Head of Product

Our Mission

Zen builds and scales online marketplaces which revolutionises staffing in Education & Healthcare.
In 2017 we launched Zen Educate, an online platform that has saved UK schools over £5M to date in supply teaching costs.

Using our platform, schools have access to thousands of profiles of fully vetted teachers, who they can book at a click of a button. Think Uber for teachers. Building on this success, we launched Zen Locum last summer – an online platform that matches locums (temporary workers) with pharmacies and opticians – and are similarly having significant traction.

We are well-funded by high-profile investors and are led by start-up veterans behind two of London’s most prominent tech companies.

Looking to make a difference?

You’ll be joining Zen in a key senior position. Product is at the heart of how we deliver for schools and teachers and you’ll play a key role in building and running our product function to make sure we are building the right thing and building it right. We’re still young and you’ll play a significant role in the development of the company and team.

The product delivery team is a crucial part of how Zen will help both transform the supply and recruitment experience for schools and generate the savings the education system needs. This is a great opportunity for someone looking to apply themselves for a great cause and with great responsibility and autonomy to shape the product for years to come.

What we are looking for

– Top performer that wants to be part of a high-performing, motivated team
– Growth mindset – dedicated to improving your skills as a professional
– Passion for building great products and companies that have a positive social impact
– Strong bias to action
– Excellent people skills for working with both our customers and teams at Zen

What you’ll be doing

– Own and execute on Zen’s product vision balancing both customer and business needs
– Identify customer problems, ensuring we are 100% customer centric, and our product decisions are data-driven
– Work with the Chief Product Officer defining, clarifying and reviewing key product objectives as we improve our existing product and launch in new areas
– Develop our high-performing product delivery team through effective collaboration between product managers, design and development, and enhancing our agile development practises
– Hire, train, and manage product managers including our existing team of high-performing product managers
– Shape the product roadmap for key projects through a deep understanding of our space, key problems, customer needs and robust prioritisation
– Help solve complex business problems, bring people together and deliver user-friendly products that meet customer needs
– Be the voice of the customer and embed strong customer research practices within our product delivery teams
– Ensure our product meets key regulatory, compliance, data and security requirements
– Select and manage third party tools and vendors on which the product depends

Ideal experience

– Prior experience leading product teams, building products, and supporting high-growth businesses
– Strong leadership and communication skills, comfortable presenting to the team and senior leaders
– Strong analytical and technical skills in data collection and analysis
– History of creating products with strong user experience and high-quality design

What’s in it for you?

– Work that you want to talk about
– Competitive salary
– Ownership in the company
– 25+ days of holiday
– Summer hours with shorter days during holidays in August and an early Friday finish
– Convenient Central London office with perks like fresh fruit, yoga classes, bike parking, showers and an on-site gym and café
– Fun-loving, tight-knit team solving a problem that makes a difference

We support flexible working arrangements — many of the product development team work remotely — while also recognising the value of face-to-face interactions with other teams particularly from such a central role as Head of Product.

Diversity and inclusion

We welcome applicants with diverse backgrounds and different experiences and perspectives — just like the staff who teach through Zen and the children at the schools we work with. We believe in hiring the best people from the widest pool and creating an inclusive atmosphere with a culture where people’s voices are heard and all our team can look forward to coming to work.