Johanna, Junior Product Manager

Hi, I’m Johanna, and I’ve been working at CHECK24 in Frankfurt since October 2020. Straight after my Master’s degree, I joined the Legal Expenses Insurance department as a Product Manager or the Customer Journey team.

CHECK24 particularly appealed to me as my first job due to the organization of the company and the fact that each comparison product has its specialized Product Management team. This means I can take on project responsibility, make quick decisions and learn enormously.

My main task is the data-based development of concepts for new website features, especially for new customers on desktop, mobile, or the CHECK24 app. Our goals are to improve the customer experience and expand the product range. Another part is analyzing data and new features using Tableau, for example, for A/B tests, in cooperation with the Analytics team in Frankfurt.

My morning starts by catching a train from Frankfurt Central Station. Our location is very central, so it’s just a 15-minute walk to our beautiful new office right on the Main. I then start the day with a coffee and check my emails, my to-do lists, and our tracking dashboards. These show us how well our request process is working for our users. Since the customer is our highest priority, keeping track of the dashboards is essential.

We start with daily stand-up meetings with the ‘Web Customer Journey’ and ‘App’ IT teams, discussing various matters. This could include discussing releases and updates or questions about tickets. Since we work closely with the IT department and implement decisions quickly, this daily discussion is essential. For a newbie like me, these meetings are exciting because I learn about various topics and challenges and find it exciting to see the solutions implemented.

After the meeting, I put the tickets our Developers created to the test. This then involves giving the Developers feedback on whether they meet the requirements and can be released or need further development.

Part of my role also involves creating new features and tickets while always keeping our goal in mind: offering better products and an improved customer experience for our clients. That’s an excellent motivation because I can put forward my ideas and work through them from A-Z. The concept also involves thinking about the design and evaluating its technical feasibility, which I manage pretty well thanks to my knowledge of our systems. If I’m unsure about anything, I can always ask my colleagues in IT. We often discuss ideas about new features to find the best solution.

Now it’s time for a break. I usually meet up with various colleagues from the Legal Insurance team. This doesn’t just include Product Management but also people from IT and Customer Advisors. I often prepare my lunch at home beforehand, except for our sponsored pasta day, where we get a free lunch every two weeks.

After lunch, I dive straight into a meeting with my colleagues. The afternoons are often dedicated to regular conferences and alignment meetings such as jour fixes, team meetings, and retros. In retros, we analyze our teamwork and decide how to work together more effectively. I continue working on my tasks in between sessions and discussions with colleagues. My team and the fun we all have together motivate me the most.

Before finishing, I check any unanswered emails and update my to-do list. Then it's home time!

I love working here for various reasons. Firstly, I have an incredible team with great, helpful colleagues that make working together fun daily. We are dynamic and agile, which allows us to see results quickly.

I can let off steam with exciting projects, learn lots of new things, and improve my technical and analytical skills. I’m proud to be part of a German digital company and contribute to developing our products. Even though my work day is structured somewhat similarly, I’m always dealing with exciting and diverse tasks and projects that couldn’t be more exciting.