Sam Michel's blog

Working at this small Media Agency that's part of the largest Media Network in Europe is a great opportunity for any Media professional. They have the most enviable client list out there and also the most enviable list of awards. They have manged to hold on to a small agency feel but still deliver huge agency results. The agency is a busy but fun environment full of bright and hard-working people. They are passionate about hiring the most talented individuals out there and pride themselves on this. As the Head of Digital Activation you will be responsible for bringing fresh digital thinking, insight and creativity to theiryou clients and to the agency as a whole. Assist the Managing partner in digital to identify and develop the agencies digital capabilities. Manage the core products and services including Online display, Online media partnerships and PPC/ also Social media and mobile. You will be the main point of contact and manager of the groups internal Trading desk. You will work closely with all areas of the groups offerings. This agency is not stuffy or bureaucratic in any way. They do not believe in corporate politics! This particular agency spend more money on training than any other agency in the UK and pride themselves on their personal development plans. They work with the best and most exciting brands FACT.

An outstanding independent digitally-led integrated marketing agency with 35 people and a superb list of clients including Unilever, RBS, Expedia and Turner Broadcasting is expanding its growing in-house digital capability with the recruitment of two technically brilliant Solutions Architects; one specialising in PHP, another specialising in ASP.NET. Reporting to the Director of Digital you will be a shrewd and sound technologist, most likely a former senior or lead developer who has progressed through the ranks to become (or wishes to become) a solutions architect. You will have an in-depth and encyclopaedic knowledge of best practice in your specialist technology and most traditionally associated database platforms, and having mastered your art as a craftsman are now comfortable advising, directing and steering others in best practice. Working with a mixture of permanent staff, contract staff (freelancers) and outsourced digital production agencies handling front-end and/or back-end development, you shall have technical ownership of projects ranging from simple landing pages to large complex content managed and even transactional web sites from start to finish. You shall be responsible for all solutions design and architecture across network, hardware and software layers and be responsible for all technical project documentation such as Technical Specifications, UML diagrams and visual object models. You will not normally be required to write code yourself, except in emergency or in exceptional circumstances. Along with the Digital Project Manager working on the job, you will be measured and held accountable for the quality of the work done on your watch; ensuring at all times that it is on time, on budget, on spec and delivered to an exceptionally high standard. To that end you will also have a hand in selecting appropriate permanent and contract staff and, where appropriate, outsourced digital production studios, and then managing the technical output of those resources throughout the project, which would normally include employing techniques such as Code Reviews. You will be not just a manager but also a leader, responsible for the agency's technical output in the discipline in question, and providing too technical thought leadership where appropriate to others in the agency and, on occasion, to our clients. Accordingly you will be not just a fount of knowledge but also a superb and natural communicator. You will also be unencumbered by pet preferences, and commercially astute and aware; our clients must be safe in the knowledge that the recommendations you make are absolutely right for their particular circumstances. These roles are new, and reflect the increasing technical complexity of work we are being asked to undertake. Our existing delivery team is superb but lacks in-depth technical knowledge; these two roles comprise, in effect, the missing piece of the puzzle. Front end skills required Sound understanding of semantic XHTML and CSS Sound knowledge of Javascript and JQuery Sound knowledge of HTML 5 Ideally, an understanding of HTML development for broadcast emails (i.e. HTML 4.01/Tables) and associated email dispatch systems such as Campaign Monitor, MailChimp, EmailVision, e-Circle, ExactTarget Some basic knowledge of the correct implementation of Adobe Flash (of decreasing importance as we are attempting to deprecate Flash where appropriate) Back end/other technical skills required Encyclopaedic knowledge of EITHER ASP.NET (C#) and SQL Server, OR OO PHP 5 and MySQL/PostgreSQL Understanding and appreciation of best practice in software architecture, including design patterns such as MVC and ActiveRecord Hardcore language-agnostic OOP knowledge (and advocacy), including techniques such as polymorphism, abstract classes, operator overloading, class inheritance, interfaces Strong general computer science and computational mathematics skills (e.g. binary arithmetic, bitwise logic and operations) Understanding of code performance optimisation techniques For the candidate working in ASP.NET: - Encyclopaedic knowledge of C#; some awareness of VB.NET - In depth understanding of SQL Server 2008 and above - Very strong all around Windows Server skills, including IIS configuration and ideally some knowledge of PowerShell - Preferably, strong working knowledge of ASP.NET MVC For the candidate working in OO PHP 5: - Encyclopaedic knowledge of OO PHP 5 and MySQL - Good understanding of PDO - Preferably, some awareness/knowledge of PostgreSQL - Very strong all around Linux administration skills (from command line rather