Haymarket Automotive (HMA) comprises What Car?, PistonHeads and Autocar – three brilliant brands that are world-famous for informing and entertaining car buyers, sellers and owners which share the goal of leading in their chosen marketplaces.
Our reputation is built on quality journalism, slick marketing, product innovation and dogged and skilled salescraft, all in support of digital and print products that lead the market. No other automotive brand interacts with consumers and the car industry so comprehensively or is as well respected by its audience.
Whatever we do, we aim to be the best – and that starts with our teams and the way we place them at the heart of everything we do.
Department Description
Haymarket Automotive’s Product department is a newly formed area, encompassing product management, UX and optimisation functions to help define and create products that help our audiences buy and sell cars.
Role Summary
As Display and Data Services Product Manager, you are part of the HMA Product team, representing the voice of the user, the business and being the product champion for the product/s you look after.
You will work with all areas of HMA to understand the business and product strategies and goals and how that translates into a product roadmap you will develop and own. You will also work very closely with the Technology team, organising changes to our digital products and platforms that optimise user needs – balanced against commercial, marketing, legal and strategic objectives. The result will be fantastic, commercially effective products that help our users buy, sell and celebrate cars.
Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities
Sets goals, objectives & direction
- Responsible for the creation and maintenance of product roadmaps that support goals & objectives
- Understand ad conversion metrics such as ‘Viewability’ and methods to improve them
- Knowledge of ad delivery architecture and data management platforms
- Drive initiatives to optimise the performance of Display advertising
- Work with stakeholders across the business to improve advertising ROI
- Develop products and features that compliment new advertising technologies
- Work with the Technology team and stakeholders to decide what is and isn’t in the product backlogs and be responsible for it to be prioritised appropriately
- Know when we need to retire ineffective products
Understand the market & users
- Up-to-date knowledge of the online advertising industry and be aware of emerging technologies.
- Understand GDPR and compliance.
- Have experience with anti-ad blocking strategies.
- Responsible for understanding specific users’ needs and make informed product decisions backed up by using insight from research, data and analytics.
- Assist with the direction and approach of user research for product area and involved in the analysis and review of that research.
- Be aware of outside influences including competitors as well as changing requirements of regulatory bodies.
- Develop a strong understanding of other digital products in the marketplace, common approaches/standards, and opportunities for innovation.
Communication & Coordination
- Responsible for the collaboration and communication with other teams across the HMA business to help build and communicate the product strategy for area and roadmaps supporting that strategy.
- Have strong verbal, written and visual communication skills, that you are able to tailor to the needs of the audience.
- Share knowledge and communicate effectively to all levels of the business.
General
- Build productive and effective relationships across HMA.
- Be part of supplier selection processes where necessary.
Skills and Experience
Technical & Professional Skills
- Experience of managing products across the full product development lifecycle.
- Understand the online ad technology landscape
- Be able to balance commercial needs with customer requirements
- Experience of working with UX professionals, user-centred design and user testing.
- Able to use analytics tools as the basis for evidence-based product changes.
- Experience of proposing multivariate tests, and using results as part of product development.
- Able to learn new skills and knowledge, picking up on technical and business challenges quickly.
- Excellent communications skills with the ability to present ideas verbally and in writing.
Experience
- Product management experience of products across the entire product lifecycle
- Experience working with ad technologies
Other
- A self-starter with the ability to self-manage workload, targets and priorities.
- A high degree of personal initiative with the drive, resilience and ability to meet challenging goals.
- Able to multi-task across several concurrent projects and activities.
- Able to judge when things need to be escalated.
- Analytical thinker with great problem-solving skills; focussed on “getting things done”.
- Able to break down complex work into manageable chunks – able to manage a diverse workload.
- Good communications skills and the ability to update key stakeholders at all stages of a project.