In this blog series, we talk to WP Engine employees to learn more about their roles, what they love about the city they work in, and hear from them what they like most about working at WP Engine. In this interview, we talk to Akiko Nagamine, Senior Product Marketing Manager at WP Engine’s Austin headquarters.
“Establishing roles and expectations, internally and across the organization has been both challenging and rewarding because you’re both building and defining the function of product marketing among our growing team.” —Akiko Nagamine
Q: How did you get you get started in your career?
A: I started my career off in Chicago with an advertising and brand agency. Then, I moved to the Bay Area and that’s where I switched from the agency side to in-house brand work. I worked for Palm before they were acquired by HP, then went to work with Adobe, and then did product marketing at Square before I moved to Austin.
Q: What’s your favorite thing about marketing a product for a company?
A: My favorite thing about marketing for a company is that the product and product experiences are something that is directly related to the customer. So, I am solving the way in which we communicate the product functions and the role it plays in the customer’s life, whether it’s their personal life, or reaching all the way up to enterprise level business solutions. That’s pretty interesting in a category like WP Engine’s, where our platform and solution are pretty tightly woven into the customer’s business.
Q: What kind of opportunities at WP Engine have you gotten in comparison to other jobs?
A: With technology always evolving, there’s a plethora of information to learn from a category and product standpoint. There’s always a little bit of a shift, but it’s pretty exciting.
You fall into the realm of the more you know, the less you know, which keeps you pretty humble. The opportunity is that I can keep my passion and experiences marketing products for B2B and enterprise, and apply it to solutions here at WP Engine.
WP Engine’s pretty unique in that we have a really good integrated partnership across product, marketing, customer experience, and sales, which sets us up to build an advanced marketing machine and an integrated marketing program. There’s plenty of opportunities to grow categorically and in product marketing.
Q: Is there something unique about the leadership of WP Engine?
A: The way in which we work with the executive team is amazing. They’re pretty engaged at every level of the work across different teams. I have had the opportunity, and I have been lucky enough to work with executive teams in other companies too. With WP Engine, the level of engagement is quite unique and the accessibility we have with the leadership team has been impactful in shaping my experience here.
Q: Let’s talk about when you’re out of the office, can you tell me about your motorcycle hobby?
A: We’re in Harley country, I’m probably one of the few folks who rides a Ducati. What Austin is great for is that it has riding weather all year round, compared to Chicago where my friends are pulling the battery out and storing their bike in the garage for six months out of the year.
We often ride out to the Hill Country west of Austin, and also northwest to explore different diners and dives in small Texas towns. What’s beautiful about riding around here is not only the weather—but also the BBQ.
WP Engine is currently hiring for positions in Marketing at our Austin headquarters. See here for the full range of careers WP Engine is hiring: wpengine-careers.com
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