Who is responsible for 'difficult hiring managers?'

The term 'a difficult hiring manager' has surfaced a few too many times this past week and it got me thinking.  Just who is responsible when a client becomes 'difficult'?  Is this a cause or an affect?  A symptom or the illness?

Within the context of hiring, a difficult hiring manager generally falls under one of four types:

Overly Demanding - They want 10 years of PHP, six years of the latest open-source tools and (well you get the picture.)

Overly Busy - No matter what you try, this hiring manager doesn't have 30 minutes to screen your candidate, much less put together the five team members to conduct the on-site interview.

I know it when I see it - Nothing like a moving target to get your recruiting juices flowing.

I'll let you now who I want to make an offer to -  A manager like this might have a giant contact list of people that they have worked with in the past, or they might have a headhunter (in their pocket - or possibly the other way around.)

The hiring issues around each of these are different, sometimes difficult to maneuver around/through, and might even leave you and your company open to litigation.  Sound fun yet?

So, back to the original question... Just who is responsible here?  What can or should be done?  Is it a symptom or the illness.

The "who" is generally NOT the recruiter.  Human Resources and the line management are really the responsible parties here.  HR is responsible for organizational (EG Personnel) development, training, etc., and a potential manager that exhibits these behaviors really needs to have a development (TRAINING) program signed and and a part of their review cycle before they take the reigns.  Line management should also be 'in the know' to recognize who are the real leaders, the real managers, the ones that are not only 'technically savvy' but maybe more importantly are the ones that really understand people, project and time management.  So, a difficult hiring manager is a symptom of an underlying issue.  It might be a lack of Staffing taking responsibility, control or having respect from the client group.  Or it might be a systemic issue of promoting without developing, promoting the wrong person, etc.

Lets assume that you're the new Talent Manager and low and behold... you've got a few difficult managers.  What next?

Answer: Write your engagement agreement down, get it signed by the hiring Manager & all members of the hiring team(s), the approvers (next level up in the chain of command)... and live by it.  Deliver, quantify.  Request feedback - quantify, measure the pipeline- quantify and report it to the hiring manager and team.  Basically, run your function like a professional service, be the Staffing Consultant that you can be, and deliver above the agreed upon Quality of Service (QOS) document.

QOS components: (Completed & agreed upon)

1. Job description (removes, both overly demanding & I know it when I see it clients)
2. Response, req review & interview commitments (removes the overly busy client)
3. Role & responsibilities  (or "Staffing is the Recruiter - there will be no pocket candidates") Any candidate that can show that they were treated differently than every other candidate in the hiring process has a very good shot at wining a discrimination case.
4. Budgeted compensation (hey it is a place to start)
5. Approvals by everyone

I'll be adding more, but I'd like to keep the talent acquisition process nimble and not a process drone.

90 days or less to fill job openings

As the number of job openings has started to move north, I am seeing a disturbing trend. Mainly that a vast majority of job descriptions are really poorly written

A job description is a SALES TOOL!. It is the first opportunity to sell your job to the A-players you want to attract, interview, and hire.

Do you know the most important questions a candidate should ask of the hiring Manager? Does your job description answer those questions?

In fact (as a hiring manager) if you can't answer these headline about your own role, you should be VERY concerned about your value to your company.

Back to your open positions... If you have good jobs that are left empty more than 90 days, contact me to conduct an evaluation of your job descriptions, your candidate pipeline and recruiting strategy.

gb



Greg Buechler is a Professional Recruiter with over 20 years of High-tech through Non-tech experience. From REALLY big organizations to the smallest of start-ups, Greg has seen it all. Greg is motivated by companies that strive to be a "candidate of choice" and provide an exceptional candidate experience.

Sr SW Dev Engineer - HPC

CLOSED Software Engineer – HPC Operations Aps Development

(company) is a dynamic, technology-driven firm supporting a large-scale quantitative trading operation across a wide range of global financial markets. Founded in 1998, (company) is an established presence in quantitative investment management with a track record of consistent profitability under varying market conditions.

