Principal Product Lead

**About the role**:
Our Product & Technology team is growing as the breadth of our proposition continues to expand. We're open to meeting proven Product people from diverse backgrounds at Senior & Principal levels to support this growth. If this sounds interesting, please get in touch and we're happy to meet for an informal chat to start with.

At Auto Trader our purpose is to Drive Change Together, Responsibly. This means being at the forefront of the innovation and disruption that is happening across the UK automotive sector, including the transition to electric, bringing the car buying journey online, and establishing new models for financing and owning vehicles. Auto Trader has already demonstrated its capacity for transformation, when we strengthened our business through the print to digital transition. Now we're now embarking on our next transformation as we shift from an advertising platform to an ecommerce platform. We aim to build strong partnerships with our customers and stakeholders, and we use our voice to drive more environmentally friendly choices and create and inclusive and diverse culture.

As a marketplace we serve the needs of both buyers and sellers (and increasingly other stakeholders, e.g. finance lenders, leasing companies). Over 10m consumers a month come to Auto Trader for help to find, buy and sell their next car, and thousands of retailers use our tools to help source, price and advertise vehicles via our platforms. Many other companies use our data to run their businesses, including insurance companies, the Government and the Bank of England.

Our Product Leads sit at the heart of driving these changes. They lead teams across the business and work collaboratively with external stakeholders to build and launch new products, and evolve our existing ones, to meet the diverse and changing needs of our users.

We invest in helping to grow and develop our Product people - whether that's specific learning through our Product Academy, coming together to learn from each other as a Product community, or attending industry conferences & events.
- As a Principal Product Lead you will;- Own one of our most important and complex Product verticals, accountable for the success of products / portfolios of significant commercial and / or strategic importance.
- Be 'T-shaped', operating across multiple products / projects, but comfortable getting into the detail when required.
- Be a domain leader who may look after multiple products / teams within their domain.
- Understand and contribute to the broader strategic direction of the organisation, not just your own area.
- Demonstrate a strong and pragmatic approach for achieving results.
- Operate on multiple horizons, balancing your time between what's happening now and next, and what's happing further into the future.
- Be an active contributor to the Product Team at Auto Trader, sharing your learnings and best practice, developing our community of practice and growing our people.

**What we're looking for**:
We'd be interested in having a chat with you if you have product experience in any of the following:
- Marketplaces.- Automotive.- eCommerce / online retailing.- Finance.- B2B SaaS.- Data and analytics.

In terms of what we're looking for from a Principal Product Lead you'll have experience of:

- Managing a portfolio of products / projects.
- Working with internal / external stakeholders and 3rd parties.
- Being an analytical and objective decision-maker, using data to challenge or support assumptions.
- Building effective relationships across different levels of seniority and experience.
- Being a great communicator and storyteller.
- Being someone that wants to contribute to the Product community (at Auto Trader and beyond), and grow and develop our Product people (either via direct line management or coaching).

**Benefits and more**:
We're offering a competitive salary dependent on experience, and a flexible benefits package to support your health and well-being. You'll have 28 days holiday per year, and that's in addition to bank holidays and half day closures on Christmas and New Year's Eve. Our Aviva pension scheme offers between 5% to 7% employer contributions depending on the percentage you choose to contribute, and we provide Bupa healthcare cover for all of our employees.

Our employee assistance programme, enhanced parental leave and share-save options and are just some of the other benefits on offer should you decide to join us.

Career development is something that we're passionate about at Auto Trader, and we all develop and learn things differently. Whether you attend an external conference, utilise a LinkedIn Learning license or choose one of our in-house masterclasses, there's something for everyone.

Our hybrid working model gives you a range of options, including combining office with home working and flexible start and finish times. Find out more about Connected Working here, or speak to a member of our resourcing team.