Technical Product Owner (9 month FTC)

Who we are and what we do

At Hachette Learning (formerly Hodder Education), there’s one thing we’re certain about. No two students learn the same way. That’s why our approach to teaching begins by recognising the needs of individuals first. Our mission is to enable every learner to fulfil their unique potential by empowering those who teach them. From our expert teaching and learning resources to our digital educational tools that make learning easier and more accessible for all, we provide solutions designed to maximise the impact of learning for every teacher, parent and student.

Aligned with our parent company, Hachette Livre, founded in 1826, we’re proud to deliver high-quality learning solutions on a global scale. We make it easier for everyone to unlock a new world of learning.

Hachette Learning is a division of Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in the UK, with 10 publishing divisions and over 60 imprints. Everyone here is proud to be in the business of opening doors and minds.

What you'll be doing

We are seeking a Technical Product Owner to join our team. The ideal candidate will possess a team-centric mindset, ability to influence without authority and translate between technical and non-technical stakeholders, good commercial sense and a proven track record of driving digital product development in an Agile environment. The Technical Product Owner will collaborate closely with cross-functional internal teams and external developers to deliver high-quality solutions for a selection of internal and external products.

What you’ll be doing:

• Effectively translate customer needs (whether internal or external) into actionable and detailed user stories for development teams / vendors to ensure alignment with product scope.
• Define acceptance criteria together with platform product managers, support QA planning, scripting and testing, plan improvements, and measure platform performance against KPIs.
• Manage the product backlog, prioritizing work and ensuring alignment with product roadmaps.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to identify and manage defects, maximize product value through data insights, and adopt Product Ownership best practices.
• Build a deep technical expertise of assigned platforms and act as advocate and key point-of-contact for technical questions, underlying architecture, product design & UX, security, and data management.
• Collaborate with UX to deliver high-quality platform experiences and enhancements.
• Create and maintain documentation for relevant platforms incl. collaborating with Customer success and Digital support where needed for customer-facing documentation.
• Act as internal trainer and support in setup and onboarding of internal or external teams.
• If appropriate, maintain no-code platforms to implement new functionality, build dashboards etc.
• Explore and prioritise AI-powered improvements to the platforms.
• Follow the appropriate cadence and processes with the rest of product and technology teams to manage the development pipeline effectively.
• Keep the DPIA updated with any new processes that change how we leverage PII.

Who we are looking for

Who we’re looking for:

Characteristics:

• Pragmatic, inquisitive and solution oriented – prioritising value delivery over perfect ‘brief’
• Both tenacious and empathetic when supporting business in eliciting technical needs from high-level requirements
• Fast learner – both of business priorities, user needs and internal platforms and systems
• Excellent communicator, updating stakeholders promptly and with clarity
• Customer-focused – keen to understand what drives our business and how to meet customer needs
• Able to influence without authority, building strong relationships internally and externally

Qualifications & Experience:

• Previous experience of success as a Product Owner for digital products, ideally SaaS environments.
• Proven track record of delivering web-based and mobile products.
• Experience in Agile environments, with a focus on delivering against product strategy and prioritizing conflicting priorities.
• Familiarity with accessibility standards and data-driven decision-making.
• Familiarity with the EdTech market is a plus.
• Familiarity with AI tools is a plus.
• Previous experience with CRM (in particular Creatio), CMS, learning and / or assessment platforms is a plus.

What we offer

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)
• Generous pension schemes
• Rent deposit loans
• 2 community days per year
• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Wide-ranging training library
• Development programmes (including mentoring)
• Up to 70% off book purchases
• A charity bookshelf
• 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including AgeWise, Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• And much more!

The role will be based at our London office, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.

Our commitment

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.

If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend your interview, please let us know.

The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org