Product Owner

We’re looking for a Product Owner (Search & Data) to contribute to 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 millions of 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 connect with our vast data resources to make discoveries about themselves and connect to their families. You’ll have experience managing products through from inception to launch and beyond, ideally with data-led / data-driven propositions.

As a Product Owner at Findmypast, your mission will be to deliver a delightful customer-centric data & family history experience that attracts and retains both new and existing customers. Working with colleagues, you will deliver on a product strategy that is built around customer needs and will prioritise initiatives that are informed by customer insights and data, market trends, commercial imperatives and our current platforms, as well as inspired by the fast-moving technology landscape.

You will help to build a collaborative culture that values great ideas backed up by data and customer insights, good design, and efficient, repeatable processes. You’ll be able to explain the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of the product in order to bring the product roadmap to life for your area. You will manage the ROI for your product initiatives and will be able to reflect on the costs, customer impact and commercial value.

You will be naturally curious and passionate about using, searching, presenting and understanding data and all the challenges and opportunities it presents. You will love getting into the detail of bringing a feature to life, and will work closely with your team to make sure work is executed to a high standard. You will support the team while influencing other teams in order to get your roadmap delivered. As a Product Owner, 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 ship easy-to-use and effective data & family history experiences time after time.

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. Millions of 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.

Requirements
About you:

  • You have experience managing data-led consumer products in market, through lifecycles.
  • You’re naturally curious and highly motivated by exploring and understanding data.
  • You know how to harness experimentation, analytics, UX and user testing to inform product direction and adopt data-driven objective measurements of product performance.
  • You possess strong written, verbal, and presentation skills. An excellent communicator at all levels with the ability to build strong, collaborative relationships with cross-functional leaders in technology and marketing.
  • 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’re 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 possess great organisational skills with the ability to juggle multiple priorities.

Desirable Skills:

  • 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.
  • Experience with search technologies in large data environments, social products, and recommendation engines a plus.
  • Experience with (or a strong & evidenced desire to learn) technical data skills (Python & associated data science libraries (esp. Pandas, Matplotlib), SQL) would be a big plus.
  • Experience working with Agile practices.

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

  • 26 days holidays (excluding UK bank holidays)
  • Pension contribution match
  • Flexible working
  • Health and dental cash plan
  • Season travel tickets
  • Enhanced maternity/paternity leave
  • Access to learning and training opportunities, including going to conferences around the world
  • Employee Assistance Programme and on-site Mental Health First Aiders
  • Gym membership discounts
  • Cycle to work scheme
  • Staff discounts
  • Monthly company lunches
  • Fully stocked kitchen, coffee, soft drinks, breakfast materials and fresh fruit
  • Regular Social Events such as summer parties, Christmas parties, Friday drinks and snacks
  • Subscription to Findmypast website

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

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.

If you are a recruitment agency, please be aware that we’re not looking for additional assistance with recruitment. Please do not send us CVs. We will not be responsible for fees related to unsolicited CVs.