who can’t stand the negative reader experience of websites that are filled with annoying slideshows and interstitial ads, who has always wanted the opportunity to work on a media site where you can truly just focus on actually making it a better experience for the reader (without the distraction of tyrannical advertising and pageview metrics), and have enough of a tech engineering background to be able to strategize about ideal implementation of technology systems to leverage the use of data and further improve reader experience and engagement… then this is the job for you! 😊
Description/Responsibilities
This entirely virtually-based staff position (work from anywhere, no relocation required!) will work directly with Michael Kitces and his team, and serve as the Product Owner for the Kitces.com platform, including managing a growing team of contract and future full-time employees in the Technology and Marketing/Engagement areas of the business.
Further description of annual responsibilities are indicated below.
Platform responsibilities:
– Oversee the infrastructure and architecture of the Kitces.com platform to ensure a reader-centric user experience, fast website load times, and reader and content scalability as we continue to grow
– Manage external and/or internal developer resources to:
– Maintain the core technology stack, including Rackspace servers, WordPress, Tealium, MailChimp, and ActiveCampaign
– Iterate on improving key reader journeys, user experience, and prospective buyer journeys
– Identify, vet, and select potential new technology vendors and platform solutions to enhance our core technology stack and supporting tools
– Project manage all platform enhancements, new technology deployments, and the developer and other external resources necessary to implement key projects
– Responsible for final QA on all platform iterations and deployments to ensure a quality user experience
– Develop appropriate data dashboard and reporting tools to track relevant business KPIs regarding both readership, engagement, user experience, Members Section adoption, and conversion to related businesses
Engagement/Marketing responsibilities:
– Manage team members responsible for external and on-site marketing initiatives to grow Kitces readership, along with the adoption of the paid Members Section and Kitces Research content
– Develop and manage cross-marketing initiatives to appropriately segment Nerd’s Eye View readers and then connect them with appropriate related business solutions
Key Candidate Traits
The ideal candidate should be self-motivated enough to work in a virtual environment with limited supervision, have a strong eye for reader/user experience with excellent attention to detail, substantial experience in project management and growing a team while holding them accountable to specific deliverables and time-sensitive deadlines, reasonable familiarity with technology tools and systems and how to think through their selection, implementation, and deployment, and a strong inclination for continuous learning and data-driven iterative improvement.
Candidates must also exhibit highly effective written and speaking communication skills, given both growing management responsibilities, and being able to engage with a virtual team effectively.
Technology engineering, digital marketing, and/or media industry experience is strongly preferred, but not required.
Compensation/Benefits
– Base salary $90,000 – $110,000/year based on experience
– Available bonus up to 12% of base salary, determined by meeting key Members Section and other business metrics
– $3,000 budget for additional training/skills education
– $2,000 budget for technology hardware/software or related office materials
– $3,000 conference budget
– Paid membership in the Financial Planning Association and/or another relevant membership association
– 15 days of paid time off for combined vacation + sick, plus 6 national holidays
– Participation in company 401(k) plan
To Apply:
Interested candidates for the Director of Platform & Reader Experience should submit their Resume and Cover Letter to jobs@kitces.com, and may include an (optional) up-to-2-minute video to discuss why they are interested in the position as well.
Careers At Kitces-Related Businesses
For current job opportunities at XY Planning Network and our related businesses, click here.
For current job opportunities at AdvicePay, click here.
For currently available positions at Pinnacle Advisory Group, click here.
For current opportunities for financial advisors at New Planner Recruiting, click here.
