From Account Manager to Regional Leader: Meet Killian

In this edition of Jampper Stories, Killian McCabe shares what it’s like to work in our Revenue Operations team as Regional Leader for LATAM and EMEA. Read on to learn how his role evolved, and how he tackles his responsibilities and challenges 👀.

Can you tell us about your journey at Jampp?

I joined Jampp in April 2017. Back then, I didn’t even know what a tracking link was 😱. I started working as an Account Manager for 6 or 7 customers. I completed my training as Jampp was shifting to a fully-programmatic business model, and I started to manage both advertisers and campaigns in EMEA and APAC, working closely with other AMs and our Sales team.

As the APAC team grew and set up base in Singapore, I specialized in EMEA as a Strategic Account Manager—basically trusted with larger accounts, visiting customers, and helping to provide feedback to managers. I was still handling some campaign aspects, but with the new responsibility, I started mentoring AMs and working on some new projects like the Industry Vertical Squads. With these strategic projects, I got involved in onboarding customers and working closely with the Sales team to ensure our customers were well looked after. This experience allowed me to assume the role of Regional Lead for EMEA and LATAM earlier this year.

Can you tell us more about the Industry Vertical Squads?

Sure! In Jampp, we use the “squad” format for many initiatives. It’s basically an interdisciplinary team that assembles to tackle a specific challenge or project. The first “Vertical Squad” I joined was the “Gaming Squad”. Along with Jamppers from Sales, Revenue Operations, and Tech, we reviewed the campaigns we had to understand challenges and pain points, we looked at industry benchmarks and solutions, and we basically joined forces to better tailor our product and service for those specific needs. After that, I worked on several other verticals, sometimes as part of the squad and other times kick-starting the project by showing the squad what we’d done for other verticals. I loved working on those strategic projects.

You’ve participated in different initiatives involving market research: what is your go-to resource for staying up to date with the mobile industry?

Our #industry-news channel in Slack, basically. That and LinkedIn, customer discussions, and conferences. Also Jamppers 🤓—we have people who are far more knowledgeable than me in a lot of areas, so asking questions gets you a long way.

Within our LATAM and EMEA team, we do a review of industry news every 1-2 weeks and have been doing some online courses together to keep our ideas fresh and to try and break the monotony of lockdown.

Over the last year, what’s been the biggest challenge for you?

Things are always changing and we have to adapt a lot, so the biggest challenge has been balancing many different roles and the work involved in each ⚖️.
I work closely with a team of account managers to understand the details of the campaigns, identify pain-points, and try to make their day-to-day tasks easier and more motivating.

In addition, I’m in constant communication with the Product team to stay on top of upcoming updates, manage the impact on the operative side, and provide constant feedback and suggestions for further improvements to our systems. I also work closely with the Sales team, assisting with prospecting and onboarding.
All that has to be balanced with a medium to long-term view of the Regions, anticipating future problems or opportunities, and implementing the correct processes which will help us scale. Especially now, being responsible for 2 regions: I have to ensure we are creating lasting relationships with our customers.

Add to that the challenges of the COVID-19 lockdowns and remote work, it has kept me busy

So, how do you work around those challenges?

I have good co-workers 💪! It helps hugely that everyone is very capable, helpful, and proactive. It makes completing tasks very easy, and I think we all work well together and are quite aligned on tasks.

One main positive to Jampp’s culture is that Jamppers generally have a really good attitude, so work challenges are welcomed and people are very collaborative.

Also, organization is obviously important. I’m always trying to improve and make an effort to focus on the medium to long-term when deciding priorities.

With my team, I try to share as much information as possible to empower them, so to speak, and encourage them to challenge themselves and to take on responsibility—hopefully that converts into more trust, and a stronger team.

What made Jampp the right fit for you?

As I said, I think the working culture at Jampp is very positive. Everyone has a good attitude and is willing to help other departments to achieve the company’s goals; Jamppers are interested in being challenged and learning.

I love the balance of individual responsibility mixed with teamwork.

I like the industry we work in and the fact that, while nominally my job has remained pretty similar through the years, in reality the tasks and challenges we face now are completely different to 3 years ago—we’re constantly adapting.

I also enjoy working closely with customers. It’s very rewarding when they increase their budgets, it’s essentially a vote of confidence in the product and service we offer as a team. I find it very interesting to see what kind of strategies these large apps are implementing behind the scenes. It’s great that we as a company are adapting to the market along with our customers and their users.

What keeps you excited to come to work?

Currently, it’s being responsible for a team. It would have been easy to become quite negative because of the COVID-19 crisis, but everyone responded really well and put their best to create a good remote work culture and keep the team working efficiently.

I think it means we are all quite positive when it comes to facing the challenges presented and can hopefully turn them into successes.

Tell us about a particular “win” in the work you’ve done here?

I think I’ve contributed a lot to the EMEA region. I was managing some of Jampp’s top accounts, and the fact they were happy to publish case studies was a nice recognition that we had built a mutually beneficial relationship.
I think we did well to grow and maintain key customers, onboard new ones, and keep the region healthy and stable while facing external difficulties like GDPR. I started working with LATAM a few months ago, so it’s a newer region for me. I’m learning a lot and foresee more successes with our super team.

Your advice for somebody applying to work at Jampp is:

If I describe myself, I think I’m a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none—which aligns perfectly with the AM or Regional leader role.
We’re not the ones designing the bidding algorithm or coding it, but you’re required to have a decent understanding of how everything works, and how it all fits together, to be able to communicate that with a customer.
We jump from very specific campaign analysis, to quarterly growth plans, to financial and administrative tasks—you need to be comfortable in many different areas and recognize you’re never the smartest person in the room, but you can add value by bringing everything together.

What’s one thing you wish somebody had told you before you joined Jampp?

In a few months, you will know as much as everyone else in your team, so be prepared to become the one answering the questions rather than asking!

In retrospect it makes sense, I joined a quickly growing team and in a role that assumed a lot of responsibility early on.

Is there anything you miss from working at the office?

My morning cycle to the office, the weather is always nice here. It was just enough to wake me up but nothing too strenuous, seeing the city start its day, and some people just finishing it. I enjoyed my commute, which I don’t think too many people in the world can say!

Wrapping up:

• Random fact about yourself

I’ve been to over 40 football stadiums in Argentina ⚽.

• Favorite app at the moment 📱

I use Podcast Addict. It’s a great way to keep learning about new topics you wouldn’t otherwise pay attention to, to try and practice Portuguese, to zone out when exercising, and to keep in touch with things happening back in Ireland, my home country  🇮🇪...

• Have you picked up any new hobbies this quarantine?

Compulsive retail therapy (football jerseys) and intermittent fasting (skipping breakfast).

• What’s the first thing you’ll do when things go back to normal? Hopefully, travel to Calafate to see the Glaciar Perito Moreno, followed by a feast of Cordero Patagonico and some Malbec—I had it planned for the end of March so it’s pending!

About Jampper Stories

We are very proud of the team we are building, and we are always happy to share our Jamppers’ journeys. If you want to learn more about what it’s like to work in our team, follow us on Instagram at @gojampp or visit jampp.com/careers.html to find the right opportunity and see for yourself 😉.