Head of Product – Tree

Full-Time Anywhere
We’re looking for an experienced product leader to help shape the future of the one of the world’s leading family history companies (with specific growth focus in the US and UK). Findmypast has more than 9 billion historical records and 18 million registered users globally, and has helped transform the way people learn about their ancestors. Family history is a high-growth market that is changing quickly, and central to our success will be the ability to ship compelling products that help our customers make discoveries about themselves and connect to their families. You’ll have a track record of shipping successful consumer products, perhaps in the social, lifestyle or gaming space, and a demonstrable interest in family history.Key ResponsibilitiesThis role is the day-to-day leader for the direction and delivery of our Tree product. Working with colleagues, you will build product plans and prioritise initiatives that are informed by data and customer insights, market trends, commercial imperatives and our current platforms, as well as inspired by the fast-moving technology landscape.

Coaching a team of Product Owners, you will build a collaborative culture that values data and customer insight, good design, and efficient, repeatable processes. With your team, you’ll be able to explain the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the product in order to bring to life product roadmaps. You will also manage the budget and ROI for our Tree product and will be able to reflect on the costs, customer impact and commercial value of product initiatives.

You’ll know how to lead and influence without simply telling people what to do and will love getting into the detail, while also pointing to a long-term vision. You will work in close partnership with engineering, data/content and CRM to create simple solutions to complex customer problems. Your main focus will be ensuring that we build an easy-to-use and compelling family tree product that users love to use time after time.

REQUIREMENTS

About You

  • Substantial experience managing successful global consumer products in market at scale, through lifecycles, and in multiple geographies. Experience with gaming, social products, and recommendation engines a plus.
  • Has led other product owners, coached agile and lean thinking, and created robust and repeatable product practices. You’ll know how to help a product team harness experimentation, analytics, UX and user testing to inform product direction. You’ll ensure others can adopt data driven objective measurements of product and product owner performance.
  • Strong written, verbal, and presentation skills. An excellent communicator at all levels. Able to build strong, collaborative relationships with cross-functional leaders in technology and marketing.
  • A demonstrable interest in family history (historical records, family trees, research methodologies) as well as new technologies and innovations in the market (DNA and ML for example), and passionate about customer experience. You’ll have the ability and interest to learn any of these topics quickly, where depth may not already exist and will coach product owners on your team to do the same.
  • A hands-on problem-solver: you spend your time working out possible solutions rather than explaining why it can’t be done. You’ll show a bias for action, releasing customer facing product frequently and getting things done. You’ll understand consumer products both from a customer and technology point of view and will help teams around you to do the same.
  • You’ll think globally with an ability to think and build products that are global in nature but localised in key areas, so as to resonate in local markets (specifically in the US and UK).
  • You must be able to work between our Dundee and London offices, with presence in Dundee on a monthly basis.

About Findmypast

One of the leading websites for family research in the world, Findmypast has helped to transform the way people learn about their ancestors. With over 9 billion historical records, we work tirelessly to digitise the world’s archives and help people discover and share their family stories. 18 million users have registered with our products and services around the world, which include Findmypast, Genes Reunited, and the British Newspaper Archive.

We’re a British-owned company of 150 based in Shoreditch, London and Dundee, Scotland with offices in Ireland and the United States. We work in small, collaborative, cross-functional teams to solve customer and business problems. Our work combines technology and innovation with personal human stories, and we enjoy celebrating success together. There are tech demos weekly, a monthly lunch for everyone, and parties and charity activities during the year. In a continuous learning environment and a fast-moving market, there are real opportunities to gain new experiences and make a lasting mark on our product, business, and customers.

BENEFITS

Benefits vary by location.

We’re passionate about making FMP a great place to work and setting people up to succeed. Benefits include:

  • Pension
  • Life Assurance
  • Health cash plan
  • Dental cash plan
  • 26 Days Holiday + Bank Holidays
  • Corporate gym discounts
  • Cycle to work
  • Season travel tickets
  • Monthly Company Lunch
  • Full stocked kitchen and fresh fruit
  • Regular Social Events
  • Subscription to Findmypast website

Due to the high volume of applications anticipated for this role, we regret we are unable to contact you unless you are shortlisted for the selection process.

Tagged as: Remote