About Education Software Solutions
Education exists to Inform, Engage, Empower, Everyday. Our job is to help make this happen.
As the largest provider of education management software in the UK, we influence the lives of over one million people every day. Our aim is to empower educators, parents and learners to deliver the best school and learning outcomes possible. We do this with a range of web and mobile (iOS, Android) products which are built on the SIMS management information system.
What we want
We’re looking for a Product Manager who will take accountability for the full cycle of product management, from opportunity assessment, business case development and ideation, through delivery and ongoing product management including performance for a product (or product components) in the Education Software Services (ESS) portfolio. You will be responsible for understanding and meeting the needs of your users and driving the commercial success of your product through fresh, innovative thinking.
To do this, you’ll build a deep understanding of the education market and the customers you are serving which will include schools, local authorities, technical partners, parents and students.
Your immediate focus will be on the future of our SIMS 8 product. The role may evolve into managing other products in our portfolio. SIMS 8 is currently a pilot, cloud-based schools MIS product used by Primary schools in England. Teachers use it to manage pupils’ records, record attendance, attainment and behaviour; school management use it to run reports on their school’s performance. The purpose of this role is to evolve the product and ensure its product-market fit into the future: to ensure we progress in an outcome-oriented, data-informed and lean manner to create a proposition across various sub-segments within the schools landscape in order to increase relevance and develop a product that customers love.
Responsibilities
- Use insights, data, trends, problem-definition and validation to define the vision, product strategy, and intended outcomes for your product/service, demonstrating alignment to the wider portfolio vision and business objectives
- Develop a deep understanding of the needs of your users and their pain-points based on market insights, user research and product analytics
- Own and develop an outcome-oriented roadmap and product positioning
- Prepare and present business cases to ensure transparency and alignment
- Act as product owner within cross-functional delivery teams to ensure efficient, effective delivery of new value to market, driven by continuous, iterative delivery of value
- Define and report on product performance, insights and commercial metrics
- Support the Head of Product to manage the wider product through the lifecycle from concept through delivery and maintenance
- Build relationships with and influence internal and external stakeholders, understanding their needs and effectively managing their expectations, especially amongst non-technical teams (sales, marketing and channel)
- Champion the product with users through webinars, events and wider engagement
- Understand new and future trends in the market, competitive dynamics and technology, to ensure that your product is leading the field
Attributes:
- Demonstrable experience in the management and ongoing development of a B2B SaaS product
- Ability to drive a culture of collaboration and user-centricity with a clear focus on our intended customer outcomes and achieve commercial targets
- Experience leading product within agile, data-informed, quality-obsessed, cross-functional delivery teams
- The ability to actively listen to, empathise with and develop an expert understanding of the customer and market needs. Champion these in the delivery of your products
- Extensive experience of product evaluation, user experience, discovery methods and prototyping
- Successful track record in managing the marketing mix to grow product adoption, usage and advocacy in order to achieve commercial goals
- Adept at developing a strong product strategy and outcome-oriented roadmap within a wider digital ecosystem
- Proficient at taking insights from analytics to inform next steps and presenting clear commercial data
- Excellent presentation and story-telling skills with proven ability to influence and drive alignment across an organisation from senior management level to engineering, customer success and beyond
The role is home-based with occasional travel to our Bedford office.