than through graphical tools) including Apache 2 configuration and ideally some shell scripting - Working knowledge of at least one PHP MVC framework such as CodeIgniter or Zend Excellent technical problem solving skills; able to easily translate a functional requirement set or specification into a fit-for-purpose, no-stone-left-unturned technical plan You should also be able to author, from scratch, and without assistance, the following documents: Functional specifications (based on a set of requirements and constraints) Technical specifications (based on an existing functional specification) Hardware and network diagrams Object models / UML diagrams Database schema Design/Creative skills required None required "Soft" Skills Superb written and spoken English - we're a people agency, and we all talk a lot, so you need to talk a lot too Excellent general communication skills (for the reason above) Highly numerate A self-starter; takes initiative and seeks forgiveness rather than permission A general love of all things technical - when was the last time you took something apart and couldn't put it back together again? Qualifications Agency experience essential (digital or integrated) At least 5 GCSEs, O-Levels or equivalent at A*-C grade including English and Maths Must have A or above at GCSE Mathematics (or equivalent) Some higher education; A(S)-Levels, IB, HND, NVQ or similar Other Information Package dependent upon experience; around £55,000 to £60,000 Reporting to Director of Digital Significant opportunities for advancement to CTO or equivalent Agency quick facts other is based in London EC1 (Charterhouse Square) You'd be part of a fully independent agency of thirty five people You'd work on virtually all of our clients at some point This is an amazing place to work where everybody gets on and respects each other's abilities - we're not afraid to constructively criticise and provide feedback when we need to, but equally we praise each other when work's done well We're a sociable place, and if possible, we like sociable people to join us too (but we all have commitments outside work) We've been going for fifteen years We win lots of awards - you can see them stacked up if you come interview with us We're fairly confident we're the only agency in the UK with a moveable meeting room (that is, people can be sitting in it and you can still push it around the office) We've got our own in-house HD video acquisition and editing facilities, to broadcast quality On the third Friday of every month there's an open (free) bar tab at the bar around the corner

An outstanding independent digitally-led integrated marketing agency with 35 people and a superb list of clients including Unilever, RBS, Expedia and Turner Broadcasting is expanding its growing in-house digital capability with the recruitment of two technically brilliant Solutions Architects; one specialising in PHP, another specialising in ASP.NET. Reporting to the Director of Digital you will be a shrewd and sound technologist, most likely a former senior or lead developer who has progressed through the ranks to become (or wishes to become) a solutions architect. You will have an in-depth and encyclopaedic knowledge of best practice in your specialist technology and most traditionally associated database platforms, and having mastered your art as a craftsman are now comfortable advising, directing and steering others in best practice. Working with a mixture of permanent staff, contract staff (freelancers) and outsourced digital production agencies handling front-end and/or back-end development, you shall have technical ownership of projects ranging from simple landing pages to large complex content managed and even transactional web sites from start to finish. You shall be responsible for all solutions design and architecture across network, hardware and software layers and be responsible for all technical project documentation such as Technical Specifications, UML diagrams and visual object models. You will not normally be required to write code yourself, except in emergency or in exceptional circumstances. Along with the Digital Project Manager working on the job, you will be measured and held accountable for the quality of the work done on your watch; ensuring at all times that it is on time, on budget, on spec and delivered to an exceptionally high standard. To that end you will also have a hand in selecting appropriate permanent and contract staff and, where appropriate, outsourced digital production studios, and then managing the technical output of those resources throughout the project, which would normally include employing techniques such as Code Reviews. You will be not just a manager but also a leader, responsible for the agency's technical output in the discipline in question, and providing too technical thought leadership where appropriate to others in the agency and, on occasion, to our clients. Accordingly you will be not just a fount of knowledge but also a superb and natural communicator. You will also be unencumbered by pet preferences, and commercially astute and aware; our clients must be safe in the knowledge that the recommendations you make are absolutely right for their particular circumstances. These roles are new, and reflect the increasing technical complexity of work we are being asked to undertake. Our existing delivery team is superb but lacks in-depth technical knowledge; these two roles comprise, in effect, the missing piece of the puzzle. Front end skills required Sound understanding of semantic XHTML and CSS Sound knowledge of Javascript and JQuery Sound knowledge of HTML 5 Ideally, an understanding of HTML development for broadcast emails (i.e. HTML 4.01/Tables) and associated email dispatch systems such as Campaign Monitor, MailChimp, EmailVision, e-Circle, ExactTarget Some basic knowledge of the correct implementation of Adobe Flash (of decreasing importance as