Betfair is Recruiting

Clichés are essential.

This person will own the product and be responsible for delivering new products , features and functionality in order to grow the business and meet key strategic objectives.


Clearly a graduate from Porterhouse Blue. But sadly this is recruitment speak.

I got as far as "product strategy" and decided I couldn't possibly understand what it is they would want me to do.

(I had a very bright CA working for me at Deloitte.  He came into my office and said "If Mike surname deleted) uses one more Cliché I will punch him in the face." 

We did not go on to discuss red braces.

I'm very surprised that the person won't need to meet any KPIs.

and roadmap for Betfair’s core exchange products.


Could somebody explain what that means?

Alex, that is because Betfair has lost it's way!

I could be described as perplexed on this subject of roadmaps.

However it appears to be such a good cliche and I am suggesting that roadmaps should replace  "Free Money" and "100% Bankers".

Let's all just hope Feck doesn't tick all 3 boxes

Be gentle. Whoever wrote this is not a native English speaker.

"In the hope to discover" instead of "in the hope of discovering";

"This role will be working" instead of "this role will involve working" (the employee will be working, not the role);

"Grow the business" instead of "expand the business" (businesses grow, you don't grow the business; to grow a vegetable implies planting and beginning from scratch, not increasing the size of something already established).

I would guess the author is German.

I am sure that the bloke that wrote this is a very nice person and does not wear red braces.

I guess betfair handle their recruitment in-house.  Wait for my piece on their share price.

My only beef was the over use of cliches.  I don't want him to be sacked, just to say it like it is.

Given the innovations they've introduced in the last 10 years surely this is a job that would be well suited to a 50 year old looking for his first job since he left school. His lifestyle wouldn't change, only his chair.

Typically for Betfair, the job spec's don't actually exist in the link that they provided.

Can you imagine sitting round meeting table having to listen to that for a few hours

Is it the "Exchange Sports Product Manager"

I detect somebody that has been there and done that.

I want to be a Team Leader dammit.

I think that's the only job description I have ever seen which doesn't mention any need for good communication skills.

Make of that what you will.

Do you have a passion for sports?

What's that got to do with it? I haven't got a passion for Britain's got talent, the royal wedding or Australian politics either but I'll study it and watch it all day if  I think I can make a few quid.

And what does "This person will own the product" mean?  Does the package come with full ownership of bf's core business?  Sounds a bit generous.

screaming from beneaththewaves
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Be gentle. Whoever wrote this is not a native English speaker.

"In the hope to discover" instead of "in the hope of discovering";

"This role will be working" instead of "this role will involve working" (the employee will be working, not the role);

"Grow the business" instead of "expand the business" (businesses grow, you don't grow the business; to grow a vegetable implies planting and beginning from scratch, not increasing the size of something already established).

I would guess the author is German.


Pretty sure 'Grow the business' will be considered correct by many.

Here's another direful error:

This person will own the product and be responsible for delivering new products , features

The space before the comma! [:o] (psycho theme music)

Fair enough, Investor. I'd ghuess that people who grow businesses are the same twerps who drive roadmaps.

*guess ffs

What's that got to do with it? I haven't got a passion for Britain's got talent, the royal wedding or Australian politics either but I'll study it and watch it all day if  I think I can make a few quid.

lol

I think soccer is the most tedious sport ever invented, but that doesn't stop me from making money on it. In my case Asian soccer played by teams I can't even pronounce. In fact, I think complete indifference to the sport in question helps me bet dispassionately.

Requirements & Qualifications:

 Interest in and extensive knowledge of sports betting industry.
 At least three years of Product Management experience.
 2:1 degree or higher achieved in BA/BSc.
 Self-starter, strong analytical skills with good attention to detail.
 Strong communicator, both verbal and written with experience preparing for and presenting to
management groups.
 Comfortable working to challenging deadlines in a dynamic environment with a high degree of
change.
 Experience in creating business cases, revenue estimates as well as advising on commercial
decisions.
 Experience of product management and ownership responsibilities within AGILE and SCRUM
frameworks.
 Background in software technology, specifically Internet and Web/eCommerce desirable.

Unfortunately it is too tech heavy on the requirements.  My brother (who was featured in Wire Magazine around eight years ago) has found the best people to inject ideas and products into the companies he has been involved with is to hire those with the 'vision' and leave the building to the techs. 

I also think that throwing in the necessity for a degree is, again, cutting out those with 'vision'.

I had no idea what SCRUM and AGILE were so I googled "SCRUM frameworks", underneath is the headline from http://scrummethodology.com/

The Scrum methodology of agile software development marks a dramatic departure from waterfall management. In fact, Scrum and other agile processes were inspired by its shortcomings. The Scrum methodology emphasizes communication and collaboration, functioning software, and the flexibility to adapt to emerging business realities — all attributes that suffer in the rigidly ordered waterfall paradigm.

Anybody able to translate into English for me?

Equimine.co.uk , traditional software development follows waterfall method where you define requirements, design and then build the code. the result is that it takes long time before the product is ready and in fact paced environment the requirements may no longer be relevant..

Agile development is iterative i.e. break the requirements into smaller chunks that are turned around faster. scrum takes each chunk to finish within 2 to 4 weeks (a sprint)
It also involves greater user involvement and works good in cases where requirements change or are unknown.

ocean0201.... you've got the job imo

its all technology BS imo...

