Product Owner

Product Owner

Location: Hybrid split of home and office

We are Citation Group.  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 over 60,000 clients who love us, need us and want to buy more from us.  Having acquired 13 businesses over the last 4 years which offer products and services that our clients need and want; we’re only interested in future growth; we’re not finished yet.

We’ve recently entered 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 next 3 to 5 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 the Head of Client Technology Products, other market 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 is based in our Group Offices in Wilmslow, the successful candidate will be expected to meet with customers, as well as liaising and attending meetings occasionally with colleagues in other Group offices.

The role: 

• Understand the markets in which Citation operates, ever changing client expectations, legislative needs and product trends.
• Monitor competitors and their software solutions, proactively identifying and recommending opportunities to ensure Citation’s offering remains competitive.
• Define the goals for the development projects you are working on in line with priorities set by the Head of Client Technology Products.
• Liaise with key stakeholders including clients, service leads and development teams to ensure goals and objectives are well understood.
• Work closely with clients including attending face-to-face meetings in order to fully understand their specific requirements.
• Understand and create customer journey and visuals with support from the UX/UI team and act as primary contact between the stakeholder and the various teams.
• Agree on an MVP / MMP vs subsequent backlog items.
• Define solutions by working with the business and technical architects.
• 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 development and sprint cycles, evaluating progress at every stage.
• Conduct Retrospectives, Reviews and Sprint Planning, supported by our in-house Agile coaches.
• Be the Subject Matter Expert for your product within the business.
• Ensure the product is fit for purpose and has the ability to run 24/7, at scale.
• Report on product KPI’s, ROI and user satisfaction.
• Ability to write clear briefs, functional documentation and communicate with development teams.
• Facilitate the successful launch of new and enhanced features to internal and external stakeholders, liaising with Marketing to communicate using the correct ‘tone of voice’.
• Act as a key stakeholder in working party and UAT sessions approving feature changes and assuring quality standards throughout all stages of the product’s development.

What we are looking for: 

• Agile 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 mergers and acquisitions.

We don’t take ourselves too seriously, and we don’t expect you to either! From your birthday off (paid!), space hopper races and incredible Christmas parties, to a 25 day holiday entitlement, the opportunity to purchase up to 10 days annual leave, pension contributions, an extensive and varied retailer discount programme, healthcare and childcare vouchers, we do our fair share to help you and keep things fun.