The trading platform created by the (company) Group is among the most sophisticated and scalable platforms in the financial industry. To support the continued growth of this platform, we are seeking a Senior Software Engineer. The successful candidate will become a key contributor in the creation, management and development of operational automation as well as real-time monitoring of the company’s proprietary trading technology. The successful candidate will:

· Develop custom applications to support our high-frequency, low-latency, real-time trading operation

· Participate in an on call Operations Engineering Support rotation

· Work in a highly collaborative, cross functional environment including interface with traders and quantitative analysts

Essential Attributes - The following attributes are required for this position:

· 5+ years (more the merrier!) experience in at least one mainstream object-oriented language

· Experience developing system monitoring and task automation and tools

· Ability to work in a fast paced, team environment

· Excellent documentation, reporting and communication skills

· Experience with source control environments, unit testing and other process oriented tools

· Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics or other science subject

Preferred Attributes - Experience in any of the following is advantageous but not essential since full training in the financial markets will be given:

· Trading or other real-time systems

· Financial Information Exchange (FIX) protocol or streaming financial market data systems

· Statistical or numerical analysis

· Test driven experience in languages like C#, Python, C++ or Java

· Masters degree in Computer Science, Mathematics or other science subject

(company) offers a top-notch compensation package, including an aggressive pay-for-performance bonus program, generous medical and paid time off benefits, relocation subsidies that may be cashed-out and an informal, small-company work environment. So if you are tired of working at a place where the traders get paid - but the Software Engineers are treated as interchangeable parts - We want to talk to you.

OS/Systems Performance Engineer

CLOSED Systems Performance Engineer

We are a dynamic, technology-driven firm supporting a large-scale quantitative trading operation across a wide range of global financial markets. Founded in 1998, we are a well established presence in quantitative investment management with a track record of consistent profitability under varying market conditions.

The trading platform created by the technology side of our organizaiton is among the most sophisticated and scalable platforms in the financial industry. To support the continued growth of this platform, we are seeking a System Performance Engineer who will drive continued optimization of our trading systems while coordinating with technical teams throughout the organization such as development, QA, IT, research and trading. The successful candidate will become a key contributor in the creation, management and development of operational automation software, as well as real-time monitoring of the company’s proprietary trading technology.

Responsibilities:

· Play a key role in the optimization and performance tuning of our global trading systems

· Develop custom applications and tests to analyze and optimize our low-latency, real-time trading operation

· Participate in the daily Operations Engineering support of (company)’s trading systems

· Work in a highly collaborative, cross functional environment, including interface with traders and quantitative analysts

Essential Attributes:

· 1-5 years experience in C, C++ development, preferably low-level systems development experience

· Understanding of Systems Level design and architecture

· Experience developing and tuning at the O/S level preferably in a Windows environment

· Detailed knowledge of network drivers, tuning and kernel debugging

· Understanding of network protocols and packet level analysis

· Ability to brainstorm and generate ideas quickly

· Experience developing system monitoring, task automation and real-time testing tools

· Ability to work in a fast-paced, team environment

· Excellent documentation, reporting and communication skills

· Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics or other science subject

Advantageous Attributes:

· Experience Performance testing and optimizing systems and software

· Experience in Trading or other real-time systems

· Experience configuring and monitoring network switches and routers

· Financial Information Exchange (FIX) protocol or streaming financial market data systems

· Statistical and numerical analysis

· Test driven experience in languages like C#, Python, C++ or Java

· Understanding of High Performance Computing (HPC) such as, Infiniband and FPGA’s

· Masters degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics or other science subject

We offer a top-notch compensation package, including an aggressive pay-for-performance bonus program, generous medical and paid time off benefits, relocation subsidies that may be cashed-out and an informal, small-company work environment.

"Greed is Good" - Gordon Gecko

Sometimes life does imitate art, and the following three positions are perfectly timed with the follow-on to the 80's movie Wall Street. The phrase "Greed is good" was first uttered, and a has been repeated a zillion times since.

