Senior Technical Client Engagement Manager

1 ABOUT: Zamna is an award-winning private equity-backed software company creating digital intelligence within the travel and aviation ecosystem by connecting and validating passenger data. The highly secure, GDPR-compliant, and patented technology validates, verifies and persists traveller data such as passports, visas, regulatory / health data to drastically reduce the time spent on physical document checks.
The digital intelligence is created via a customer-centric dynamic checklist running invisibly in the background of airline operations, checking passengers travel data against ever-changing regulations according to the flight destination. Prior to arriving at the airport, and as part of the online check-in process, Zamna can instantly validate a passenger’s “ready to fly” status. This enables transit directly from the taxi to the aircraft with all document checks performed in advance, avoiding excess queues, streamlining airline and airport processes, and enabling the most cost-efficient operation.
Collaborating with airlines and government agencies since 2016, Zamna has completed more than 60 million passport verifications, and is the current holder for IATA’s oneID innovation award. Other notable associations include: a long-standing partnership with British Airways’ owner International Airlines Group; Arab Air Carriers Organisation (AACO); ICAO Global Travel Recovery project; a collaboration between Emirates Airlines and the UAE’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners (GDRFA) to improve airport security; solution deployments with WestJet in North America and Vueling in Western Europe; and investment from LocalGlobe – one of the most prolific and successful seed investors in Europe – as well as and Oxford Capital.
Zamna software implementation is as frictionless as can be – with no new infrastructure needed for airports or airlines. Crucially, Zamna achieves better data validation and security by sharing no passenger personal data – in any form – with any 3rd parties. Our award-winning, privacy-by-design architecture enshrines the principle that “the best way to keep data safe is not to have it at all”.
Zamna received a $5 million seed round investment from Venture Capital firms including LocalGlobe, Oxford Capital, FOMCAP, CyLon and Seedcamp and are now looking for a vibrant, culturally aligned Technical client Engagement manager to look after our strategic clients, help enhance product strategy and act as the conduit between the commercial and technical teams within the business.

 

2 BACKGROUND TO THE ROLE
This is an incredible opportunity to join an innovative, successful and growing VC-backed software business at a very exciting time of revenue growth.
The Senior Technical Client Engagement Manager will report directly to Alex Gorelik, CTO, while working closely alongside the CEO, Irra Khi and VP Product, Raoul Cooper. The successful candidate will take responsibility for long-term client success through the adoption and expansion of our software use, as well as ensure our product strategy and positioning are communicated to both technical and non-technical audiences within our customer base.
This role will entice a candidate that is ambitious, hardworking, thirsty to learn and push themselves to be the best they can – an internal drive which is shared by each member of the Zamna team. No ambition is too big, no job is too small – the team all do whatever it takes to achieve excellence.

If you want to fuel some of the most professionally satisfying, varied, and invigorating experiences of your career, this is it. Zamna is invested in identifying skills and strengths within an individual, and then creating career paths with these in mind.

The role will define and implement the playbook for how Zamna engages with clients as we grow fast. Repeatable, reliable and results-driven. This role will ensure Zamna is seen in a professional light as well as being a highly responsive organisation. The role will help guide a client from a pilot implementation through to a long-term relationship driving high-value change to the client and expanding their use of our solution(s).

 

3 IDEAL CANDIDATE CHARACTERISTICS
● Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal – and an affinity to connect and build relationships
● Exceptional level of personal excellence demonstrated through every interaction and piece of work produced
● Excellent organisational and time management skills and an unwavering ability to work well under pressure without compromising on quality
● Hard working, logical thinker – with meticulous attention to detail
● Growth/Curious mindset and an inherent drive towards self-improvement
● Strong, emotionally stable personality who either effectively spots, prevents or successfully deals with challenges and conflicts.
● Ability to formulate solutions or determine the best course of action, despite not always having full context or data
● Have a technical background with a strong ability to dive deep enough into technical concepts, development processes and issues – actual development experience is a plus.

IDEAL CANDIDATE CHARACTERISTICS continued…

Have an air travel background with a solid understanding of air travel systems and airport operational reality
● Have the desire to build a team and see success consistently repeated on an expanding portfolio
● Develop the playbook: tools and processes to repeat success and efficiency with a large and diverse client base
● Be a quick learner, swiftly grasping complex concepts and ideas, as well as deriving enjoyment from mind-bending amounts of new data and knowledge
● Be a careful listener, possessing excellent analytical skills and the ability to extract the essence of any given topic, from which responsible, pragmatic decisions are subsequently made
● Create processes and fully own them, while adapting quickly to ever-shifting priorities, context, circumstances, conditions and timelines
● Perpetual multitasker able to work on multiple projects/issues at the same time
● Work proactively with minimal supervision, having developed high autonomy in their work – a decision maker, not an order taker

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Objective: Manage implementation projects and provide enterprise support for existing live products, with a view to scaling this process wherever possible as we continue our growth

External
Lead integration scoping, estimations and planning with prospecting clients;
Create, manage, drive, execute and fully own the client integration process from the product and technical side;
Lead and participate in client technical meetings and calls; producing comprehensive meeting minutes, managing expectations and managing actions/backlog;
Chase stakeholders, remove blockers, bash through walls; Spot problems, identify issues and mitigate the risks arising from all of these;
Keep clients fully updated on progress via regular stand-ups and high-quality materials (decks, Gantt charts, visuals, documentation etc.);
Create, manage and maintain comprehensive project documentation;
Ensure scope and delivery plans are aligned to commercial agreements (either formed or forming).

Internal
Develop and guide the team using Agile principles and values, invoking specific methodology as needed (Scrum/Kanban/Squads & Tribes) for our unique full development lifecycle, where collaboration and collective ownership over processes are key enablers for team efficiency and success;
Collaborate closely with the VP Product & CTO on prioritisation, roadmaps, milestones, backlog, traction and delivery;
Represent the voice of the client in planning and prioritising product work;
Ensure that the product backlog is decomposed to the optimal level by the team so meaningful progress can be made most efficiently;
Facilitate, refine, optimise and evolve all existing processes – such as troubleshooting ongoing issues – while creating new ones where they don’t previously exist;
Report and track burndown – improve runway projections with ever-improving prediction of backlog consumption;
Spot problems, identify issues and mitigate the risks arising from all of these;
Liaise with commercial team if customer issues could potentially impact overall relationship;
Create, manage and maintain comprehensive project documentation.

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

Highlight and research various topics alongside product and customer development processes;
Contribute towards product development process decision-making – consolidating and feeding back the voice of the technical team;
Write scripts to collect data and perform comprehensive analysis, including hypothesis formulation and verification.

 

5 Location + Further information

The role will be hybrid with a minimum of once-a-week office day in Zamna’s London office. Some travel will be required in line with client needs and partnerships – up to 30% of the time, depending on project location and duration.