Blackstone Audio is the largest independent producer and publisher of audiobooks. Over 23 years we've grown from a family business to one whose 130+ employees offer listeners around the world a catalogue including more than 4000 professionally produced books, serving a wide variety of markets. We have recently launched a line of iPhone “enhanced” audiobooks and are currently working on a variety of other technical projects.

Located in the idyllic resort town of Ashland, among the mountains of southern Oregon, our staff enjoys nearby hiking, rafting, skiing and snowboarding, award-winning dining, the nation's largest Shakespeare festival, a dozen wineries, Crater Lake, Mt. Shasta, Lassen National Park, and dozens of other worthwhile activities, many within minutes of our newly expanded offices. The region is well known for its beauty, educational opportunities, active community members, and its community-owned fiber-to-the-home network.

In support of our business plans, Blackstone Audio now seeks its first in-house, on-site, full-time Director of Online Technologies. This position is ideal for an experienced, hands-on, and active engineering manager who is eager to bring our newest services to life. Primary responsibilities will include:

• Define “information architecture” as it applies to our company
• Drive the technical development of a new online experience for BlackstoneAudio.com
• Complete and manage functional developments for our new online boutique store
• Define and implement policies for day-to-day management of all our sites
• Develop and manage quarter-to-quarter updates and improvement plans for online tools and projects
• Integrate our data systems with those of select libraries across the country
• Integrate sales systems with accounting and royalty payment software (e.g., Acumen)
• Develop customer tracking and customer communication tools
• Provide basic analysis of online projects, their performance, and user activities
• Create and manage a department budget, hiring, and other typical managerial duties
• Implement SEO and SEM plans, in conjunction with other departments' needs

Your knowledge and coding skills will be put to immediate use on our highest priority projects, while you take time to scope and prioritize some of the others. The ideal candidates already will have strong first-hand knowledge of MySQL, PHP 5, AJAX, Javascript 1.8.1, CSS 2 & 3, HTML 4 & 5, and the different browser coding requirements for current releases of IE, Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and the iPhone, iPad, and Android platforms.

Additional platforms you will need to learn (if you don't know them already) include Magento and Acumen. We are migrating our main site away from ColdFusion, so a little knowledge there will be helpful in the short term, but not the long term.

We expect that you have either fast-tracked out of university and spent at least four years in a fast-paced web development position, or have as many as 12 years’ experience covering online development, building e-commerce systems, affiliate programs, database development, day-to-day CMS management, data reporting systems, team management, and related activities.

This position will be a valuable member of our senior staff. You will work on a regular basis with the IT, accounting, finance, sales, marketing, and design groups, both to help them make better use of technology in order to meet and exceed their goals, and also to define and complete some of your department's own tasks. You will also interact with our iOS app development team.

This is a management position, making telecommuting and contracting not among the options we are willing to consider.

Base compensation will be dictated by knowledge and experience, and will be in the upper percentile for our region. Blackstone offers full benefits, including complete health care, a matching 401K, and will consider relocation support for those who currently live more than 300 miles from Ashland. Compensation will also include a performance-based bonus plan.

Your interview process will start with a phone conversation and progress from there for selected candidates. Please be prepared to speak candidly about various technologies, the specifics of how you have employed them on previous projects, learnings gained from those projects, your ideas about both the immediate and near-term online consumer experience, team management, and your own personal goals. Please have your compensation history and current requirements ready to discuss, too, should the topic come up.

Please send your résumé and a cover letter, or your inquiry to: newjobs@blackstoneaudio.com

Learn more about us at: www.BlackstoneAudio.com and www.BlackstoneAudioApps.com