Product Manager

Mercator IT Solutions is looking for a Product Manager to be part of its growing consultancy arm.

Mercator has enjoyed continued growth over the past year and is now looking to increase its capability in the digital transformation space in both the Private and Public sectors.

Mercator IT Solutions is part of the Mercator Group with offices in the UK, France, Singapore and North America.

Mercator prides itself on empowering its people to provide real value to clients by delivering sustainable software solutions with long lasting benefits. We place personal growth and development at the heart of our business and we give our people the autonomy to own and shape their role.

Mercator is seeking a dynamic, forward-thinking Product Manager with excellent communication skills who can help Mercator in its continued transformation. You will be open-minded, happy to work on your own or as part of a team and want to learn new technologies and promote best practice.

Mercator Product Managers perform a critical role in our agile teams. They provide day-to-day leadership for multi-disciplinary teams to create and run outstanding digital services that our customers prefer to use, even when non-digital options are available. Product Managers are responsible for evaluating end-user requirements and ensuring the product being developed is aligned with their needs whilst delivering business value.

As a Product Manager you will:

• Work with the team to create and run one or more outstanding digital services that meet well-defined user needs
• Work with the Digital Service Manager to develop and communicate the overall vision of the product being developed
• Work with Business Analysts, User Researchers and Designers to turn usage data, user research outputs and user feedback into actionable insights that drive service design and prioritisation of service improvements for digital and assisted digital channels
• Use agile methodologies to identify near-term and long-term priorities, work with your Agile Delivery Manager/Scrum Master to maximise visibility of those plans, and enable your team to release frequent service improvements that deliver real value for users
• Direct the development of user-driven prototypes to test potential new features with users in order to explore potential improvements to existing products
• Prioritise and maintain the product backlog, collaborating with Business Analysts and Developers to create and refine user stories that deliver service improvements for users
• Ensure that you maximise take-up of your digital service, identifying and meeting assisted digital requirements to support this
• Participate in the wider community of Service and Product Managers (inside and outside of Mercator), building relationships, sharing agile best practice and knowledge
• Build resilience and responsiveness in the organisation by being open and honest about risks and challenges and the actions required to address unexpected developments
• Keep continually abreast of changes to user habits, preferences and behaviours across various digital platforms and their implications for successful delivery of digital services

Skills and Experience:

• Proven leadership in the design, delivery and operational management of high quality, user-focused digital services (whether in the private, public or third sector)
• Experience of management - setting direction, coaching/managing staff and being an enabler of change
• Practical experience of user centred design and user needs analysis
• Proven ability to challenge and remove any unnecessary barriers to service delivery
• Demonstrable understanding of the digital landscape and the opportunities for service improvement and innovation offered by digital technology
• Proven ability to manage stakeholders, prioritising and managing business expectations and requirements
• Highly articulate and credible at a senior level; consistently delivering inspiring, engaging and meaningful messages about the future direction of your service(s)
• Strong negotiation skills and the proven ability to influence external partners, stakeholders and customers to secure mutually beneficial outcomes
• Demonstrable experience of current agile project management practices
• Practical experience interpreting user data and feedback to design and implement channel shift strategies to move users from traditional to digital delivery channels
• Proven ability to analyse user research and performance data and use this to design and continually improve digital services that meet user needs in a convenient and straightforward way
• Experience of open source and cloud platforms
• Experience of working in fixed time variable scope projects

What we offer in return:

• A competitive salary and pension scheme
• The flexibility to work from home and occasional travel to client sites
• A training package that suits your personal development
• Access to schemes such as the Cycle to work scheme, weekly Yoga/Mindfulness classes etc
• 25 days holiday plus Bank Holidays

*Applicants must have the right to work in the UK and the ability to pass BPSS vetting