Product Owner - Data Platform

Skipton Building Society; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the UK is seeking a Data Platform Product Owner to drive the evolution of their cloud-native data platform. This role involves managing product backlogs, engaging stakeholders, and ensuring business value delivery through data solutions. Join a dynamic team focused on innovation and continuous improvement while enjoying flexible working arrangements and a range of benefits.

Benefits

Annual discretionary bonus

25 days annual leave + bank holidays

Matching pension contributions

Colleague mortgage scheme

Private medical insurance

Paid volunteering days

Health and wellbeing benefits

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a Product Owner in a data-driven environment.
• Strong knowledge of data architecture and governance.
• Experience with Agile methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Define and manage the product vision and roadmap for the Data Platform.
• Own and prioritise the product backlog for efficient delivery.
• Lead stakeholder engagement and translate business requirements.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Analytical Mindset

Stakeholder Management

Continuous Improvement

Education

SAFe POPM or Scrum PSP

Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)

Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900)

Tools

Azure Databricks

SQL

Python

Git

Job description

Hours: 35 hrs
Closing Date: Thu, 29 May 2025

We’re on the lookout for a visionary Data Platform Product Owner to help lead the evolution of our cloud-native data platform and deliver real business value through data.

Who We Are

You’ll be joining our rapidly expanding Engineering team, collaborating with talented Data and Software professionals, and engaging closely with stakeholders across our Technology function and wider business. Your role is pivotal in driving innovative solutions forward and aligning with our ambitious change agenda. Together, you’ll help shape the organisation’s future by pushing boundaries and transforming ideas into reality. Join us on this journey of growth, creativity, and collaboration as we set new benchmarks in data engineering excellence. Your contribution is key to our shared success.

What Will You Be Doing

As Data Platform Product Owner, you will join a high-performing team responsible for accepting, prioritising, and managing all types of work within the Data Platform—including business projects, internal initiatives, change requests, and unplanned work. You will gather feature requests, agree sprint goals and objectives, and distil business value and goals into actionable roadmaps while refining the product backlog. Your primary responsibility is to ensure measurable business benefit and value are delivered effectively and efficiently.

Key Responsibilities

1. Vision & Strategy: Define and manage the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for the Data Platform, ensuring alignment with business goals and evolving data needs. Champion a product-centric, value-driven approach, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
2. Backlog & Work Management: Own and prioritise the product backlog, ensuring efficient delivery of features, improvements, and technical enhancements. Manage and balance all types of work: business projects, internal projects, change requests, and unplanned work (e.g., incidents, technical debt, urgent fixes). Employ robust planning methods to ensure deployment is effective.
3. Stakeholder Engagement & Communication: Lead stakeholder engagement, maintaining strong relationships across all levels to drive engagement and alignment in an agile environment. Gather and translate business requirements into clear, actionable technical requirements.
4. Value Stream & Systems Thinking: Visualise and optimise the end-to-end value stream for the Data Platform, identifying and addressing bottlenecks. Apply systems thinking to ensure changes consider wider impacts.
5. Metrics, Measurement & Reporting: Define, track, and report on success metrics including DORA metrics, data quality, adoption, user satisfaction, business value, and operational health. Use these metrics to drive continuous improvement.
6. Data Governance & Compliance: Ensure adherence to data governance, privacy, and security standards, coordinating with compliance teams as needed.
7. DevOps & Automation Collaboration: Work closely with DevOps and engineering teams to enhance automation, deployment, and reliability, supporting CI/CD practices.
8. Continuous Improvement & Feedback: Evaluate and report on value post-delivery, gather user feedback, and support ongoing improvements.
9. Leadership & Collaboration: Provide support and guidance within the Engineering department, fostering a collaborative and inclusive environment.

What Do We Need From You

We’re looking for a technically proficient, strategic thinker with strong leadership and communication skills. Ideally, you’ll bring:

• Proven experience as a Product Owner or similar role within a data-driven environment.
• Strong knowledge of data architecture, platforms, and governance.
• Experience with Agile methodologies, managing product backlogs, and sprints.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate complex data needs into clear objectives.
• An analytical mindset focused on delivering business value through data solutions.
• A deep understanding of the data landscape to influence strategic roadmaps.
• Focus on service delivery, continuous improvement, and innovation.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills across teams.

Key Technologies (awareness of)

• Azure Databricks, Data Factory, Storage, Key Vault
• Source control systems, such as Git
• dbt (Data Build Tool), SQL (Spark SQL), Python (PySpark)

Certifications (Ideal)

• SAFe POPM or Scrum PSP
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals (DP-900)

What’s in it for you

We value work/life balance and support hybrid and flexible working. Our benefits include:

• Annual discretionary bonus
• 25 days annual leave + bank holidays + increment with service (up to 30 days)
• Holiday trading scheme
• Matching pension contributions (up to 10%)
• Colleague mortgage scheme
• Salary sacrifice for hybrid & electric cars
• Training and development
• Private medical insurance
• Paid volunteering days
• Diverse colleague networks
• Health and wellbeing benefits