Product Owner (6 months FTC)

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Product Owner to join our team. This pivotal role will be dedicated to the non-technical aspects of our SaaS products, ensuring their successful implementation, strategic growth, and alignment with client needs and business objectives. The Product Owner will be instrumental in translating client requirements into actionable plans, fostering strong client relationships, and driving the long-term vision for our product portfolio. This individual will play a crucial role in bridging the gap between our consulting expertise and our technical product development, ultimately contributing to the continued success and expansion of our consumer cluster.

The role will involve:

Client Implementation and Governance

You will ensure a seamless and effective onboarding experience for our clients who license our SaaS products. This will involve proactively working with them to clarify and confirm their understanding of the specific data inputs required by each product, establishing robust implementation governance frameworks, navigating and managing the contracting processes, ensuring adherence to information security protocols and obtaining necessary approvals, and securing data approvals and compliance in line with regulatory standards.

You will define and implement efficient data transfer protocols to facilitate the smooth flow of information between the client and our systems. Where required, this role will involve coordinating with internal teams and potentially external partners to provide onsite expertise to support the initial and ongoing implementation phases, ensuring clients can effectively leverage the full capabilities of our products. The ability to understand and address the practical challenges of deploying SaaS solutions within diverse client environments will be critical to success in this area.

Product Design and Development

You will own turning requirements into reality – ensuring that developers have what they need to build and support our products. Practically this will entail taking high level requirements, developing and agreeing a design which supports those requirements (typically a wireframe using Figma or other appropriate software), defining the user stories, tickets and acceptance criteria which enable developers to build to this specification, and managing the prioritisation and clarification of these tickets (typically through Azure Devops Boards). This will require working closely to respond to queries from developers, either directly or by engaging users/the consulting team aligned to the product.

Product Strategy and Roadmap

You will own the long-term strategic direction for each of our SaaS products. This will include formulating a clear product vision and strategy that aligns with the overarching business goals and objectives of our Consumer Cluster. A key aspect of this responsibility is the development and continuous maintenance of a comprehensive product roadmap. This roadmap will outline the planned evolution of each product, including the scheduling of feature releases and the identification of key milestones. To ensure the roadmap remains relevant and impactful, you will actively engage in gathering customer feedback through a variety of channels. Including interactions with clients, collaborating with our consulting teams who have first hand client insights, and analysing feedback received through support channels.

Stakeholder Management

You will work closely with our marketing teams to manage the ongoing branding and marketing initiatives for our SaaS products, ensuring alignment with the overall Consumer cluster strategy and messaging. Collaboration with our finance teams will also be critical, as you will be responsible for managing the profit and loss (P&L) for each product within the portfolio, requiring a strong understanding of business drivers and financial performance.

You will work closely with our consumer cluster leadership to ensure that product plans are effectively integrated into the wider programme pipelines, necessitating strong relationship management and alignment skills. You will regularly be communicating and presenting product plans and progress updates to the wider Consumer Cluster, requiring the ability to articulate complex information clearly and concisely to senior stakeholders.

Client Relationship Management

Beyond the initial implementation, you will be responsible for nurturing and maintaining strong relationships with each client throughout their license period. This proactive engagement will ensure that clients are consistently deriving value for money from our SaaS products. By acting as a primary point of contact for clients regarding any product-related queries or concerns, you will play a vital role in fostering client satisfaction and long-term loyalty.

Requirements

• 2+ years of experience as a Product Owner
• A solid understanding of SaaS business models, including key metrics, subscription-based revenue streams, and the factors that drive growth and customer retention in a SaaS environment.

• Demonstrable experience in client management and a proven track record of building and maintaining strong, long-lasting client relationships. This includes the ability to understand client needs, manage expectations, and ensure client satisfaction.

• Strong strategic thinking skills with the ability to analyse market trends, understand customer needs, and develop comprehensive long-term product strategies and roadmaps that align with business objectives.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to articulate complex technical and business concepts clearly and persuasively to diverse audiences, ranging from technical teams to senior management and clients.
• Exceptional organisational and time management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, meet deadlines, and maintain detailed documentation.
• Proven ability to work effectively and collaboratively within cross-functional teams and external partners, including marketing, finance, consulting, and technical development

Desirable:

• Familiarity with Agile methodologies and principles, such as Scrum or Kanban, and experience working within an Agile development environment.
• Previous experience working in a consulting environment or closely with consulting teams, understanding the dynamics of client engagements and service delivery
• A basic understanding of data analytics principles and the ability to interpret data to inform product decisions and measure product performance
• Experience using product management tools such as ADO, Jira, Trello, or Asana for backlog management, roadmap planning, and task tracking.

Benefits

Newton maximises the potential of our people, whether in client-based consulting roles, or in head office functions. The prospects for career and personal development in this role are no exception. As we are currently expanding our marketing team, successful candidates will play a role in shaping our marketing for the future and have access to wider team opportunities.

Supporting you starts from day one. New joiners often highlight the Newton energy and support they first encounter in the recruitment process and that continues through into their time at Newton. Once in role, you’ll get support from several sources – from stretching projects, on-the-job feedback and developmental guidance from senior directors and partners. You’ll have a dedicated and consistent Development Manager to support your career progression.

We offer a highly competitive salary and our generous benefits package includes Life Assurance, Income Protection, pension contributions. We also operate profit share and equity schemes so that our people share in the success of the business. The profit share bonus is based on company performance and typically paid out in March and September.

Joining us also brings many social benefits. We have a full social calendar with Autumn and Spring activity days, Christmas events, a 2-day Summer event and 4 Newton-sponsored weekends a year.