Continuo Foundation – Product Manager
About Continuo Foundation
In the mass cancellation of events during the pandemic, the arts and freelance musicians were particularly hard hit. Musicians saw their calendars completely wiped of bookings, and as a result, income. This caused immense financial hardship, and in many cases caused very talented musicians to permanently leave the industry.
We founded Continuo in September 2020 initially to help those musicians who were in financial distress. But musicians didn’t want handouts. They wanted to perform. To create. We took action – and have been raising funds and awarding two rounds of £100,000 in grants each year to enable artistic projects that would otherwise not be possible without our support. So far, we have supported 71 projects creating work for more than 500 freelance musicians in 73 locations across the UK.
As audiences have started returning, the focus of our mission has shifted to helping freelance period-instrument musicians to tour live performances to communities across the country, and to become more financially sustainable. We are also helping to grow live and online audiences for period music. We are currently doing this on the ground. Our next phase involves creating a digital hub for the sector, and leveraging technology to multiply our reach and scale our impact – creating more opportunities for people everywhere to have access to live music of the highest quality.
Role Summary
We are now seeking the charity’s first hire: an entrepreneurial Product Manager based in the UK. Their remit will be to bring to market an entirely new non-profit service that helps Continuo achieve its core mission. The position offers a rare chance for a PM to truly create something from scratch in a purpose-driven organisation, with full ownership of the product’s success.
The role encompasses the full spectrum of product management, including market and user research, strategy, promotion and growth, pricing, design, leadership, and technology. You won’t have a team from Day-1. You will need to assemble a team of people who will either become a full-time team, or an ongoing pool of freelancers, consultants, and/or an agency to help you iterate the product.
If you believe that the Product Manager is the “CEO of the product”, this role is as close as you will get to that without starting your own company.
This is a remote role but will require occasional travel to London to meet with charity leadership, and potential travel to users to conduct research (expenses paid).
Primary Responsibilities
● Set and continually refine the product vision
● Establish and own critical product and marketing metrics
● Devise the product and marketing strategy
● Conduct market and user research
● Own product development from conception to launch, and beyond
● Execute on the marketing plan and the product roadmap
● Set ambitious and clear product vision for the digital hub and communicate it effectively to stakeholders and the team
● Collaborate with charity leadership to ensure digital vision and products aligns with overall charity direction and policy
● Communicate effectively with charity leadership, stakeholders, and your team
Key Skills
Essential:
● You have experience building and growing strong consumer/community products and marketplaces
● You are a total self-starter. No-one will be telling you what to do or how to it
● You run towards accountability and ownership
● Strong collaborator with cross-functional teams from tech, design, and marketing
● Natural communicator with ability to adapt style to target audience
● Fundamental understanding of digital marketing and strategy
Preferred:
● Passion for making a difference, purpose-driven
● Experience working with charities or non-profits
● Interest in, or a personal affiliation or connection to, classical music/arts and culture
Minimum Qualifications:
● 5+ years product management or related industry experience
● Experience of going through a full product lifecycle, integrating data, metrics, and customer feedback into product requirements, driving prioritisation and pre/post-launch execution
Please submit a cover letter (no more than one-page) and CV to Tina Vadaneaux, Founder and CEO, on tina@continuofoundation.co.uk by 21st July 2022.