No one is going to fulfil all the requirements unless they are doing the exact same job for another betting company....which is probably why they are advertising it here

Good post Shapeshifter.

Degree is really bare bare minimum these days. If you havent got a degree now your over 50 or opted out of education at earliest chance. Lots of kids going straight for the Masters now after degree

They arent saying you should be Agile or scrum experts, just that you have ownership experience within them. That would be common enough or as product manger you would have have similar experience at very least. in other words "have you owned a product idea and taken it through to completion"

Tech background is needed as its internet/website, not cars, or media or chocolate bars. Doesnt mean techy but you have worked in the tech/software industry

Agree though, they will just get someone who is in similar job as elsewhere, its just musical chairs.

The biggest thing I could bring to the table, as it were, vis a vis this, in addition to obviously giving 110%, is synergy, and bringing blue sky thinking to the front burner, re the whole client boilerplate paradigm.

And a slightly odd odour.

i disagree just checking..

what betfair need here is a paradigm shift with out of box thinking and find someone who is customer centric and can bridge the gap between customer expectation and technical feasibility.. he/she should walk the talk and raise the bar by fast tracking innovation 24/7..

u can see i do this for living

Hehehe, it must be awful for those that have to live in a 9-5 world of BS, but I guess some of them enjoy that, especially in the public sector  as they climb the BS ladder amongst fellow BSers.

Just cos its jargon, doesn't make it BS.

Agile software development was a real breakthrough. Although IMO SCRUM is agile development for dummies.

I'd be a good chance for this job if I didn't live 8 timezones away and wanted a job, which I don't.

It must be especially grim working with ex-city BS's Trev.

In 1981, I was one of 30 people that was given a place at Concordia University's Computer's in Commerce.  We, the 30, were to be on the forefront of computer industry in Canada. 

I sat among the 30.  There were two girls.  The rest had those plastic inserts in the their chest pockets to protect from ink stains. 

After five weeks of filling in punch cards (not the stress of deadlines), looked at my classmates and couldn't imagine spending the rest of my life with these people.  I stood up in a lecture and headed for the door not looking back.

Northern Telecom offered me a job within a week for 24K 1980's dollars.  I was too hung over to go to meet the headhunter. 

I formed a mildly successful band and never looked back.

I unfortunately have the visions but don't fit the mold (not in an eccentric way.  Just my approach).  I can corporate with the best of them but my ideas and visions don't rely on that.  Rock'n'roll was a tough game and as a business, you need to understand creativity, structure and management to be in it.  I ticked those boxes.

If any of you land the job, give me a call.  Two or three products for the table.  One will make the short-list.

Interviewers bias.

I never employed anybody with a limp handshake.  I guess Shape never employed anybody with plastic inserts in their chest pockets.

Plastic inserts??? dang, I wish I'd thought of that. so many shirts so little time..

back in 1981 I was at the forefront of computer aided design. cpu's the size of wardrobes. I was offered a chance to lead a new company now worth millions. But I took up this game instead.

hmmm plastic inserts..

good to see betfair is using a different tactic for recruiting instead of spamming all and sundry on linked by "Talent Resource Model"

Surpised to see that betfair is still purusing their "Roadmap", for those who don't know this is betfair speak for world domination of the gambling industry. I first heard it about 5 years ago when they interviewed me.

most of the things in the roadmap have to come fruition, premium charge, betfair sportsbook, betfair "traders" in malta.

There are other things to come, but I can't say as this thread wouldnt last 2 minutes and neither would my account.

For those seriously interested in applying the big positive about working for betfair is being allowed to still have an account at betfair (it's industry practice to bar people having accounts with the company they work for), the big negative is the wages, they are not the best in the world, even for the gambling industry.

betting_quant (and others).

Which territories would you target for betfair? 

When I first met with them, I was looking to find an edge in Canada.  They had found their big players but advertising restrictions in Canada made spreading the word difficult.

Agile Development Methodology............ah ha!

Now we know why this site is as unstable as it is.

Hey Joe, "does it look alright to you?"; "Yep, its fine, the users will test for us anyway". Agile = software development for amateurs and detail takes too much time brigade. If they use this nonsense to develop this site then I'm afraid the litany of crashes we encounter will continue.

In the event that anybody is assessing the comments in this debate may I point up that betting_quant could be miffed as he got turned down for a job by Betfair.

betting_quant may not be totally impartial.


Thank you.

betting_quant - you seem to imply they told you about or at least hinted at the premium charge 5 years ago. is that right?

To add just a little, betfair thought that betting_quants value on the open market was worth £14k pa.






One can only ponder that fact.

betting_quant : For those seriously interested in applying the big positive about working for betfair is being allowed to still have an account at betfair

How is that a big positive?

It means you can front run the insiders and the pros.

As Mrs Doubtfire would say

I ... am ... job.

Where betfair went wrong is they took all the winners from the bookmakers and left them with the losers. It reminds me of the joke "Why did God give the Arabs the oil and us the potatoes?" to which the reply is "He gave us first choice".

Make me an offer based on increased value and I'll give you an idea (nothing to do with exchanges although I've plenty of ideas on that subject beyond price auctions) that will spell Armageddon for online bookmakers and the BHA.

P.S. I wear what I want.

Alternatively, if there's any billionaires out there that now realise what a waste of time it all was and who'd like to stuff it up the bookmakers, the BHA, the exchanges and the capitalist system in general by taking over online gambling with a site that returns all profits to good causes then you can have me free of charge.