Fast forward to today, and we have WS2 and these three VERY unique SW Engineering roles in the high-stakes world of quantitative trading. QT is the use of computers to automatically and rapidly execute financial transacations. Millions and millions of algorithm-based trades, happening in miliseconds... pretty cool stuff! So, while the world of SW Engineering seems to have its eyes on a bunch of shiny toys geared to middle-schoolers and teenagers, this is the real world of millions of transactions, billions of dollars, all happening in milliseconds.

Now some specifics... These roles are within a dynamic, technology-driven firm supporting a large-scale quantitative trading operation across a wide range of global financial markets. Over 10 years old, they are an established presence in quantitative investment management with a track record of consistent profitability under varying market conditions. The trading platform (SW and Infrastructure) created by the group is among the most sophisticated and scalable platforms in the financial industry.

The company is extremely flat organizationaly, and professional growth is accomplished by taking on greater and greater technical and project responsibilities. Results are measured, and the ability to work in an enviroment that is NOT resource constrained is needed. This is about getting the job done, not worrying about budgets, people management, or waiting on resources. Additionally, based on the propriatary nature of this market, outsourcing & offshoring is not in the cards.

Due to the unique nature of the industry, the company, culture and location, there are no set salary bands for any role in the company. Lets put it another way - If you recognize that your responsibility to your career, your family, your long-term growth as a person is based on being in the best opportunity, then the actual location where you are is immaterial if the opportunit can provide a standard of living well above where you are now. Why do I bring this up? Because these roles can pay what it takes, Texas has no state income tax, and you can buy a great home in a private community for a lot less in Houston than in Silicon Valley, Puget Sound, Cambridge, or the Tri-State area. Think about it, an awesome job, great people, great pay, no state income taxes and a phenominal standard of living!

CLOSED Lead Software Engineer in Test (1 opening)

The successful candidate will become a key driver in the development and enhancements of our QA process and deliverables. The ideal candidate will have a track record of creating and executing functional test plans and cases from start to finish. The successful candidate will:

Responsibilities:

• Lead a test group in the establishment and extension of automated tests and characterizations
• Develop programs and scripts to automate manual processes or extend existing automations.
• Monitor, manage, improve and test large, complex, distributed applications and business processes
• Configure, deploy, execute, monitor and evaluate results from proprietary test automation systems
• Establish and extend metrics to aid in continuous process improvements for complex systems
• Perform all aspects of test from early release to user acceptance to post production troubleshooting
• Own, develop, execute and analyze test plans and results
• Work with project team members to research and implement improvements, industry trends and best practices.

Requirements - The following attributes are required for this position:

• Five years experience leading a test or QA group
• Experience in all aspects of software testing from planning to execution to automation.
• Ability to develop and execute test and characterization protocols
• Experience testing complex, internally-developed applications and business processes
• Ability to develop scripts or programs to automate existing processes, C++, C# or Python
• Possess initiative to work across teams to understand functionality and determine requirements.
• Experience developing and analyzing automated testing infrastructure and tools
• Proven ability to adapt and support changing priorities in an agile development environment
• Excellent documentation, reporting and communication skills
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics or other science subject

Preferred Attributes - Experience of any of the following is advantageous but not essential since full training in the financial markets will be given:

• Knowledge of design, administration and programming in MS SQL and/or strong query skills
• Ability to organize, schedule, deploy, and track all component software pieces in large distributed systems
• Knowledge of defect tracking, configuration management and other software production tools
• Trading or other real-time systems
• Project management experience
• Financial information Exchange (FIX) protocol

CLOSED Software Engineer in Test (2 openings)

Responsibilities:

• Monitor, manage, improve and test large, complex, distributed applications and business processes
• Develop programs and scripts to automate manual processes or extend existing automations.
• Configure, deploy, execute, monitor and evaluate results from proprietary test automation systems
• Establish and extend metrics to aid in continuous process improvements for complex systems
• Perform all aspects of test from early release to user acceptance to post production troubleshooting
• Own, develop, execute and analyze test plans and results
• Work with project team members to research and implement improvements, industry trends and best practices.

