Product Owner

Digital Waffle; Nottingham; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Digital Waffle, a well-established UK financial services business, seeks an experienced Product Owner to lead an in-house engineering team and align software delivery with real customer problems. You will partner with senior leadership across product, operations, and technology to turn strategy into a clear product plan, shape the roadmap, and prioritise work.

You will own the backlog, write well-defined user stories, and ensure delivery through Scrum ceremonies.

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Product Owner in an agile software environment, ideally within financial services.
• Experience with decision-engine products.
• Strong grasp of the software development lifecycle and modern technology stacks.
• Good working knowledge of APIs and middleware.
• Excellent communication and facilitation skills.
• Agile certification such as CSPO is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Partner with senior leadership to translate business strategy into a product plan.
• Shape and communicate the product vision and roadmap for a modern technology platform.
• Act as the decision-maker on technology changes and backlog priorities.
• Gather and refine requirements, write well-defined user stories and backlog items.
• Collaborate with engineers on test planning and delivery.
• Lead Scrum ceremonies and foster a safe, experimental environment.
• Drive cross-functional collaboration between business and engineering to deliver real customer value.

Skills

Product Owner

Agile

Backlog management

Stakeholder management

Team leadership

Communication

Tools

APIs

Middleware

Job description

Our client, a well-established UK financial services business, is looking for an experienced Product Owner to join its product function. Reporting into the Head of Product, you'll sit at the heart of the organisation, connecting the operational side of the business with an in-house engineering team so that every piece of software delivered solves a real problem for customers.

What you'll be doing

• Partnering with senior leadership across product, operations and technology to turn business strategy into a clear, achievable product plan
• Shaping and communicating the product vision and roadmap, and helping keep the technology platform modern and fit for the future
• Acting as the decision-maker on technology change, setting priorities and managing the backlog
• Gathering and refining requirements with stakeholders and writing well-defined user stories and backlog items
• Collaborating with engineers on test planning and delivery
• Strengthening day-to-day collaboration and trust between business and technical teams
• Leading and developing your team, encouraging an environment where people feel safe to experiment, test ideas and learn fast
• Helping the wider business shift its focus from discussion to action and delivery
• Taking part in, and facilitating where needed, all Scrum ceremonies

How success will be measured

• Delivered work addresses the intended problem and has measurable outcomes
• Results of change are tracked and shared with the wider team
• Stakeholders feel involved in, and ownership of, the solutions being built
• The business sees ongoing, improving value from its investment in product development

What you'll bring

• Proven experience as a Product Owner in an agile software environment, ideally within financial services
• Specific experience with decision-engine products.
• A solid grasp of the software development lifecycle and modern technology stacks
• Good working knowledge of APIs and middleware
• Strong analytical and documentation skills
• Familiarity with analytics and user-behaviour tools (such as Hotjar or Google Tag Manager) is a plus
• An understanding of good UX/UI practice and how to build it into requirements from the start
• A track record of seeing projects, preferably software, through to successful delivery
• Excellent communication, presentation and facilitation skills
• A people-focused leadership style and a genuine commitment to continuous improvement
• Experience working alongside in-house engineering teams using agile methods
• An agile certification such as CSPO would be advantageous