Name: Hanna Kim
Occupation: Senior product manager, Prime Video
Time at Amazon: 3.5 years
Location: California, United States
Favorite Amazon Original: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
If you could have one superpower, what would it be? The ability to teleport to anywhere in the world in seconds! Having begun my career in foreign policy, one of my greatest passions is traveling to new countries to learn about their culture and way of life. The superpower to teleport will also come in handy as I lead international expansion initiatives for my team!
Hi there,
My name is Hanna and I’m a senior product manager leading the Content and Studio Partnerships team for Prime Video’s new Virtual Product Placement organization! I am responsible for building new partnerships with content creators and driving product strategies for new business expansion initiatives. One thing that I love about my role is getting to work with a wide variety of cross-functional stakeholders from both the tech and creative communities.
I initially joined Amazon in 2019 to lead the Global Policy team, where I was responsible for developing content policies applicable to Prime Video content worldwide and innovative computer vision/machine learning (CV/ML) technologies for trust and safety. Prior to Amazon, I worked in the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Department of State, advising senior government officials on key strategies related to national security, foreign policy, and technology policy.
Here’s how my week went.
Monday
07:30 a.m. – My alarm rings. Today is a big day for our team! We are publicly announcing our Virtual Product Placement (VPP) beta program to the world. Like many other products at Amazon, VPP started out as a PR/FAQ document (a press release document that product managers write from a future point of view of when the new product is released). It’s exciting to see that initial vision transforming into reality.
09:00 a.m. – I make a pit stop to pick up a Vietnamese coffee from my favorite local cafe and dial in to the monthly Greenlighting Meeting for Amazon Studios. This is a meeting where stakeholders from a variety of teams at Amazon Studios (including Programming, Marketing, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and VPP) come together to assess which projects Amazon Studios should “greenlight” for investment. These meetings help me appreciate the thought put into every title that we bring to life for our customers!
03:00 p.m. – ‘Tis the season for Operational Plan 1 (OP1)! At Amazon, every team uses the OP1 process to develop their long-term business plan, which culminates in a financial plan for the next year. Today, my team is getting together to brainstorm our future initiatives, including big bets we want to make for next year. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day business, so OP1 helps us to take a pause to evaluate our team’s direction and make sure we are making the right investments to drive towards our North Star vision.
I joined Amazon as an individual contributor, but quickly learned how much I love building and growing a team.
04:00 p.m. – I join the weekly meeting for Amazon Studios’ Content Review Team. I am proud to be part of this team of volunteers who review upcoming Amazon Originals content to ensure they are reflective of the diverse customer base we serve. Members of this team come from all walks of life and their individual voices collectively help us tell more authentic stories.
05:00 p.m. – It’s finally time! I open the link where our product announcement is being streamed! I have partnered with our PR colleagues over the past month to refine the announcement script and blog post that will detail our product details. It’s surreal to see it all come to life. It’s always Day 1 in Amazon! (If you missed the announcement, you can access it on Amazon’s 2022 NewFront replay)
Tuesday
09:00 a.m. – I start the day by attending our biweekly team meeting. Our team has doubled in size since I joined and spans three time zones. Team-wide meetings help us keep each other appraised of our projects and check in on how everyone is doing. This week, we take a moment to celebrate our product’s public announcement!
11:00 a.m. – Before we introduce a new product feature, we often run experiments. These experiments help us understand our product’s customer impact, giving us valuable insights on how we can improve our products. Today, I am meeting with a research partner to go over an upcoming experiment’s design and draft survey questions. A lot of work goes into setting up an experiment of this scale and we want to make sure our survey questions help uncover the most important and relevant customer insights.
01:00 p.m. – I meet with a colleague from the Finance team to get feedback on a business P&L I have put together for an upcoming PRFAQ review. I am assessing the potential revenue size of a new product extension and our conversation helps me refine some of the assumptions in the financial model.
03:00 p.m. – Today is my first official 1:1 with a new member of my team! I am so excited to have him onboard to grow our content partnerships. I joined Amazon as an individual contributor, but quickly learned how much I love building and growing a team. I feel lucky to have the opportunity to build out a new team within VPP centered on content partnerships and new business initiatives.
Wednesday
09:00 a.m. – I eagerly wait for one of my mentees to join my conference bridge. He recently transitioned into a new role within his team that better aligns with his career goals and I am excited to hear how the new role has been treating him.
06:00 p.m. – On the first Wednesday of every month, my bible study group goes out for a social gathering! This month, we start the evening with a round of mini golf and end the evening with a double scoop at a local ice cream shop. Even in a busy week, it’s important to balance work with other important parts of life.
Having begun my career in the foreign policy space, I love diving deep into international market conditions and customer needs.
Thursday
09:30 a.m. – I meet with members of our Applied Science team who are working on designing new automation solutions to accelerate our current operational workflow. We discuss the automation goal for this year and the product requirements/inputs that will be needed to further refine the Applied Science team’ roadmap and prioritization. We end the meeting by recapping the action items and relevant owners.
11:00 a.m. – A quick sync with my manager. I appreciate the trust my manager puts in me to independently drive my work forward. I use my weekly sync time to keep him updated on the latest project status and what I will be focusing on in the coming week.
02:00 p.m. – One of my important responsibilities is to meet with external content partners to broach partnership opportunities for VPP. It’s critical for me to use this time to succinctly communicate our product vision and build trust with our partners by demonstrating the value of VPP to them.
Friday
09:00 a.m. – Today, I am meeting with the Canada Amazon Advertising team to discuss potential expansion opportunities for VPP. Having begun my career in the foreign policy space, I love diving deep into international market conditions and customer needs. Leading the strategy and planning behind our international expansion initiatives is one of my favorite parts of the job!
10:00 a.m. – Next week is our team’s quarterly offsite and I am scheduled to lead a workshop centered around products that could better serve our content creator partners. In preparation, I head to my favorite writing spot outside to begin writing out the product requirements for discussion. I am looking forward to getting together with the team next week in-person.
04:00 p.m. – After several hours of productive writing and a few interviews in between, I come back to my desk to connect with one of my mentors. I discuss with her how I plan to divide the roles and responsibilities across my team over the next year. I have always looked up to the wonderful team culture she has been able to foster within her organization and I find her ongoing mentorship incredibly helpful as I grow my own team.