Requirements - The following attributes are required for this position:

• Strong software engineering skills in at least one of the following languages, C++, C# or Python
• Experience in all aspects of software testing from planning to execution to automation.
• Ability to develop and execute test and characterization protocols
• Experience testing complex, internally-developed applications and business processes
• Possess initiative to work across teams to understand functionality and determine requirements.
• Experience developing and analyzing automated testing infrastructure and tools
• Proven ability to adapt and support changing priorities in an agile development environment
• Excellent documentation, reporting and communication skills
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics or other science subject

Preferred Attributes - Experience of any of the following is advantageous but not essential since full training in the financial markets will be given:

• Knowledge of design, administration and programming in MS SQL and/or strong query skills
• Ability to organize, schedule, deploy and track all component software pieces in large distributed systems
• Knowledge of best ways to move, store and process production, hot fix and test data
• Knowledge of defect tracking, configuration management and other software production tools
• Ability to track full and partial production configurations to the production file level.
• Trading or other real-time systems
• Project management experience
• Financial information Exchange (FIX) protocol

CLOSED Systems Performance Engineer (3 openings)

Responsibilities:

• Play a key role in the optimization and performance tuning of our global trading systems
• Develop custom applications and tests to analyze and optimize our low-latency, real-time trading operation
• Participate in the daily Operations Engineering support of (company)’s trading systems
• Work in a highly collaborative, cross functional environment, including interface with traders and quantitative analysts

Essential Attributes:

• 1-5 years experience in C, C++ development, preferably low-level systems development experience
• Understanding of Systems Level design and architecture
• Experience developing and tuning at the O/S level preferably in a Windows environment
• Detailed knowledge of network drivers, tuning and kernel debugging
• Understanding of network protocols and packet level analysis
• Ability to brainstorm and generate ideas quickly
• Experience developing system monitoring, task automation and real-time testing tools
• Ability to work in a fast-paced, team environment
• Excellent documentation, reporting and communication skills
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics or other science subject

Advantageous Attributes:

• Experience Performance testing and optimizing systems and software
• Experience in Trading or other real-time systems
• Experience configuring and monitoring network switches and routers
• Financial Information Exchange (FIX) protocol or streaming financial market data systems
• Statistical and numerical analysis
• Test driven experience in languages like C#, Python, C++ or Java
• Understanding of High Performance Computing (HPC) such as, Infiniband and FPGA’s
• Masters degree in Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Mathematics or other science subject

Massive Distributed (Social) Applications Development

SR Cloud SW Opportunity & SR white box SQA (also cloud) Engineering

This group of positions are really cool. Already in WIDESPREAD adoption, these guys are leading edge, they are mobile, they are desktop, they are antiestablishment, and they are really good at taking care of their employees. Not a bad combination.

Position: Senior Software Engineer (Cloud Computing Technology)

Synopsis:

As a member of the Cloud Technology Team, you will help build an infrastructure capable of supporting hundreds of millions of users. Our growing San Francisco-area development group will leverage open standards to deliver communication services--including voice, video, chat and presence--to the web and enable radically new applications. The technology used by the team will include distributed databases and frameworks (e.g., Dynamo-styled storage and Map/Reduce), RESTful APIs, scalable message passing (e.g., Thrift, protocol buffers, ActiveMQ), fault tolerance and functional languages. The development process is rapid, iterative and based on Scrum. We are seeking a motivated and dynamic engineer to be part of a cross-functional team including Product Owners, Quality Engineers, Architects and other Developers.

Key Responsibilities

• Work within an agile development environment, with other developers and Product Owners, to scope, develop and deliver world-class software solutions to support business requirements.

• Collaborate with and assist the Product Owners to release planning.

• Build efficient and reusable services that can scale to support large numbers of users building on top of scalable infrastructure.

• Play an active role in the design, development and testing of production software.

• Work as part of the senior team to help set technical direction.

• Help to continuously improve the development process.

• Mentor junior members of the team.

