Senior Product Owner

Thames Water; Reading; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading water utility company in Reading seeks a Senior Product Owner to take ownership of key digital products. The role involves defining product vision, aligning stakeholders, and leading agile practices. Ideal candidates will have experience in product ownership and implementing Workforce Management products. This position offers a competitive salary and generous benefits, including pension and health care.

Benefits

26 days holiday per year

Car Allowance

Private Medical Health Care

Qualifications

• Solid Product Ownership experience with a proven record of delivering measurable outcomes.
• Experience in implementing Workforce Management products across CRM, planning, and applications.
• Strong understanding of agile and lean practices.

Responsibilities

• Define and own the product vision and strategy.
• Lead and support a team of Product Owners and Business Analysts.
• Align stakeholders by maintaining a clear product roadmap.

Skills

Product Ownership

Agile methodologies

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Risk management

Job description

Overview

We’re looking for a Senior Product Owner to take ownership of key digital products that support Thames Water’s operational and customer services. This role is central to shaping product strategy, setting priorities, and ensuring delivery of outcomes that make a measurable impact.

What you’ll be doing as a Senior Product Owner

• Define and own the product vision and strategy – setting clear business goals and ensuring the roadmap reflects both immediate needs and long-term priorities.
• Lead and support a team of Product Owners and Business Analysts, setting achievable tasks and nurturing their growth in line with company policies and values.
• Align stakeholders and delivery teams by building and maintaining a clear product roadmap, ensuring that expectations and outcomes are fully understood.
• Translate business needs into outcomes, supporting the team to create well-defined requirements, assessing impact against product vision, and ensuring deliverables link to benefit cases.
• Take accountability for delivery, managing risks, dependencies, and trade-offs across time, cost, and quality, and making transparent prioritisation decisions.
• Act as business owner for the product, approving testing scope and release outcomes, balancing benefits against outstanding risks and issues, while working closely with the Platform Services Team to prioritise ongoing improvements and incident fixes.
• Champion agile practices, supporting activities such as daily stand-ups, user stories, backlog management, and promoting a culture of continuous improvement.

Base location: Clearwater Court, Reading (Hybrid)

What you should bring to the role

• Solid Product Ownership experience, with a proven record of leading product roadmaps, backlogs, and delivering measurable outcomes.
• Demonstrable experience in implementing Workforce Management products spanning CRM, planning, and field mobile applications.
• Demonstrable leadership in complex programmes, guiding cross-functional teams and aligning senior stakeholders with differing views.
• Strong understanding of agile and lean practices, with experience of continuous delivery across multi-department or supplier-led programmes.
• Strategic thinking and decision-making under pressure, with the ability to manage risks, costs, and impacts effectively.
• Additional strengths, such as water industry knowledge, line management, or project management experience, are desirable.

What’s in it for you?

• This role will be paid from £75,000 to £90,000 per annum depending on skills and experience
• Annual leave 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service (plus bank holidays)
• Car Allowance
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets
• Generous Pension Scheme through AON
• Private Medical Health Care
• Access to benefits to support health, wellbeing and finances – including annual health MOTs, physiotherapy, counselling, Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers, and life assurance

Who are we?

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Working at Thames Water

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family.

Equality, adjustments and recruitment

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else, just let us know. We’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.