OPEN TO WORK
*** Actively seeking roles in Product Marketing Management, Client Success Management and Product Management ***
Hello world. My name is Erik Kristoffer Valdez. I am an experienced professional with background in marketing & advertising, product management & development, and a series of unique personal projects. Experienced both in internal and external facing roles, I thrive in functions that allow me to be both analytical and creative. I love to collaborate with people to achieve meaningful results and proved my ability to do so both as a leader of teams and an individual contributor. I am excited for you to check out my work!
To see samples of more creative driven work see my Creative Portfolio here.
Contact me here to learn more
evaldez1@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikkristoffer/
Professional Experience Summary
- Walmart GoLocal – Sr. Product Manager – (2022 – Present)
- Nielsen IQ – Product Manager – (2020 – 2022)
- Nielsen Media – Director, Digital Solutions / Client Success – (2016 – 2020)
- Tapjoy Mobile (now IronSource) – Sr. Account Manager – Team Lead – (2012 – 2016)
- Starcom Media – Digital Media Strategist, Supervisor (2008 – 2012)
Sample Artifacts
DoorDash Big Data Analytics Exercise
As part of an exercise with DoorDash I was given 30 days of raw delivery log data. I was successfully able to clean, transform and analyze the data to produce 3 key business recommendations.
My Research & Analytics Portfolio
The attached PDF is a summary of research, measurement and analytics tools. I have experience utilizing analytics in all roles as well as conducting and analyzing market research.
My Domains & Expertise
Marketing
I studied business and marketing at DePaul University and quickly began my career in digital media and marketing at a major agency in Chicago, Starcom. In my time in this industry I have been exposed and able to work on numerous projects in marketing across audience research, segmentation, media strategy planning and execution, marketing effectiveness measurement and even creative development. I have a strong understanding of marketing channels (paid, owned, sales, email, social) and how they contribute to holistic messaging strategies to target customers. Through my sales experience I have also helped in customer relationship management (CRM) tracking and go-to-market (GTM) planning and am familiar with tracking customers through various stages of engagement.
Relevant artifacts: Creative Portfolio Page, Research & Analytics Portfolio
Product Management
I have been fortunate to be a product manager in two very dynamic industries — retail sales data & last mile delivery logistics — at two of the leading companies in those fields, Nielsen IQ (NIQ) and Walmart. My work to date had me both evaluating new market opportunities for product growth and building solutions that solved real customer problems. I am skilled in product roadmapping, stakeholder management and processes related to software and solution development, including project management via Jira and Confluence.
A crowing achievement was helping launch a completely new product vertical at NIQ through heavy involvement in the evaluation and acquisition of a data company and building the reporting platform used to extract value and insights from this data. I later built on these skills at Walmart GoLocal, helping support a new vertical of white-label delivery services through the development of solutions related to delivery performance and fraud prevention.
Relevant artifacts: Coming soon!
Leadership
I have experience leading small to medium sized teams as both a dotted line Regional Team Lead and a primary Team Director. My focus as a leader is both on employee growth as well as hitting goals set for my teams. I am energized by the development of employees and aiding career advancement, which I believe helps employees do their best while working at their current levels. I also have experience implementing unique metrics that measured my team’s effectiveness in our function.
My leadership has been recognized through my nomination and completion of Nielsen’s Diverse Leadership Network (DLN). The DLN was a 15 month, immersive mini-MBA program designed in conjunction with Emory University’s Goizueta Business School to grow high potential talent. I continually use skills I learned from this program to navigate how I do work and achieve results in the roles I am in.
Relevant artifacts: Diverse Leadership Network article
Personal Projects
Often my creativity and ingenuity have extended past professional into unique personal projects. Early projects include turning passions and hobbies such as music into personal business ventures like helping found Tabalorium.com (now shuttered) in 2000. I followed this with my love for digital photography having several commissions for photography, videography and a personal photo-booth service.
More recent ventures include founding a lifestyle blog (afterworkliving.com) to showcase my interest in creative writing and cooking. I am also currently working on the launch of a budding golf apparel company (TBD). This experience has allowed me to practice elements of my creative & product design, business planning and strategic marketing planning in the process of launching this business. More to come!
Relevant artifacts: Creative Page