• Write code! (YES, EVERYONE writes code in this shop. Eng, Dir, VP and even the Pres writes code) So, if you are not a code slinger, if you don't LOVE sitting down and writing code, this is not the place for you. Likewise, if you love the idea that this is a smaller team (~20) where everyone still makes a huge impact on the evolution of the product -- well then this might be the place for you!

Ideal Candidate Profile

Expertise/Experience

• Proven track record of building and deploying large-scale distributed systems

• Extensive programming experience in an Object Oriented programming language. e.g. C++, Java, etc.

• Moderate experience with multiple scripting languages such as Python, Perl, Bash

• Working knowledge of Erlang or some modern functional language desirable

• Good working and applied knowledge of networking protocols including TCP and UDP

• Extensive experience programming multithreaded systems

• Experience working with Cloud storage technologies such as Cassandra, Riak, Voldemort is desired

• Applied working knowledge of Service-oriented architecture (SOA)

• Worked with messaging technologies such as Protocol Buffers, Thrift and/or Message Queues

• Experience developing software in Linux/UNIX environments

• Extensive experience using and/or designing RESTful APIs

• A working knowledge of Agile Development or an enthusiasm and passion to learn

Behaviors

Problem Solving Skills/Analytics:

• Strong quantitative and qualitative analytical skills, with extensive technical troubleshooting and the ability to use all aspects of testing, including functional, regression, load and system testing

Leadership

• The candidate should have demonstrated skills and experience in working within / contributing to high performing teams, while mentoring junior team members

Interpersonal Skills

• Confident and articulate in expressing their ideas to a mixed audience with varying views and challenges

• Cultural sensitivity and a proven ability to work with teams and partners across multiple geographies

• A sense of personal ownership is required, together with the ability to deliver to tight deadlines while managing internal stakeholder expectations

Motivation and Passion

• The candidate should be creative and passionate about generating new ideas with a drive to explore areas where others haven’t gone

• Have the stamina and tenacity to deliver great software solutions, with a passion for working with other developers of all personality types

Qualifications:

• BS or MS degree in Computer Science or Engineering OR equivalent years of work experience

• Min of 4-6 years experience of applicable work experience (5 - 10 is great, 8 - 15 is also great!) The expertise in massive (social, millions of users, etc.,) types of applications is most important

Quality Engineer

We are seeking a motivated Quality Engineer with an innate curiosity about how things work and the drive to improve them. You will be an integral part of a cross-functional team including Product Owners, Developers and Architects. This is not a manual testing job. You will be defining and programming automated tests across a wide range of module, system, load and stress tests.

Key Responsibilities

• Create and implement test acceptance criteria
• Build and utilize test frameworks for functional and non-functional tests
• Fully automate all tests
• Develop, execute and evaluate performance and load tests
• Monitor and track problem identification throughout the development cycle, ensuring resolution and verification is consistently and effectively delivered
• Record and report on testing metrics as well as track and report defects using appropriate tools, working collaboratively with the Software Engineers, Architects and Product Owners
• Work in two week sprints writing tests and integrating alongside the developers

Candidate Profile

Pre-requisite Knowledge, Skills and Experience

Expertise/Experience

• Extensive experience with multiple scripting languages such as Python, Perl, Bash
• Proven track record of designing and executing performance and/or load tests
• Experience with object-oriented programming
• Good working and applied knowledge of networking protocols including TCP and UDP
• Excellent problem solving, analytical, and technical troubleshooting skills
• Experience testing highly scalable distributed systems is desirable
• A working knowledge of Agile Development or an enthusiasm to learn
• Experience testing complex network and telecommunications applications and protocols are desirable

Behaviours

Problem Solving Skills/Analytics

• Strong quantitative and qualitative analytical skills, with extensive technical troubleshooting and the ability to use all aspects of testing, including functional, regression, load and system testing.

