Senior Product Manager

Job Description

Job Title: Senior Product Manager

Posting Start Date: 28/11/2025

Job Id: 1753

School/Department: IT Services

Work Arrangement: Full Time (Hybrid)

Contract Type: Permanent

Salary per annum (£): £48,822 - £65,509

Closing Date: 14/12/2025

The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world-class university.

We offer a fantastic range of benefits including a highly competitive annual leave entitlement (with the ability to purchase more), a generous pensions scheme, flexible working opportunities, a commitment to your development and wellbeing, a wide range of retail discounts, and much more.

Overview

In this role, you'll collaborate with the Head of Product and other members of the Product and Delivery communities to own, develop, and deliver impactful Product Roadmaps aligned with the University's strategic objectives. As a Senior Product Manager, you'll not only identify opportunities to provide user value and develop appropriate roadmaps but also contribute significantly to establishing consistent ways of working across the product function.

You will develop a comprehensive and deep understanding of the needs of your users and maintain a strategic view of the market of products and services that could be used to improve user experiences and outcomes.

You'll provide valuable coaching support to other Product Managers, helping them develop their skills and capabilities while ensuring product management practices are applied consistently throughout the department. By sharing your expertise and experience, you'll help create a community of practice that promotes knowledge sharing, collaborative problem-solving, and continuous improvement.

While managing your own product portfolio, you'll also lead a small team of Product Owners, guiding their professional development and ensuring they have the support needed to deliver successful outcomes. Your ability to balance your own product responsibilities with mentoring others will be key to fostering a cohesive and high-performing product management function.

Our ideal candidate has extensive experience in large-scale product-led design and development with a deep understanding of design standards, service design, and user experience. You should have a proven track record of product delivery, coaching others, and the ability to build relationships with diverse stakeholders across the University and beyond.

Main duties and responsibilities

• Develop and communicate a clear product vision, maintaining strategic roadmaps for a specific product area, aligned to the University's strategic objectives
• Provide line management for a team of Product Owners, including regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career development planning
• Alongside the Head of Product, coach and mentor other Product Managers on methodologies, techniques, and best practices to foster continuous improvement across the product function
• Work closely with Product Operations, to establish and maintain product management standards, templates, and processes across the department
• Through a process of opportunity mapping ensure a curated backlog of outcomes exists ready for prioritisation by appropriate governance groups
• Provide information, advice and support for stakeholders to allow them to make prioritisation decisions between and across products
• Champion user experience, accessibility, and inclusivity, translating user needs and defined business requirements into product features and initiatives
• Form and facilitate cross-functional product discovery and design teams, ensuring representation by all relevant stakeholders, to achieve a balance of business, change management and technical interests, anchoring the teams to the expected outcomes related to university strategy
• With Product Operations, lead communities of practice to share knowledge and develop product management capabilities throughout the organization
• Collaborate closely with architecture and technical teams to understand technical possibilities and constraints, through the design, build, test and release of products, ensuring product quality and technical excellence throughout
• Help to create and support a delivery environment that can work and deliver at pace, with the emphasis on early release of value and continuous improvement
• Build and nurture strong relationships between the Product team and University stakeholders to ensure products meet operational and strategic needs, communicating product decisions and progress to all teams at all levels
• Retain ownership through the product life cycle, prioritising backlog items to maximize value delivery based on data-evidenced decisions
• Research market trends and competitive landscapes, analyse product metrics and identify opportunities for innovation whilst balancing short-term delivery with long-term product value to the university
• Contribute to the ongoing development of the product management profession within the university
• Support recruitment and onboarding of new product team members
• Engage in relevant sector product management communities to further enhance knowledge and team capability
• Carry out other duties, commensurate with the grade and remit of the post.

Person Specification

Our diverse community of staff and students recognises the unique abilities, backgrounds, and beliefs of all. We foster a culture where everyone feels they belong and is respected. Even if your past experience doesn't match perfectly with this role's criteria, your contribution is valuable, and we encourage you to apply. Please ensure that you reference the application criteria in the application statement when you apply.

Criteria

Essential or desirable

Stage(s) assessed at

Significant experience with full agile lifecycle product development and processes

Essential

Application/ Interview

Experience of developing a strategic product vision

Essential

Application/ Interview

Previous experience managing and developing staff in product led roles

Essential

Application/ Interview

Experience coaching or mentoring other product professionals

Essential

Application/ Interview

Ability to balance strategic product vision across multiple product lines

Essential

Application/ Interview

Experience working with cross-functional IT teams in a product led model

Essential

Application/ Interview

Demonstrable evidence of delivering value quickly and iteratively in a continuous improvement environment

Essential

Application/ Interview

Experience establishing product management processes and standards

Essential

Application/ Interview

Strong record of building working relationships with diverse customers, and of working with influence, to deliver valued products and services

Essential

Application/ Interview

Strategic and curiosity-led mindset to inform customer needs and challenge traditional views

Essential

Application/ Interview

Strong communication skills and experience working with various stakeholders at different organisational levels

Essential

Application/ Interview

An ability to positively challenge colleagues and stakeholders, to protect overall product value

Essential

Application/ Interview

A can-do, problem-solving attitude and experience

Essential

Application/ Interview

Knowledge of product management frameworks and methodologies

Essential

Application/ Interview

Experience facilitating workshops and training sessions

Essential

Application/ Interview

Further Information

Grade

8

Salary

£48,822-£58,225 per annum with the potential to progress to £65,509 per annum.

Work arrangement

Full-time

Line manager

Head of Product

Direct reports

Product Owner

Our website

()

For informal enquiries about this job contact Sarah Boyd, Assistant Director for Product Delivery, at

Next steps in the recruitment process

We plan to let candidates know if they have progressed to the selection stage within two weeks of the closing date. If you need any support, equipment or adjustments to enable you to participate in any element of the recruitment process you can contact it-services-

Our vision and strategic plan

We are the University of Sheffield. This is our vision: ().

What we offer

• A minimum of 41days annual leave including bank holiday and closure days (pro rata) with the ability to purchase more.
• Flexible working opportunities, including hybrid working for some roles.
• Generous pension scheme.
• A wide range of discounts and rewards on shopping, eating out and travel.
• A variety of staff networks, providing opportunities for social interaction, peer support and personal development (for example, Race Equality, LGBT+, Women's and Parent's networks).
• Recognition Awards to reward staff who go above and beyond in their role.
• A commitment to your development access to learning and mentoring schemes.
• A range of generous family-friendly policies
• paid time off for parenting and caring emergencies
• support for those going through the menopause
• paid time off and support for fertility treatment
• and more

We are a Disability Confident Employer. If you have a disability and meet the essential criteria for this job you will be invited to take part in the next stage of the selection process.

Closing Date : 14/12/2025

We are a research university with a global reputation for excellence. Our ideas and expertise change the world for the better, making a real difference to society. We know that when people come together with different views, approaches and insights it can lead to richer, more creative and innovative teaching and research and the highest levels of student experience. Our University Vision ) outlines our commitment to building a diverse community of staff and students that recognises and values the abilities, backgrounds, beliefs and ways of living for everyone.