Product Owner (12 Month FTC) in UNITED KINGDOM

Product Owner (12 Month FTC)

We are Citation. We offer colleagues and clients an opportunity they will not gain at many other businesses. We are interested in growth, investment and service excellence, we have never and will never grow our business by cost cutting or tying people up in bureaucracy. We don’t do politics – we want people focused upon actions and delivery. We don’t do micro-management – we empower, support and innovate. We are leaders, not empire builders and we love our business. This is a really exciting opportunity to join us in this role. Across our group companies we have thousands of clients who love us, need us and want to buy more from us. Having acquired 16 businesses which offer products and services that our clients need and want; we’re only interested in future growth; we’re not finished yet.

We’re in our 3rd wave of private equity ownership alongside KKR and Hg Capital and don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. This also means as the company grows over the coming years, you’ve got the opportunity to do so too! If the prospect of this excites you… good, you’re the right type of person for us.

We are looking for a PO that is passionate about online client experiences, curious about really understanding the client needs with a flair for technology to innovate. You will push our strategy to exceed client’s expectations and to be market leaders in our fields. You’ll influence the roadmap, supported by your Product Lead, other market and subject matter experts and of course our UX and UI team. We challenge ourselves to use technology to our demanding customers’ advantage and are continually seeking to standardise our technology approach across the Group.

Whilst this role supports our offering based in Wellingborough, we expect its reach to benefit other Group clients, products and services. At Group level we are not just focused on growing our Business Unit’s share of their market i.e. Food Safety and nutrition, we are also driving software integrations with other Group businesses to provide clients with the best and broadest range of Compliance services for their businesses. The successful candidate can expect to liaise with, support and be supported by our community of Groupwide Product colleagues attending meetings regularly with them, both online and occasionally in our Group offices.

The role:

• Be willing to learn / understand the food product data, safety and nutrition market, ever changing client expectations, legislative needs and product trends.
• Define the goals and outcomes for the development projects you are working on in line with priorities set by your Product Lead.
• Liaise with key stakeholders including clients, internal business colleagues and development teams to ensure goals and objectives are well understood.
• Create suggestions for operational improvement of our software aligned to feedback and insights.
• Understand and create customer journey maps acting as the primary contact between the stakeholder and the various teams.
• Draw up comprehensive backlogs with agreed MVP delivery vs subsequent backlog items, considering all potential associated risks.
• Define solutions by working with business, engineering and technical architecture stakeholders.
• Map out project dependencies to inform the necessary sequence of development.
• Juggle scope, budget, and time, weighing priorities according to the needs and objectives of stakeholders.
• Manage the product and sprint backlogs, prioritising based on the overall strategy and business objectives set by the Product Lead.
• Oversee the development sprint cycles, evaluating progress at every stage.
• Conduct Retrospectives, Reviews and Sprint Planning, with guidance and support from our team of Agile Coaches.
• Gain agreement from senior management on the best method of introducing the recommendations to the wider business – addressing any uncertainty or concerns.
• Be the Subject Matter Expert and evangelist for your product, within the business.
• Ensure the product is fit for purpose and has ability to run 24/7, at scale, globally.
• Take accountability for producing and presenting analytics around product KPI's.
• Articulate clear briefs, functional documentation and communicate with development teams.
• Act as the key stakeholder in working party and UAT sessions approving feature changes and assuring quality standards through all stages of the product’s development.

What we are looking for:

• Minimum of 6 months experience working in a Scrum team for a likeminded technology company
• Agile and Waterfall methodologies
• UX/UI principles
• Client focused
• Able to prioritise and take ownership
• Requirements Definition / User Stories
• Stakeholder Management
• Positive attitude - team player

What’s in it for you?

What we offer in return is an exciting opportunity to work in a growing market for a Group that has recently seen massive investment to grow both organically and through M&A.

We don’t take ourselves too seriously, and we don’t expect you to either! From your birthday off (paid!) to a 25 day holiday entitlement, we encourage a healthy work / life balance, offering hybrid / remote working practices.