Leadership

• The candidate will strive for excellence, highly driven in writing cutting edge software
• They will be resilience and have unwavering optimism in the face of challenge and continual change

Interpersonal Skills

• The candidate should have demonstrated skills and experience in working within / contributing to high performing teams
• Confident and articulate in expressing their ideas to a mixed audience with varying views and challenges
• Cultural sensitivity and a proven ability to work with teams and partners across multiple geographies.
• A sense of personal ownership is required, together with the ability to deliver to tight deadlines whilst managing internal stakeholder expectations.
• Motivation and Passion
• The candidate should be creative and passionate about generating new ideas with a drive to explore areas where others haven’t gone. Integrating what they learn in to their role and their experience
• Have the stamina and tenacity to deliver great software solutions, with a passion for working with other developers of all personality types

Qualifications:

• BS or MS degree in Computer Science or Engineering or equivalent years of experience

BI/DW & Microstrategy v9.x means More fun in the Payments Domain

More fun and hiring within the payment sector is in the cards for a Senior BI/DW (Business Intelligence & Data Warehousing) Reporting Engineer.

Senior Reporting Engineer

Requirements:

1. Strong understanding of Datawarehousing and BI concepts
2. Hands on Experience with design and development of Microstrategy reports using Microstrategy 9
3. Experience in developing Dynamic dashboards, MDX Cubes, Microstrategy SDK
4. Strong SQL Expertise
5. Experience in working with DB2 as the datawarehouse database
6. Payments Domain is a (BIG) plus
7. Team player and strong analytical skills
8. Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Ideally, this person will live in the SF (East Bay) area. OR, commuting to the 580/680 corridor is within reason for you. If you are familiar with the commute in the Bay Area, then you'll see that this is a great reverse commute!

New Software Engineering Positions (Regular, Full-Time)

Have you ever looked at all those gift cards in your local supermarket and thought just how much data must be 'behind the scenes' of this rather simple concept? Gone are the days of the gift certificate, we all love to get a gift card in the mail. Always the perfect size, always the right color and provided it is a retailer you like, a perfect gift to received. I know my kids love them!

So, what does that have to do with OffTheHookJobs? Well, we're working on THREE of these positions through a partnership. A bud of mine (I actually have coached a kid in his family) has these roles on his books, but I am working with him to fil the roles. Win-Win-Win! I love it!

Backgrouder: A market leader in card-based financial solutions and the largest provider of third-party gift cards develops unique products in easy-to-use formats and delivers them to consumers through an exclusive network of leading grocery, mass, drug, convenience, and specialty retailers globally. This proprietary network includes over 82,000 stores and reaches more than 165 million consumers each week. Headquartered in Pleasanton, California, other locations include offices in New Jersey, Chicago, Toronto, Sydney and the United Kingdom.

The branded display “Gift Card Mall” is designed as a compact in-store prepaid card destination that holds a wide range of card offerings (500+ in the US). This innovative program provides a turnkey solution for increasing customer traffic and basket size while delivering one of the store’s highest profits per square meter. The company also distributes prepaid telecom cards and open loop gift and debit cards while continuing to expand the gift card product categories and channels of distribution.

Front End Software Engineer

We are looking to hire an accomplished Staff Software Engineer to join the Technology Engineering Organization. The desired candidate would have an excellent understanding of how to design and implement highly available fault tolerant systems that can support high transaction volumes.

Key Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Define, design and implement cutting-edge software and modify existing software to add features. Specify product internal/external interfaces. Contribute innovative ideas for components and system architecture.

• Responsible for coordinating tasks and deliverables amongst delivery team members including QA, Operations

• Work with Business Analysts to review business requirements, minimize ambiguity and incomplete requirements, identify opportunities for engaging business review throughout the solution development and provide technical leadership and advice as needed

• Ensure design and code reviews, cyclometric analysis of code components and code coverage of Unit test

• Initiate informal reviews of ideas and technical objectives within and across business units.

• Initiate requirements definition, hands-on lab debugging and interaction with version control and problem resolution

• Responsible for the adoption and implementation of software development methodology by adopting best practices from current methodologies like SCRUM, RUP, Extreme Programming, Test Driven Development and Agile Model Driven Development

• Responsible for the adoption of software architecture best practices like code reusability, pattern oriented architecture, coding standards, modularization of code, aspect oriented programming etc within the technology

Qualifications: The following are required unless specifically stated:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Business Management or related discipline or equivalent work

• 5+ years of Web development experience with HTML/CSS/JavaScript/Ajax/Google GWT/JSP/Servlet

• Experience with model driven development concept and methodologies.

