Head of Product

Role:
Head of Product

Rate:
Dependant on experience, Inside IR35

Location:

Hybrid, West Midlands

• Define and articulate a single, coherent Digital Product vision and strategy spanning all product verticals, tightly connected to commercial priorities
• Design the target Product Operating Model, including roles, responsibilities, ceremonies, governance, tooling and ways of working, appropriate to the organisation's current maturity
• Establish delivery governance the business has previously lacked, including reporting structures, decision rights, prioritisation forums and escalation routes
• Make portfolio-level investment and trade-off calls across verticals, balancing competing demands from Senior Product Owners and business stakeholders
• Set function-wide OKRs and establish the commercial metrics framework and reporting cadence the function will be judged by
• Assess current team structure and capability and recommend, where appropriate implement, changes to squad/vertical structure and resourcing
• Put in place consistent backlog management and prioritisation mechanisms across the whole function
• Coach and mentor Senior Product Owners across all verticals and build the Head of Digital Product's leadership capability
• Establish a lasting Product Owner community of practice with playbooks and induction materials so capability-building continues without ongoing external support
• Act as the most senior visible champion for the shift away from project/waterfall delivery, bringing sceptical stakeholders along
• Document the operating model, governance, standards and key decisions, and run a structured knowledge transfer ahead of contract end

• Proven track record establishing or maturing a Product Operating Model in a business transitioning away from waterfall or project-based delivery
• Senior product leadership experience, ideally at Head of Product level or equivalent, with the credibility to influence executive stakeholders
• Strong experience coaching, mentoring and developing Senior Product Owners and wider PO communities
• Experience designing governance, ceremonies, prioritisation frameworks and reporting cadences that outlast an individual leader
• Able to interpret commercial and user behaviour data confidently and make decisions at pace
• Skilled at managing conflict, resistance and organisational scepticism to keep focus on high-value outcomes
• Excellent communicator with experience leading workshops and translating product work into commercial language for non-product audiences

• Background in digital retail or ecommerce
• Experience partnering with Agile Delivery Leads, Agile coaches or transformation leads
• Familiarity with third-party product ecosystem partners (e.g. Search & Discovery, PxM or similar)

This role would suit a senior product leader who takes as much pride in what they leave behind as in what they personally deliver, and who wants a defined engagement to set a Digital Product function up properly from the ground up.