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Derek Zumsteg

Experienced product management professional based in Portland

Derek Zumsteg is currently the Head of Product and Senior Product Director at Sila. Based on his LinkedIn profile, he has extensive experience in product management and leadership roles across various companies.1

Career Highlights

At Sila: Derek is the lead product manager for Shared Account, Savings and Goals, as well as another confidential business initiative.1

Previous Roles:

  • Lead Product Manager at Manifold.co (2018-2019)

    • Introduced dual-track agile methodology
    • Provided product management support for five development teams
    • Contributed to partner pitches and strategy changes
    • Improved hiring processes1
  • Group Product Manager, Shared Accounts at Simple Finance (2015-2017)

    • Led the creation of a new shared checking product
    • Developed business case for a multi-million dollar project
    • Established the first cross-functional product team of 15+ members
    • Implemented user research processes combining qualitative and quantitative approaches1
  • Senior Program Manager at Zillow.com (2012-2013)

    • Managed the launch of a new business for real estate agent websites
    • Led the rebuilding of the agent CRM
    • Implemented gamification techniques to improve agent performance1

Skills and Approach

Derek is known for:

  • Developing product strategies and visions
  • Leading cross-functional teams
  • Implementing agile methodologies
  • Conducting user research and applying data-driven decision-making
  • Innovating in financial technology and real estate sectors

Education

  • Completed CPO Accelerator program (2022)
  • Holds a Certificate in Project Management from AT&T School of Business/Stevens Institute of Technology
  • Bachelor's degree in English from the University of Washington1

Derek Zumsteg's experience demonstrates a strong background in product management, particularly in fintech and real estate industries, with a focus on innovative and user-centric product development.

Highlights

Aug 5 · linkedin

🙄 at the job-finding advice from those who haven't searched/hired lately, so -- some advice, contra "just write a really good cover letter, I don't know why more people haven't thought of this, good luck":

  • all of these are going to be about being human and yourself
  • almost everyone I know who got hired into a more senior role got it through their network: being recommended, having someone say 'go talk to __ they were thinking about hiring someone like you'. That's how I heard about and got my Sila job, and my other offer. Those people know you, can know if you're a fit, and can advocate for what you uniquely bring
  • also, search times for the right role for senior people's been wildly long, so it's not you
  • that means you gotta work people, and assume your post got buried and no one saw it. Reach out to people you know, see what they know. Repeat if you're still looking - there's no shame here
  • every opening has 50 applicants day one and be overwhelmed with applicants and pulled soon, so you do have to make a routine of looking, set up alerts, all that, to get in while you can
  • the hiring manager is going to get dozens of LI requests/emails to book out-of-process 30m informational meetings. If you're going to hit them up, just know they're probably already overwhelmed - make your ask easy, personalized, and human
  • you're not going to win on qualifications or number of resume bullet points. We had junior jobs open and people with founding experience arguing they should be considered. Make the case for why you're the right person at the right level to be there and grow in the role
  • even tailoring resumes, cover letters, and application questions, targeting roles I thought I would be at at companies I liked, with friends sanity-checking the process, I didn't hear back at all on 90%+ of roles I found in the wild and applied for. At allllll. And that's at a "I'm spending at least a day writing one of the 🪄 ✨cover letters✨" level of effort
  • If you can enlist people to keep you on track and check those things, it's so good. Just having people to tell you you're putting in good applications and it's not you is priceless
  • The bare minimum for consideration is to be human - if your cover letter seems like you swapped out COMPANYNAMEHERE and hit send, you're going to get lost in the sea of 🤖-written applications. Be you. Be funny. Be a goof. Get noticed. Getting noticed and being turned down is the same end result as not being noticed and turned own
  • And I know, doing all that and tailoring your resume/cover letter while knowing the window is very short, making sure you're reviewing all the postings, talking to your network -- it's a job, and it pays to limit WIP and pace yourself so you're not writing something important while burned out. I set up a Kanban board, because I'm a huge dork, but there's a lot to be said for doing the mindless stuff while you're lower-energy so you can do a screening interview while fresh

Did I miss anything?

Jul 5 · linkedin

So happy to have done my first ever conference talk at Agile on the Beach, what a great environment to do it in -- and everyone's feedback and support was so amazing. Enjoyed meeting everyone, I was impressed by my fellow speakers, and I look forward to seeing the talks I had to miss when they go up online. Thanks to the AoTB team for having me, I loved being here, and thanks to the Penryn weather for making a Pacific Northwesterner feel at home with continual, soaks-through-everything mist-rain. It's the only way you get the greenery! 😀

#aotb2024

Related Questions

What are some of the top-secret business initiatives Derek Zumsteg is working on at Sila?
How did Derek Zumsteg's experience at Simple Finance influence his approach at Sila?
What was the impact of Derek Zumsteg's work on Zillow's agent CRM?
Can you share more about the dual-track agile method Derek Zumsteg introduced at Manifold.co?
What challenges did Derek Zumsteg face while founding his startup and how did he overcome them?
Derek Zumsteg
Derek Zumsteg, photo 1
Derek Zumsteg, photo 2
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Experience

Senior Product Director at Sila (August 2023 - Present)
Various titles in Product Management at Cross River (February 2020 - May 2023), Product Management Strategist & Consultant at Galois, Inc. (May 2019 - February 2020), Lead Product Manager at Manifold.co (2018 - 2019)

Education

Bachelor's in English from University of Washington, Certificate in Project Management from AT&T School of Business/Stevens Institute of Technology, CPO Accelerator from Product Institute (2022)

Location

Portland, Oregon, United States