• Hands on knowledge of SOA and SOAP / REST Web Services implementation, design patterns and practices.

• Experience with Open Source technologies and frameworks like Struts, Hibernate and Spring

• Experience with Open Source testing frameworks like Junit.

• Experience with Agile/Scrum development methodology

• Excellent knowledge of relational database technologies with advanced capabilities in at least one industry grade relation database systems – DB2 UDB, SQL Server 2003

• Experience in the payments domain is preferred – knowledge of ISO 8583 is desirable.

• Ability to meet tight deadlines

• A team player – experience working with multiple teams

• Track record of managing multiple complex tasks

• Ability to be productive and effective within a matrix organization.

• Excellent communicator – verbal and written skills required

Staff Software Engineer

We are looking to hire an accomplished Staff Software Engineer to join our Technology Engineering Organization. The desired candidate would have an excellent understanding of how to design and implement highly available fault tolerant systems that can support high transaction volumes.

Key Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Define, design and implement cutting-edge software and modify existing software to add features. Specify product internal/external interfaces. Contribute innovative ideas for components and system architecture

• Responsible for coordinating tasks and deliverables amongst delivery team members including QA, Operations and Infrastructure

• Work with Business Analysts to review business requirements, minimize ambiguity and incompleterequirements, identify opportunities for engaging business review throughout the solution development and provide technical leadership and advice as needed

• Ensure design and code reviews, cyclometric analysis of code components and code coverage of Unit test cases

• Initiate informal reviews of ideas and technical objectives within and across business units

• Initiate requirements definition, hands-on lab debugging and interaction with version control and problem tracking systems

• Responsible for the adoption and implementation of software development methodology by adopting best practices from current methodologies like SCRUM, RUP, Extreme Programming, Test Driven Development and Agile Model Driven Development

• Responsible for the adoption of software architecture best practices like code reusability, pattern oriented architecture, coding standards, modularization of code, aspect oriented programming etc within the technology team

Qualifications: The following are required unless specifically stated:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or Business Management or related discipline or equivalent work experience

• 8+ years of software development experience with core Java and J2EE

• Strong OO Design skills

• Experience with model driven development concept and methodologies

• Hands on knowledge of SOA and SOAP / REST Web Services implementation, design patterns and practices

• Demonstrated expertise in implementing solutions on J2EE application servers like JBOSS

• Excellent knowledge/experience with Open Source technologies and frameworks like Struts, Hibernate and Spring

• Experience with Open Source testing frameworks like Junit

• Experience with distributed caching technologies

• Experience with Agile/Scrum development methodology

• Hands on experience in performance tuning of systems

• Excellent knowledge of relational database technologies with advanced capabilities in at least one industry

grade relation database systems – DB2 UDB, SQL Server 2003

• Experience in the payments domain is preferred – knowledge of ISO 8583 is desirable.

• Ability to meet tight deadlines

• A team player – experience working with multiple teams

• Excellent strengths in time management and organization skills with an aptitude toward creative problem solving

• Proven self-starter

• Track record of managing multiple complex tasks

• Ability to be productive and effective within a matrix organization

• Excellent communicator – verbal and written skills required

Marketing & Sales Account Executives - Pasadena/Altadena

A long-term client of mine is looking to hire a great Marketing & Sales Executive(s) for a _very_ unique mobile/enterprise application software product. This is one of those "Dang! Why didn't I think of this!" types of products that can touch millions of people on a day-to-day basis. If you fully embrace the mobile lifestyle - this is something to seriously consider.

This is a Marketing & Sales role, NOT a Sales & Marketing role. The emphasis is on building great systems to generate awareness, interest, & actionable systems. In short, we need someone that will generate traffic, build the buzz, AND ideally, be able to capitalize on those results.

