Jonathan Barceló

I am an Agile PM & Creative Producer with a decade of experience working at the intersection of technology and entertainment. I’m experienced with building co-located and remote teams, having played key roles in crafting and maintaining development pipelines with internal and external collaborators spread out across the United States, Latin America, Europe, China, India, SEA, and Oceania.

I am a story and structure nerd with a BA in Spanish and Latin American Literature, and certifications as a Scrum Master, Agile Project Manager and Full Stack Web Developer. I prefer to be self-directed, and am at my best when solving complex problems in cross-cultural environments.

· Game Writing Masterclass I, The Narrative Department - 2021

· Professional Scrum Master (PSM I), Scrum.org - 2019

· Full Stack Developer, Tecnológico de Monterrey - 2019

· Certified Professional Agile Coach, ICAgile - 2017

· Certified Professional Agile Project Manager, ICAgile - 2016

Experience

Senior Product Manager | Gaming & Metaverse solutions

· Agora · Santa Clara, CA | Remote

Agora is a real-time engagement platform as a service provider, where I work with developers from across the world to solve the challenge of enabling presence from any device into any virtual world or real-time 3D rendered application.

• Lead cross-functional teams to develop and launch new features for the company´s portfolio of SDKs and APIs, driving product vision and strategy from a gaming and metaverse vertical perspective
• Conduct market research and competitive analysis to identify industry trends and opportunities for a portfolio of platform products and SDKs
• Collaborate with developers and stakeholders to define product roadmap and priorities for the SDKs
• Act as the primary point of contact for communication and coordination with external partners and clients
• Monitor and analyze key performance indicators to measure the success of the SDKs and make data-driven decisions
• Manage the product development lifecycle, including gathering requirements, and creating a backlog of user stories for reference applications built with the Unity and Unreal game engines

Jun 2022 - Present

Head of Production

· Reality Crisis · Helsinki, FI | Remote

Reality Crisis is a distributed Augmented Reality mobile game development studio focused on bringing real-world interactions to the action sports genre, where I worked with the company founders to bring their flagship game to market, from inception to public beta.

• Led R&D efforts to test viability of 7 different emergent Augmented Reality technologies for mobile game development
• Conducted customer research interviews and usability tests to inform design iterations on early game prototypes
• Collaborated with company leadership and internal stakeholders to define, prioritize and execute on the public beta roadmap for Skatrix
• Managed a fast-paced, highly-adept team of engineers and designers distributed across 6 different timezones
• Reported insights and KPI performance to internal stakeholders

Nov 2018 - Feb 2022

Story Consultant | Writer

· Fotosintesís Media · Mexico City, MX | Remote

Fotosíntesis Media is a latin american animation studio focused on producing animated films that generate social impact; a solution for non-profits to raise awareness through stories specifically designed to build empathy for their cause. My contributions to the studio’s catalog include:

• A Costume for Nicolas (Story Revisions, Released 2019)
• Beast (Co-writer, Post-production 2023)
• My Friend the Sun (Co-writer, Production 2025)

May 2018 - May 2022

TPM Curriculum Writer

· Thinkful · Remote

I collaborated with a diverse team of expert PMs to craft Thinkful's Technical Project Management curriculum. My most significant contributions to the curriculum include an overview of modern development technologies, introductions to the Scrum and Kanban agile project management frameworks, and team mediation and coaching methodologies.

Apr 2020 - Aug 2020

Advisory Board Member

· Trilogy Education Services (2U) · Remote

Trilogy Education services was a technology education provider that was later acquired by 2U, Inc. During my time with this team, I consulted on the development of content for the company's user experience curriculum. I also contributed as a writer for the data storytelling, and full stack development curricula.

Jan 2019 - Dec 2019

Producer

· Riot Games · Mexico City, MX

In addition to maintaining continuity of my responsibilities in the localization team, I was tasked with developing original content for the region, in the service of the Esports, Publishing, and Marketing teams. During my time in this role, our catalogue grew to include:

regionally produced audio stories,

regional documentaries,

Esports news and analysis,

behind the scenes featurettes,

animations, and

live audiovisual experiences.

