Looking for a job, looking to transition into a career in Product Management or learning about the latest job-search trends?

Interested in connecting with recruiters or other Product Management candidates?

Join the Product Management Community for an evening of informative panel discussion with stellar recruiters from leading tech companies in the greater Seattle. Learn about job-search tips, transitioning industries, and skills, that hiring managers look for in product management candidates.

Panelists

Kristen Fife (Zulily): A Senior Recruiter in Seattle, Kristen Fife is an industry leader for professional peers and job seekers. She has worked with organizations such as zulily, Wave Broadband, Comcast Technical Solutions, HP/E, Microsoft, Comcast, Xbox, the University of Washington, Harborview Medical Center, Volt, RealNetworks & GameHouse, bSQUARE and Varolii (Nuance Communications). She has industry experience with Amazon.com, Chico's FAS, and Star Banc. Her broad recruiting experience encompasses technical arenas such as R & D, software engineering, professional services, technical training, product marketing/management, UI/UX, art/design, and project/program management. Her job seeker's blog gets several thousand hits a week and contains advice on everything from resumes, interviewing, and compensation negotiation to internships and networking for college students. She can be found on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Ken Kranseler (280Group) is a long-term product strategist for both large technology companies and burgeoning startups, operating a consulting business advising startups on product-market fit and go to market strategy as well as teaching Product Management at the University of Washington and a Trainer for 280 Group.

Most recently, he was a Principal in Product Management for the Kindle Higher Education team driving Amazon’s strategy for expanding adoption of Digital Textbooks and course materials to enhance learning for college students around the world. Prior to Amazon, Ken drove product strategy at a number of Seattle area startups, including helping build INRIX from a 15-person startup with a large supply of crowd-sourced vehicle GPS data to a 300+ pre-IPO growth company that leverages big data analytics to reduce the individual, economic and environmental toll of traffic. Prior to INRIX, Ken spent 10+ years at Microsoft launching new consumer and business software initiatives including developing Microsoft’s initial entrance into the CRM business. In addition, he was a brand manager introducing new products and concepts for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Ken was actively involved with recruitment at both Amazon and Microsoft.

Ken holds a BS from the Wharton School at the University Pennsylvania and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School and began his business career as a consultant at Bain & Company.

Emily Bartram (Groupon) Emily has 4.5 years in technical recruiting. She started out in an agency and transitioned to Groupon where she’s been specifically supporting Product Management roles. She is a San Diego native and soon to be Seattle based!

Darci Lee (Affinity Talent Group): Darci Lee’s recruiting experience dates back to the days before computers, email, and the web, when persistence and dogged determination were (and still are) essential ingredients in the recruiting process despite the lack of modern tools. Since then, online candidate search capabilities and the expanded use of social channels for finding recruits have only amplified her expertise. From her early days in a college career placement office, doing college recruiting for ROLM/IBM, to her eight years working full-on in a fast-paced technology staff recruitment agency “boot-camp” in Silicon Valley, Darci has gained a high level of recruiting savvy and developed a large network of talent that rivals much larger competitors. On that foundation, she started her own technology-focused firm, where her “dotcom” era clients included Clorox, Apple Computer, 3Com, Software Publishing, as well as many venture capital start-ups.

Nancy McSharry Jensen (The Swing Shift) is CEO and Co-Founder of, the destination for women in career transition. She’s been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, at Seattle’s infamous F-Bomb Breakfast Club and the Female Founders Alliance Champion Awards. The award-winning Swing Shift is on its 8th cohort, a semi-finalist at Social Venture Partners Fast Pitch competition, and finalist for Seattle Chamber’s Women in Business Leadership awards.Nancy loves to get new and emerging businesses off the ground. She started her career at International Data Corporation, where she opened businesses on both coasts. At Microsoft, she launched operating system, server and early SaaS products at Microsoft, including SharePoint's market introduction. As an instructor at UW's PCEO Software Product Management program, she worked with dozens of student projects. Nancy took a 5 year break to care for her small children and aging parents: during that time helped grow non-profits like Girls On The Run, and oversaw an $800,000 education focused non-profit. She’s worked on the agency side as well, with a stint as account director at Sterling Communications. Nancy believes that women shouldn’t be penalized for taking care of their families, committed to getting women into the workforce on their own terms, and dedicated to 100% pay parity.

Matt Cholerton (Hito Labs): Matt is a Founder and Talent Acquisition Partnerfor Hito Labs; he has spent the majority of his career working with small companies and start-up/venture-funded organizations. Hito Labs is an internal recruiting partner for some of the best tech companies in the world.