Technical Product Manager

Fluency (Part of M&C Saatchi Group) are seeking a Technical Product Manager to take ownership of the roadmap and delivery of a key internal and externally facing data product. This role will involve working closely with technical teams while also engaging with commercial stakeholders to communicate progress, challenges, and opportunities.

This role will report directly into the Chief Data and Technology Officer, and will require working closely with the other stakeholders across the M&C Saatchi Group.

This will be an initial 6 month fixed term contract/ day rate.

ABOUT THE ROLE:

As a Technical Product Manager, you will be responsible for the end-to-end ownership of a data-driven product, ensuring it delivers value to both internal users and external clients. You will act as the bridge between technical teams (Data Engineers, Data Scientists, and Developers) and commercial stakeholders, ensuring seamless execution of the product roadmap.

You will play a pivotal role in:

1. Owning and managing the product roadmap, ensuring alignment with business objectives.
2. Driving the execution of the product delivery process, working with engineering and data teams.
3. Translating technical progress into commercial impact, effectively communicating with non-technical stakeholders.
4. Managing risks, blockers, and dependencies, ensuring product delivery remains on track.
5. Leveraging project management methodologies to deliver high-quality outcomes on time.
6. Owning stakeholder communication, ensuring transparency and alignment across teams.
7. Reporting directly to the CDTO, escalating critical challenges and aligning on strategic direction.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

Product Ownership & Strategy

1. Define and maintain the product roadmap, ensuring prioritisation aligns with business goals.
2. Balance short-term delivery needs with long-term product vision, iterating based on feedback and market trends.
3. Drive continuous improvement, leveraging insights from users, data, and technology trends.
4. Develop and track KPIs to measure product success, using data-driven decision-making.

Technical & Delivery Oversight

1. Work closely with Data Engineers, Data Scientists, and Developers, understanding the technical complexity of the product.
2. Facilitate technical discussions and align engineering priorities with business needs.
3. Manage and refine the product backlog, ensuring clarity and feasibility of requirements.
4. Ensure smooth collaboration between teams by defining and optimising processes.
5. Identify and mitigate technical risks, working with engineers to implement best practices.

Stakeholder & Commercial Communication

1. Act as the bridge between technical teams and commercial stakeholders, ensuring alignment on priorities.
2. Communicate product progress, risks, and opportunities in clear, non-technical terms.
3. Manage stakeholder expectations, balancing feasibility with business objectives.
4. Work with leadership to justify product investments and strategic initiatives.
5. Represent the product in internal and external discussions, ensuring clarity of vision and execution.

Project & Risk Management

1. Oversee day-to-day project execution, ensuring tasks are completed on time and within scope.
2. Implement agile project management methodologies, managing sprints, stand-ups, and retrospectives.
3. Proactively identify and mitigate delivery risks, working closely with the CDTO when escalation is needed.
4. Drive efficiency in product delivery by improving workflows, processes, and tooling.

ABOUT YOU

You are a competent project manager and self-starter with an inquisitive mind. You are not afraid to ask questions. You are lateral. You appreciate the importance of data in helping clients transform. You understand the importance of creating scalable solutions. You have a strong POV on how projects are managed. Overall you have an unwavering attention to detail and a desire to learn.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING:

1. Proven experience in a Technical Product Manager role, ideally within data-driven products.
2. Strong understanding of data engineering and data science concepts, including cloud-based infrastructures.
3. Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear business impact statements.
4. Exceptional communication skills, capable of engaging both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
5. Hands-on project management experience, including Agile methodologies, sprint planning, and backlog refinement.
6. Strong commercial acumen, able to align technical development with business goals.
7. Ability to identify and manage product risks, escalating when necessary.

HOW YOU’LL EXCEL

1. You’ll own the product roadmap, ensuring successful execution and alignment with Fluency’s strategic vision.
2. You’ll be the go-to person for both technical and commercial stakeholders, translating complex data challenges into business solutions.
3. You’ll drive efficiency in execution, implementing best practices in Agile and product management.
4. You’ll manage risks and blockers effectively, ensuring smooth product delivery.
5. You’ll play a critical role in scaling Fluency’s data product offering.

ABOUT FLUENCY:

Fluency is an award-winning global data consultancy that helps brands make smarter, faster business decisions that deliver stronger outcomes. Combined with the M&C Saatchi Group’s intellectual capital in brand, marketing, design, and CRM, Fluency specialises in delivering insight, foresight, and oversight solutions fuelled by high quality data, analytics, and technologies.

Our team of creative minds operate out of hubs in New York, London and Sydney. Clients include Amazon, NIKE, UK Government, and Ford.

https://fluency-mcsaatchi.com/

WHAT YOU'LL GET

For the right candidate, we will offer a competitive salary and benefits package which includes 27 days annual holiday, private healthcare, employer contributory pension, life assurance and income protection.

Our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion sees us offer inclusive bank holidays, learning opportunities around DE&I, targeted mentoring programmes and the opportunity to participate in active Employee Led Networks and associated events.

ABOUT M&C SAATCHI GROUP

M&C Saatchi Group is a creative group of companies who navigate, create, and lead meaningful change for clients. Across five specialist divisions connected through people, culture, data, technology and creativity, M&C Saatchi Group aims to unlock new value for clients and leave a positive impact on the world.

M&C Saatchi Group’s work is informed by two core principles - Brutal Simplicity of Thought and Diversity of Thought. Together they guide how problems are solved and integrated specialist teams are built. Headquartered in London, M&C Saatchi Group have circa 2,500 employees globally of which 720 employees are UK based. Our operations span 23 countries with major hubs in the UK, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Asia and Australia. Having floated in 2004, M&C Saatchi plc is a constituent of the FTSE AIM. It has a market capitalisation of £250 million and ambitious growth plans.

M&C Saatchi Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer which does not discriminate, celebrates diversity and bases all hiring and promotion decisions solely on talent and capability, without regard for any personal characteristics.

All employee information is kept confidential according to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

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