VALR Company Information
VALR has built the largest cryptocurrency platform headquartered in Africa, serving over 300,000 customers. We are proud to offer a suite of products that are helping increase economic freedom and build a financial system that recognizes the oneness of humankind.
There are a few things we look for across all hires we make at VALR, regardless of role or team. First, we look for signals that a candidate will thrive in a culture where we:
- Default to a high degree of autonomy and ownership combined with positive energy and truth-seeking
- Embrace feedback
- Disrupt ourselves
- Expect sustained high performance
Second, we seek people with the desire and capacity to build and share expertise in the frontier technologies of crypto and blockchain, in whatever way is most relevant to their role.
Our first step on that journey is making digital currency accessible and approachable for everyone, which we’re working to achieve with our suite of products that serve South Africans and eventually customers globally.
With the above in mind and our goals of disrupting the financial system and serving humanity, we require unique, dedicated and incredibly talented people to join the VALR family.
Product Owner
VALR is looking for a Product Owner with experience working in the crypto industry to help us build the next generation of crypto products
What would you be doing?
- Create and articulate vision for new products and features
- Own product development from conception to launch
- Effectively communicate with all levels of staff, including executive level stakeholders
- Work with an Engineering team to have a refined backlog that can be worked on iteratively to build and ship in small increments and apply the learning from each iterative cycle.
- Work with relevant tools to document features, manage backlog, enlist and provide feedback
- Write product specs, manage backlogs, and effectively prioritize new features
- Perform in-depth research of various kinds in a short span of time to help guide product decisions, including research with respect to: market, customer, competition, business & product
- Collaborate cross-functionally with engineering, design and business to develop and steer product roadmaps
- Identify and resolve inefficiencies in product management tools, process and workflows and recommend new methods for collaborative efficiency
- Be extremely focussed on helping the engineering team succeed based on solid research and by always being available to answer queries and guide product directions
- Work collaboratively with the engineering team around technical limitations and make tradeoff decisions bearing in mind the customer and product experience
- Conduct demos of new and upcoming product capabilities
- Run User Acceptance Testing and Sign-off on behalf of the business
What we look for in you
- Must have a deep understanding of how a crypto exchange works
- Must have a demonstrated passion for cryptocurrency and financial markets
- Is able to think critically about customer requirements and make decisions based on research and data
- Must have experience working with UI/UX experts and providing the insights necessary to create the best user experience
- Must have experience working closely with engineering, UI/UX and business experts to roll out B2C products.
- 5+ years experience, preferably in business applications development or product management
- Background working within an Agile environment
- Demonstrated ability to lead projects affecting many functions, including product, engineering, finance, compliance, and support.
- Ability to direct major cross-functional initiatives with effective prioritization and influence
- Experience collecting both internal and external customer feedback and requests, empathizing with their challenges and opportunities, and prioritizing roadmaps to optimize results
- Exceptional interpersonal communication, relationship management and organizational skills
- Deep analytical, prioritization and problem solving skills
- An entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to succeed in a fast-paced environment
- A deep desire to effect real change in the world, by building products for a new financial system that is more equitable for all of humanity
- A natural inclination to help people and the ability to explain technical details simply
Core strengths
- Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal
- Ability to operate independently in a demanding and dynamic environment
- Strong sense of ownership
- Driven by a passion to learn constantly
- Critical thinker not afraid to make quick decisions and follow through
- Ability to move quickly and adapt to a changing environment
- Strong planning skills and an ability to keep track of the details of a project while also not losing sight of the overarching strategic goals of VALR
What can you expect from VALR?
- Competitive salary: Get paid well to work in an exciting industry
- Leave: Flexible leave policy with 3 weeks minimum
- Remote work: Work from wherever you like - Employees to ensure that there is secure, stable internet connectivity in order to effectively work remotely
- Home office setup: Mac laptop and a discretionary allowance to buy all the extras needed to work happily from home - all of it yours to keep after 3 years
- Learning fund: R10,000 per employee per year for anything that helps you upskill for work, in addition to scheduled VALR training
- Performance bonus: When you contribute to VALR’s success, you’ll be rewarded with discretionary bonuses
- 3 months maternity and 1-month paternity paid leave
- Regular get-togethers outside of work
- Annual company retreats
