Head of Product

Our client is one of the largest providers of education management software in the UK, they influence the lives of over one million people every day through a range of web and mobile products that are built on the SIMS management information system.
As a company they help more than 20,000 schools effectively manage their data, save administration time, and reduce costs whilst enabling millions of parents to communicate with their school, remaining engaged in their children's education.
Due to continued growth, our client is now looking to recruit a Remote Head of Product who will take accountability for the strategy and execution of all product-related activities for their SIMS Next Generation product. You will be responsible for the customerand business outcomes of the redevelopment and evolution of the product, focussing on enabling teams to build a product that meets users' needs, working closely with product delivery teams and broader functional groups including Sales & Marketing.

**Responsibilities**:

- Use insights, data, trends, problem-definition and validation to define and iterate the vision, product strategy, and intended outcomes for the SIMS MIS product, demonstrating alignment to the wider portfolio vision and business objectives
- Alongside Product Design, develop a deep understanding of and advocate for the needs and pain points of both users and purchasers, based on market insights, user research and product analytics
- Own and continuously develop an outcome-oriented roadmap and product positioning, working closely with Marketing to effectively communicate this to the customer base
- Continuously define and measure success in the context of business vision
- Steer and Support multiple Product Delivery teams to prioritise backlogs, keeping the overall vision and priorities for the programme front of mind, and enable them to be accountable for problem-spaces, define and measure success and deliver iteratively forthe highest customer and business value
- Build relationships with and influence internal and external stakeholders, understand their needs, effectively managing their expectations and defining a common vision
- Manage and coach Product Managers and Product Owners, promoting best in class product practices to foster new ways of working and ensure we deliver successful products
- Build, develop and inspire empowered agile product teams that are seen as thought leaders in their discipline
Key Skills & Experience
- Demonstrable experience in the management and ongoing development of a B2B SaaS product
- Ability to drive a culture of collaboration and user-centricity with a clear focus on our intended customer outcomes and achieve commercial targets
- Experience leading product within agile, customer-centric, data-informed, quality-obsessed, cross-functional delivery teams, eager to coach Product team members in this area
- The ability to actively listen to, empathise with and develop an expert understanding of the customer and market needs. Champion these in the delivery of your products
- Extensive experience of product evaluation, user experience, discovery methods and lean and agile development
- Adept at developing a strong product strategy and outcome-oriented roadmap within a wider digital ecosystem
- Proficient at taking insights from analytics to inform next steps and presenting clear commercial data
- Excellent presentation and story-telling skills with proven ability to influence and drive alignment across an organisation from senior management level to engineering, customer-facing teams etc., and externally to the market in a compelling and crediblemanner