The ideal candidate is an aggressive Marketing and Sales Executive who thrives in a competitive work environment where results are rewarded. Compensation will have both salary and performance-based components, and this can be adjustable based on individual goals and and anticipated performance. The founder of this company is a highly educated, but very approachable entrepreneur who has already founded and exited his first start-up. This particular company has had explosive user growth, and this role will be a catalyst to continued growth. Requirements (just a short list)

1. You are true marketing guru and accomplished demand generator (and can show proof of your success)
2. You have exceptional communications skills
3. You are tenacious and fearless in a new category
4. You are within a commuting distance to Altadena/Pasadena
5. You are degreed (any will do.)
6. You have the right to work in the US for any employer at this moment

If this sounds interesting - call me asap. This is a really cool company and the CEO is a friend. You will get a response from me quickly. That is about it. Recruiters, please don't contact me (I am one!).

gb

9 2 5 - 4 8 7 - 9 7 3 9 (Cell)

I'm Hiring - Solar Franchise Developers!

This is an opportunity to transfer INTO the Solar Market without requiring the prior years of experience! Yes, I am specifically looking for career transition people to move into the solar market using your prior success in other fields.

Think you have what it takes to participate in the fast-paced solar market? Do you have a natural aptitude for sales and marketing? Are you passionate about renewable energy and THE BUSINESS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY? Solar Universe (www.solaruniverse.com) is expanding our Franchise Development team that is responsible for building our nationwide network of independently owned and operated Solar Universe offices.

Some Background:

Solar Universe was mentioned six times in this recent Entrepreneur Magazine article! http://www.entrepreneur.com/franchises/franchisezone/howto/article204998.html titled Franchise Your Business in 7 Steps. What we feel is important to potential new network members is that our system is being recognized for our work on the franchisor side that supports our independently owned network members.

Franchising is NOT an F-word. Franchises are a partnership model based on mutual success. The value proposition the Solar Universe brings to our network partners is a turn-key business built on:

1. Industry leading training (classroom & hands-on)
2. State-of-the-art infrastructure and tools
3. Pre-designed sales & marketing plans
4. Technical, operations & sales support
5. Volume pricing & instant credit terms on solar supplies

In short, this is a proven and formatted business model for the solar industry that allows our partners to rapidly focus on revenue rather than creating a new business from scratch.

Position Information:

Based in the SF Bay Area, this role will focus on building a nationwide pipeline of existing contractors who represent our ideal network partner. Using a structured and formatted process, this position is responsible for prospecting, contacting, and introducing potential franchise partners into the franchise development process. As expertise builds, franchise developers will take on additional responsibilities in this process. Initially, this role will focus on first contacts/introductions similar to an inside sales role in high-tech organizations.

Desired Qualifications:
* High energy with a willingness to call on 100 prospects daily (expectations are to speak with 20+ decision makers daily)
* Must be *very* proficient at computers - excel, word, internet, etc. Salesforce.com experience is IDEAL
* Exceptional communications skills at the Business OWNER level is required
* Consultative/Mature communications style
* Four-year college degree
* Proven success in a consultative sales or marketing environment
* Excellent documentation & follow-up

This position is COMMISSION only. If you feel you are a great candidate for this role, please take the following steps:
1) Review + Study www.solaruniverse.com & http://solaruniverse.com/partnerships
2) Email a cover letter & your resume to gbuechler@solaruniverse.com. I WILL read each and every resume and cover letter!

Solar Universe (www.solaruniverse.com) is a fast growing solar start-up company with offices in Oakland, San Mateo, Livermore, Fremont, Santa Clara, Fresno, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Thousand Oaks, Fallbrook, Phoenix, Arizona, and Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Corporate site: http://www.solaruniverse.com
Partner Section: http://solaruniverse.com/partnerships
Sample Quote: http://solaruniverse.com/quotes/utjy4akmywyakp2tefxb48
Training: http://sunprotraining.com


Hiring Organization: Solar Universe (corporate)
Compensation: Commission ONLY
Principals only. Recruiters, please don't send resumes (I am an ex-Recruiter)
If you can find me, go ahead and call (9a - 9p PACIFIC TIME)