Jun 2015 - Apr 2018

Localization Coordinator

· Riot Games · Los Angeles, CA

As a founding member of the LATAM team, I was responsible for implementing localization best practices for web pages, graphics, comics, promos, and in-game text strings. I was also in charge of managing LATAM LQA, and VO localization pipelines.

Jul 2014 - May 2015

Co-Founder | Design Researcher

· MedicSana Inc · Austin, TX | Remote

MedicSana was an mHealth start-up company that I co-founded and funded by validating a unique value proposition through customer research interviews. Our MVP targeted underserved segments in growing economies across latin america.

Aug 2013 - Nov 2014

Spanish Language Specialist

· NCSOFT · Austin, TX

I led external player support teams in crafting and localizing player communications for Guild Wars, Guild Wars 2, Lineage II, and during the release of Wildstar.

Feb 2013 - Jun 2014

Technical Web Translator

· Rigaku · Austin, TX

I used Drupal to manage the spanish language localization of Rigaku's full catalog of online promotional materials with a translating partner.

May 2012 - Sep 2012

Education

Skills

• English - Native Fluency
• Spanish - Native Fluency

• CAT - XLOC, Trados, MemoQ
• CMS - Wordpress, Drupal

Recommendations

· Kyle Becker

Designer | Design Researcher | Product Owner

• "What's remarkable about Jona as a project manager is his ability to step back from a problem and approach it from a broad, strategic perspective. This perspective enables him to more clearly tease out the strategic goals that will make a product successful, and his natural talent as a moderator and collaborator make him a powerful force for creating a team’s alignment around that strategy."

· Mariano Vives

Creative Director

• "Working with Jonathan means constant learning and growth and being part of his team changes your perspective on what we do every day. His leadership and ability to encourage people to improve is one of his greatest skills, and his love and commitment for what he does is something he spreads."

· Eduardo Moran

Graphic Design & Data Visualization Strategist

• "Jonathan's mastery in Agile Development and his highly creative approach to product development turned out to be key when it came to setting up tasks, goals and most importantly, managing timeframes that allowed us to achieve the final product well on time."

· Hugo M. Bretón

Head of Player Services and Operations

• "Jona is a driving force for innovation and customer impact. He was one of the first Rioters I met before joining the company. His candor and intellectual depth were evident from the start. I saw him grow from Project Manager in Localization to senior Product Manager. Jona is able to drive action supported by comprehensive theoretical frameworks. It is difficult to measure his positive impact on players across Latin America."

· Diego Polanco

Senior Creative Project Manager

• "His ability to adapt to continuously changing environments, creativity and business problem solving ability without compromising organizational values or quality levels is outstanding. His self-awareness, empathy and commitment to improve make him a well rounded leader and an inspiring team member."

· Lorena Somohano

Agile Project Manager

• "He is one of the most creative people I have met. His way of seeing things, explaining how they work and analyzing how they should work is one of the things I admire the most of Jona. His friendship and willingness to help others made the work environment really warm and comfortable."

· Xander Rapstine

Graphic Design & Data Visualization Strategist

• "Working within a tight time frame, he consistently delivered high-quality content ahead of deadlines and under budget. He also took complete ownership of his work from inception to completion, and I was constantly impressed by his ability to work independently while still maintaining Trilogy's values and narrative, especially as a remote team member."

· Omar Miranda Flores

Words Summoner & LOC Manager

• "When it comes to feedback, he is not afraid to point out areas of opportunity that undermine a project, for he truly cares for the health and long-lasting effects of his team’s outcomes; team above personalities. At the same time, he’ll take feedback to the heart and make due changes upon a deep analysis of their root; because team above personality."

· Alvaro Arroyo

Content Manager

• "As a mentor and trainer, Jonathan not only walked me through the complex processes of my role, but helped me navigate the complex organization and build strong relationships with other members of the team [...] Jonathan is a problem-solver and is encouraged by the opportunity to identify areas of unhealthy complacency to drive teams to think outside the box and grow."

· Marisol Garnica Pérez

Production Director

• "Working with Jonathan means constant learning and growth and being part of his team changes your perspective on what we do every day. His leadership and ability to encourage people to improve is one of his greatest skills, and his love and commitment for what he does is something he spreads."