Product Owner

National Grid; Warwick; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading energy firm in the UK is seeking a Lead Product Owner to drive the digital product strategy within their Electricity Distribution team. This hybrid role requires managing agile delivery while advocating for user-centric design and collaborating with cross-functional teams. Candidates should possess strong strategic and leadership skills, along with a passion for enhancing user experiences. The ideal salary ranges between £55,000 and £65,000, with additional flexible benefits for career development.

Benefits

Competitive Salary

Flexible benefits including cycle scheme

Ongoing career development support

Access to digital GP services

Support for work and family life

Qualifications

• Strong strategic thinking skills with the ability to define a clear product vision.
• Passion for creating outstanding user experiences and understanding user needs.
• Familiarity with digital technologies, agile methodologies, and project management tools.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Develop, maintain and communicate a clear product vision and strategy.
• Manage and prioritise product backlog in alignment with commercial KPIs.
• Champion user-centric design principles.
• Ensure product quality by defining acceptance criteria and conducting testing.

Skills

Strategic Thinking

User-Centric Mindset

Technical Knowledge

Communication Skills

Leadership

Problem-Solving

Adaptability

Influencing Skills

Commercial Awareness

Job description

About us

Ready to shape the future of digital products at National Grid?

At National Grid, we keep people connected and society moving. But it's so much more than that. National Grid supplies us with the environment to make it happen. As we generate momentum in the energy transition for all, we don't plan on leaving any of our customers in the dark. So, join us as a Lead Product Owner, and find your superpower.

National Grid is hiring a Product Owner for our Electricity Distribution (NGED) team. This role is designated as hybrid, with an expectation of one or two days per month in the office. Requirements may vary based on business needs and company policy.

About the Role

Reporting to the Head of Product Management, the Product Owner is responsible for managing the agile delivery and optimisation of their digital product. A pivotal role in shaping and executing the digital product strategy, driving innovation and ensuring the successful delivery of digital solutions that meet both customer needs and business objectives.

This role is also expected to be a subject matter expert in their respective discipline, fostering collaboration, continuous improvement, and adaptability within the organisation, as a facilitator, mentor, and enabler of the Agile principles. A person who advocates for a mindset shift towards agility, encouraging all to embrace Agile values and practices.

The role also has accountability to deputise for their line manager (whenever necessary) and is expected to support the product owner community while also driving a positive culture (primarily through role modelling) across the Technology department and wider business.

What You'll Do

• Develop, maintain and communicate a clear and compelling product vision and strategy in line with business goals.
• Create and maintain a roadmap that outlines the prioritised features, enhancements, deliverables and own the success for assigned digital products.
• Manage and prioritise the product backlog in alignment with commercial KPI's and wider business requirements, balance the delivery of customer-facing features with technical improvements and debt.
• Organise requirements following key agile frameworks including user story mapping, epic & feature hierarchies, feature injection user story writing, pivoting and prototyping.
• Champion user-centric design principles, working closely with UX/UI designers to ensure exceptional user experiences.
• Define the acceptable levels of quality for product development (avoiding gold-plating where possible) while championing iterative, incremental delivery.
• Collaborate with and motivate cross-functional teams, including developers, designers and QA engineers to deliver high-quality digital products that support and align to project delivery budgets and commercial KPI's.
• Own all primary internal and external stakeholder engagement and communications which includes effectively communicating product updates, progress, and any changes.
• Define, manage and prioritise all release and go-live dates for assigned products.
• Be the primary point of escalation for the development team from a product development perspective (able to answer any queries and support the team).
• Ensure product quality by defining acceptance criteria and working closely with QA SMEs to conduct testing and validation.
• Deliver and support all sprint ceremonies.
• Define release plans and coordinate product releases, including sprint planning, backlog grooming and sprint reviews.

About You

• Strategic Thinker: Strong strategic thinking skills with the ability to define a clear product vision and roadmap.
• User-Centric Mindset: Passion for creating outstanding user experiences and a deep understanding of user needs.
• Technical Knowledge: Familiarity with digital technologies, agile methodologies, and project management tools.
• Communication Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with good interpersonal skills to effectively convey ideas and updates to diverse stakeholders.
• Leadership: Strong leadership skills with the ability to motivate and inspire cross-functional teams (coaching, training, facilitating and collaborating)
• Problem-Solving: Exceptional problem-solving and decision-making abilities, with a focus on data-driven solutions.
• Adaptability: Ability to thrive in a rapidly changing environment and adapt to new challenges, shifting priorities, demands and timelines and quickly update stakeholders on impact (potential or actual)
• Influencing Skills: Ability to communicate technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences, clearly and concisely
• Commercial: Strong commercial awareness and prioritisation skills

What You'll Get

• Competitive Salary: circa £55,000 - £65,000 per annum (dependent on location, capability, and experience).

Additional benefits:

• Flexible benefits such as a cycle scheme, share incentive plan, technology schemes
• Ongoing career development and support to help you cover the cost of professional membership subscriptions, course fees, books, examination fees and time off for study leave - so long as it is relevant to your role
• Access to apps such as digital GP service for round the clock access to GP video consultations and NHS repeat prescriptions, wellbeing app to support your health and fitness
• Access to Work + Family Space, providing support and resources for work and family life, including paid emergency childcare and eldercare