we are attempting to deprecate Flash where appropriate) Back end/other technical skills required Encyclopaedic knowledge of EITHER ASP.NET (C#) and SQL Server, OR OO PHP 5 and MySQL/PostgreSQL Understanding and appreciation of best practice in software architecture, including design patterns such as MVC and ActiveRecord Hardcore language-agnostic OOP knowledge (and advocacy), including techniques such as polymorphism, abstract classes, operator overloading, class inheritance, interfaces Strong general computer science and computational mathematics skills (e.g. binary arithmetic, bitwise logic and operations) Understanding of code performance optimisation techniques For the candidate working in ASP.NET: - Encyclopaedic knowledge of C#; some awareness of VB.NET - In depth understanding of SQL Server 2008 and above - Very strong all around Windows Server skills, including IIS configuration and ideally some knowledge of PowerShell - Preferably, strong working knowledge of ASP.NET MVC For the candidate working in OO PHP 5: - Encyclopaedic knowledge of OO PHP 5 and MySQL - Good understanding of PDO - Preferably, some awareness/knowledge of PostgreSQL - Very strong all around Linux administration skills (from command line rather than through graphical tools) including Apache 2 configuration and ideally some shell scripting - Working knowledge of at least one PHP MVC framework such as CodeIgniter or Zend Excellent technical problem solving skills; able to easily translate a functional requirement set or specification into a fit-for-purpose, no-stone-left-unturned technical plan You should also be able to author, from scratch, and without assistance, the following documents: Functional specifications (based on a set of requirements and constraints) Technical specifications (based on an existing functional specification) Hardware and network diagrams Object models / UML diagrams Database schema Design/Creative skills required None required "Soft" Skills Superb written and spoken English - we're a people agency, and we all talk a lot, so you need to talk a lot too Excellent general communication skills (for the reason above) Highly numerate A self-starter; takes initiative and seeks forgiveness rather than permission A general love of all things technical - when was the last time you took something apart and couldn't put it back together again? Qualifications Agency experience essential (digital or integrated) At least 5 GCSEs, O-Levels or equivalent at A*-C grade including English and Maths Must have A or above at GCSE Mathematics (or equivalent) Some higher education; A(S)-Levels, IB, HND, NVQ or similar Other Information Package dependent upon experience; around £55,000 to £60,000 Reporting to Director of Digital Significant opportunities for advancement to CTO or equivalent Agency quick facts other is based in London EC1 (Charterhouse Square) You'd be part of a fully independent agency of thirty five people You'd work on virtually all of our clients at some point This is an amazing place to work where everybody gets on and respects each other's abilities - we're not afraid to constructively criticise and provide feedback when we need to, but equally we praise each other when work's done well We're a sociable place, and if possible, we like sociable people to join us too (but we all have commitments outside work) We've been going for fifteen years We win lots of awards - you can see them stacked up if you come interview with us We're fairly confident we're the only agency in the UK with a moveable meeting room (that is, people can be sitting in it and you can still push it around the office) We've got our own in-house HD video acquisition and editing facilities, to broadcast quality On the third Friday of every month there's an open (free) bar tab at the bar around the corner

Digital Project Manager: Fixed-Term Contract to 31 Dec 2012 Vauxhall, London Up to £31,000 pa inc London Allowance + Benefits Do you want to use your digital skills and your grasp of emerging technologies to make a real difference? It's our ambition to reach and improve the lives of people affected by cancer and inspire millions of others to do the same. Last year, we reached over four million people online and as digital project manager you could help us to reach even more. You will manage the development, production and delivery of multi-faceted projects. These will include CMS driven sites, microsites, emails, mobile sites, e-commerce services, online community sites and social media services. Liaising with the internal development team and external suppliers as appropriate, you'll ensure that all developments are well understood, well defined, on brand, accessible, usable and aligned with offline services. As the point of contact for internal clients, you will support them in understanding, defining, specifying and implementing digital projects. As well as proven new media project management experience, you will need to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the web - including an excellent understanding of social media, web technologies and applications, usability and accessibility. With experience in managing multiple internal and external stakeholders, you'll be able to adapt your approach to colleagues at all levels of the organisation and work with people with varying levels of technical ability. In return for your skills, enthusiasm and commitment, we commit to actively develop you and offer excellent benefits including a 34.5 hour week, BUPA, life assurance, pension, childcare vouchers and generous annual leave. For further details and to apply, please visit http://www.macmillan.org.uk/jobs Closing Date: 16 Jan 2012 Interview Date: 23 Jan 2012 We value diversity in our workforce and we encourage applications from all sectors of the community. Macmillan Cancer Support, registered charity in England and Wales (261017), Scotland (SC039907) and the Isle of Man (604).