Head of Product

Job Description

We are hiring a Head of Product into our tech leadership team who will lead our Product and Design Community and contribute to the success of the tech department.This is a chance to support and grow the capability of our Product Managers, UX Team and business analysts. You will define and help teams meet objectives, innovate and experiment at scale and solve problems for our business.The ideal candidate will be able to motivate and inspire teams by clarifying and communicating the business objectives and product vision to the teams, whilst ensuring the teams are aligned, removing or reducing any prioritisation conflict between the teams. They will help ensure we are building only what is necessary to meet our objectives with clearly defined metrics to guide them along their chosen path.They will provide line management for the Product Managers, UX Designers and Business Analysts, setting objectives for their personal development and career progression.We have been going through a digital transformation, changing how we deliver value to our business. A big part of this change is fostering a culture of trust, collaboration, open, honest and inclusive behaviour, enabling psychology safety and creating a place for teams to do their best work and have fun.The Tech Team At Footasylum we have multidisciplinary teams made up of a delivery manager, a product manager, designers, software engineers, devops engineers and QA engineers. Teams are either focused on objectives or technical areas such as our in-house platform team. We like to keep our teams small enough that they become a unit of delivery, but large enough that people can pair and mob on tasks and knowledge can be shared out.We have four pillars that show what "good" means for us. You will be responsible for ensuring the pillars are used from recruitment, inductions, objectives, daily work, retros and the weekly huddle. Leading the product team, you will work with help teams understand the importance of making data driven decisionsWe recognise that we have some legacy systems that cover lots of business areas so we swarm on issues with the wider teams, if required, using the equivalent of an Andon cord so people are alerted to, and team up on fixes together. At every point, our teams support each other and the business to do the right thing with autonomy, mastery, and purpose.We use our communities of practice to provide support for those in similar disciplines. You will be responsible for creating and running the CoP for the product managers and UX teams. You will also align with the other CoPs to encourage learning and sharing knowledge.With us, you will have the opportunity to influence our decisions, define standards across the teams and contribute to a healthy and happy working environment.About You Within your current role, you are someone who can bring people and teams together. You support those around you, you are constantly learning and work in a kind, considerate and collaborative manner with a keen interest in new ways of working.You enjoy mentoring others and have experience in helping product managers and designers develop their knowledge and skills. You really understand the role of a product manager and a designer within a team. You know how to work with the team and stakeholders to build and deliver roadmaps at different phases of a product lifecycle, from discovery, experimentation, to build measure and learn iterations of a live service. You understand that businesses make good decisions with data rather than opinion and have a data first approach. You have experience of supporting and mentoring others in your community to do the same.You will have experience of defining objectives and motivating teams and product managers to deliver to objectives. You will have worked in a strong data culture, using data driven decisions over opinion. Responsibilities

Work as part of the tech leadership team to define and refine our values, approach to work, recruitment and budget planning.

Build relationships with the key stakeholders to understand the business challenges and value that can be created.

Coach the Product Managers to have challenging conversations with stakeholders, using qualitative and quantitative data, so they have the autonomy to work together to create value.

Mentoring and 121s with product managers, UX designers and business analysts.

Leading the CoP for Product Managers, UX designers and business analysts.

Guide teams to work towards the four pillars, showing what "good" looks like.

Creating documents or visualisations to help teams understand the objectives, strategy and vision.

LocationPrimarily the role will be remote and while there is no intention for the team to go back to full time office work any time soon, this role will require time visiting sites such as our logistics operations, stores and head office, therefore candidates within reasonable distance of our offices in Rochdale and Manchester are preferable to enable face to face team and stakeholder sessions in the future. Recruitment Process With the COVID-19 situation our teams are all working remotely, adjusting to this new way of working as best we can - and as such well help make the interview process as clear and stress-free as possible, giving you the same opportunity as if we were meeting face to face.We review applications on an individual basis, and if we feel you would be a good fit well invite you to meet with the leadership team for an informal chat about the role, and to see if were a good fit for you.We are not fans of presentations or whiteboard interviews, we value open and honest conversations and collaboration instead, giving you a chance to learn about what we are doing in an informal and friendly environment. We want to know about you and your approach towards delivering objectives whilst coaching and mentoring teams.