Product & Innovation Manager (UK)

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Product & Innovation Manager (UK)

Department: Platform Development

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: London

Description

As a Product & Innovation Manager you are a member of the platform office that is envisioning, developing and maintaining the technologies, owned networks and workflows to support our research portfolio.

Within your role, you play a pivotable role in the development of initiatives aimed to improve the operational efficiency, profitability and effectiveness of our research offer or to develop minimal loveable products that can help drive growth. You independently guide initiatives through the development stage of our innovation cycle either by successfully guiding technical teams or by setting up experiments with third party technology. You actively contribute to the discovery process and deliver stage the solution to the organization aiming to maximize the impact of the initiative to the organization under guidance of more experienced product manager or lead.

In this dynamic role, you'll shape the future of our research community platform, AI-powered conversational activities, and AI-enabled client portal, delivering impactful solutions across both web and mobile app platforms. If you have a passion for AI-driven innovation to lead the charge in creating cutting-edge growth solutions, then we encourage you to apply!

*Please note, our offices are closed for the holiday break, we will start reviewing applications January 6th*

Responsibilities

Discovery of new initiatives

As a product & innovation manager you actively contribute to clarify the exact problem we are trying to solve.

• You prepare different solution options and map costs/benefits, impact and risks for different solutions. In doing so you work closely both with the team of developers and engineers as with external suppliers.
• You consider both technology enabled solutions, changes in workflows as new data sources as elements within the solution. You collaborate with seniors to determine the minimal loveable product.
• You independently organize requirements in different minimal lovable product releases.
• You map and document existing workflows, user or other stakeholder experience. You rethink flows focused on the job to be done.
• You independently translate solutions into smaller manageable features and pbi's and prioritize them

Development of solutions

Act as a primary point of contact for internal and external technical teams during development phases.

• Translate high-level solutions into smaller, manageable features and prioritize them in collaboration with stakeholders.
• Break down solutions into user stories, define acceptance criteria, and ensure clarity to enable efficient, high-quality development.

Team Leadership & Collaboration:

• Ensure developers, engineers, and UI/UX designers have a clear understanding of the business goals and initiatives behind each release.
• Provide guidance to technical teams during feature creation, answer questions, and deliver constructive feedback.
• Actively identify opportunities to improve collaboration, voice constructive suggestions during retrospectives or reviews, and take actionable steps to enhance team performance.

Innovation & Experimentation:

• Conduct research and pilot experiments to test new technical capabilities, workflows, or data sources, working closely with senior stakeholders to design and execute plans.
• Validate new functionality post-development, collaborating with QA and developers to define and review testing scenarios, including automated testing solutions.

Client Engagement:

• Build and maintain client relationships, fostering collaboration on co-creation initiatives that explore new technologies, data sources, or methodologies.
• Serve as a trusted advisor, ensuring client needs and feedback are integrated into solution design and delivery.

Product Success & Optimization:

• Monitor the success of newly developed solutions against OKRs, ensuring they meet business objectives.
• Create clear, engaging product content in collaboration with domain experts and other stakeholders to support adoption and understanding.

Delivery of solutions

• Set up smaller to medium programs with early adopters to engage people in the newly created solution.
• Independently document changes in the technology in written training materials such as manuals, user guides, walk throughs, infographics, how to's that help the internal organization to better adopt new capabilities.
• contribute to the creation of new workflows and map the impact on existing operational & commercial processes under guidance of a more experienced team member.
• Create and deliver training (proposals) aimed at different target groups on the new capability in close collaboration with other stakeholders in the business.
• Create and deliver communication on new releases you have been working on both verbally as written supported by a senior.

Driving success

• Provide second line support related to the initiatives you have been working on. Where appropriate, collaborates with other specialists to ensure advice given is appropriate to the organization's needs.
• Contribute to internal programs that need to ensure our organization is using our capability in the best way.
• Escalate problems and issues with stakeholders linked to your initiatives. You proactively contribute to finding resolutions and ways forward for the future.
• Foster strong relationships with stakeholders in your region linked to the initiatives and domains of expertise. You use their input to help increase the impact initiatives or to propose new initiatives moving forward to product & business leads.

Qualifications

• Proven ability to break down complex projects into actionable tasks and guide technical teams through the development process.
• Strong leadership skills with a collaborative mindset and a focus on driving efficiency and high-quality output.
• Passion for innovation, with experience conducting experiments to test new ideas and solutions.
• Exceptional communication skills to bridge the gap between technical teams, clients, and stakeholders.
• Experience in AI-driven solutions, product management, or a related technical field is a plus.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in a relevant field (e.g., business, engineering, technology).
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in product & innovation management preferably in a research or technology-driven organization.