Principal Product Owner

Principal Product Owner

Location:
London or New York (hybrid, ~3 days/week in office)

Compensation:
~£170k base + £210k bonus + highly attractive carry package with flexibility on cash/carry mix

Our Client

.. is one of Europe's leading software and services investors, building and scaling innovative products for its portfolio companies. Unlike consulting firms, our client owns the companies it works with—so their teams have exceptional autonomy, direct access to leadership, and the mandate to build transformational products from scratch at pace.

The Role

The Principal Product Owner will lead one product build at a time, working closely with portfolio company executives, stakeholders, and engineering teams to take ideas from concept to market.

You'll be responsible for defining the opportunity, scoping and planning the build, aligning stakeholders, and driving delivery with our internal and external teams. This is a hands-on, highly visible role at the centre of product, technology, and business.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive 0→1 product builds
  for portfolio companies: from initial scoping and business case to launch and iteration.
• Interface between business & technology:
  translate stakeholder needs into clear requirements for engineers and designers.
• Stakeholder management:
  work directly with senior executives at portfolio companies to align on priorities, manage expectations, and communicate progress.
• Product leadership:
  own the roadmap, backlog, and delivery plan for your product.
• AI-first thinking:
  leverage modern AI technologies (including agentic systems, RAG, automation) in product design where applicable.
• Commercial insight:
  ensure products meet real customer needs and deliver measurable impact.
• Team leadership without line management:
  coordinate cross-functional teams and contractors to deliver outcomes at speed.

What We're Looking For

Experience:

• 6–10 years' professional experience blending
  technical and commercial exposure
  .
• Backgrounds may include: product management/ownership, consulting, solutions/deployment strategy, forward-deployed engineering, or similar.
• Hands-on involvement in building B2B or enterprise software products (mid-market or SME experience also welcome).
• Track record of driving complex projects with multiple stakeholders.

Technical / AI Competence:

• Not expected to code day-to-day but must be
  comfortable working with engineers
  and scoping technical solutions.
• Direct experience
  working with or building AI systems
  (agentic systems, RAG, automation, chatbots, etc.) strongly preferred.
• Excellent education, technical degree preferred

Client-Facing & Commercial Skills:

• Comfortable presenting to senior business audiences.
• Strong ability to translate between technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Mindset:

• Bias to action, entrepreneurial attitude, and excitement about building from scratch.
• Ability to thrive in a high-autonomy, high-accountability environment.

Interview Process

• Introductory chat
  with hiring manager.
• Case study
  assessing commercial awareness and structured thinking.
• "Super Day"
  : behavioral, leadership, teamwork, and vision interviews combined into ~one day.
• (Approx. 6–7 touchpoints total.)

Why work with our client

1. Build transformative products
   at pace with full executive support—0→1 in months, not years.
2. Exceptional autonomy and resources
   thanks to client's ownership model.
3. Compensation that reflects top-tier talent
   , including flexible carry and cash structures.

We welcome candidates from diverse backgrounds
who combine technical fluency, customer-facing experience, and product leadership skills—even if your career path is non-linear.