Jordan Dea-Mattson: Indeed Singapore Product Center Rise, Navigating Tech Layoffs & Healing Career Trauma – E558

BRAVE Southeast Asia Tech: Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand & Malaysia Startups, Founders & Venture Capital VC (English)

Jordan Dea-Mattson, a veteran tech leader, and Jeremy Au discussed how Jordan built developer tools at Apple and went on to lead engineering teams at Adobe and Indeed. They explored how he witnessed Apple’s transformation under Steve Jobs, the often unseen dynamics behind major tech layoffs, and what it takes to grow and scale high-performing teams in Southeast Asia. Jordan also shared how he led the rapid expansion of Indeed Singapore, navigated its unexpected closure, and helped his team transition. He also opens up about overcoming personal trauma, leading with integrity, and why real bravery means acting in the face of fear.

1. From curious teen to Apple product manager: Jordan fell in love with computers in middle school, studied computer science, and hustled his way into a job at Apple by fixing bugs and thinking like a product owner.

2. Building early developer tools: He managed key tools like ResEdit and Max bug, and worked on making Apple software usable in Japanese, Arabic, and Hebrew—shaping his global product thinking.

3. Seeing Apple with and without Jobs: Jordan lived through Apple's lost years and felt the seismic shift when Steve Jobs returned—cutting the product line, raising the bar, and restoring focus.

4. From Apple to Adobe: At Adobe, Jordan worked on Acrobat's SDK, then led a cross-product team to improve interoperability—laying the groundwork for what became the Adobe Creative Suite.

5. Layoffs, politics, and unintended consequences: He was laid off during Adobe’s merger with Macromedia, learning firsthand how internal politics often decide who stays and who goes.

6. Helping Adobe’s products play nice: His team standardized core components like fonts and color management, turning a “preschool” of incompatible products into a cohesive offering.

7. Building Indeed Singapore from scratch: In 2018, Jordan set up the Indeed product center in Singapore, growing it from 4 to 250 people—emphasizing diversity, speed, and engineering quality.

Watch, listen or read the full insight at https://www.braves ea.com/blog/engineering-soft-landings

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