At Zopa, we’re shaping the future of finance.
We offer simple loans and smart investments that help people take control of their finances and do more with their money. In the 12 years we’ve been in business, we’ve helped more than 60,000 people lend over £3 billion to 246,000 UK consumers.
And our journey’s only just beginning. In November 2016 we announced our plans to build a next generation bank so that we can bring a greater range of smart, ethical finance products to even more people.
The role
This is an exciting role within Zopa, tasked with delivering highly engaging products that make our customers feel good about their money. You will be responsible for understanding the market, getting under the skin of customer attitudes and behaviours and creating great products as a result. Our bar is high. We want to create products which make people feel good about money. That means a well thought through proposition, great design and hassle-free execution of the end to end journey.
About you
You are an entrepreneurial candidate with proven product leadership experience and the desire to build and lead cross-functional teams to build something from nothing. You are excited about the opportunity to improve financial services for the everyman and woman (though experience in financial services is not required!).
You want to understand your product(s) inside out – the commercials, the market, the customer, and their journey. What will they experience at each stage and what happens “under the hood”. To do that, you rigorously analyse internal and external data and consumer insights to identify opportunities and solve pain-points for our customers.
You help your teams with understanding Zopa’s strategy and enable them to prioritise holistically. You may even “fill the gaps” when certain holes appear in the team or Zopa at large, because you are conversant in all disciplines (even if you’re not necessarily fluent). You also help them to better understand and consider the impacts of their decisions on the customer, commercials, and risk exposure more naturally.
You are detail oriented, have an inquisitive mind, and think thoroughly from first principles. You will bring deep digital (and, ideally, mobile experience), a hands-on execution-focused approach to leadership and the ability to motivate and inspire the people working with you to new heights.
On a day to day basis you will:
- Drive the product vision for our high engagement products and mobile app, and ensure its successful delivery
- Be passionate about customer insight and its application, truly understanding and establishing empathy with customer in all your teams
- Bring creative thought to the product development process and to Zopa at large, through using customer insights effectively and encouraging knowledge sharing
- Ensure deadlines are met and that team doesn’t lose sight of what the priorities are and what the “bigger picture” looks like
- Identify and manage key stakeholders along the way, bringing the optimum blend of people together and ensuring the right people stay informed
- Keep a close eye on industry trends, benchmarks, innovation and what the competition is doing, and understand what it all means for Zopa and how we should react
- Grow, lead, develop and motivate high performing cross-functional teams of developers, data scientists, product managers, designers, and marketers to deliver experiences that make people feel good about money
- Embed a data-informed process so your team can make fast good decisions
- Know exactly how product(s) are performing, from both the customer and commercial standpoint, and interrogate key metrics and data to understand what is happening and why
Your essential characteristics:
- ON TOP OF MARKET TRENDS AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR: You are able to understand customers’ needs and wants through effective customer research. You are up to date with the latest technological and product management developments and help to inspire Zopa to proactively seek out new opportunities.
- CREATIVE, LATERAL THINKER: You are able to fuse customer insight, brand positioning, technical know-how and market knowledge to create products which resonate with customers and deliver better money solutions for them. You ideally also have excellent experience in working with creatives, such as digital product design, brand or copy. Your team can always count on you to throw in a curveball or two.
- STRONG IN EXECUTION AND TECHNOLOGY: While the role requires the strategic nous to identify new opportunities to expand Zopa’s business, ideas are only as valuable as their execution. You are able to identify, quantify, and get buy-in for your team’s proposals, and can motivate your team to implement in the best way possible. This includes strong knowledge and grasp of technology and what it allows. You know the tools and how they should be used (even if you don’t actively use them yourself).
- COMMUNICATION AND TEAM BUILDING SKILLS: The role will require a significant amount of “selling” – whether this is to convince the CPO of a new idea, or accurately and comprehensively develop requirements with the team. Additionally, the candidate will be required to assemble ‘fast-hitting SWAT teams’ to implement well in a measurable way. This includes attracting and retaining the best talent from within and without Zopa for the cross-functional unit.
- HIGHLY ANALYTICAL AND DATA-DRIVEN: You insist on robust results tracking and measurement in every project and know that iteration and experimentation is key to success. You are able to work well with commercially minded people and know the tools, frameworks, and structures to evaluate product performance. You know what to look at to support decision-making and set effective goals.
- CULTURE FIT: Results-oriented self-starter with a strong sense of ownership and willingness to go the extra mile to get things done for their team and Zopa. Smart, thorough, low-ego, non-political, pragmatic, collaborative, transparent, motivated, entrepreneurial, commercial, passionate, accountable, and flexible.
Bonus points but not required:
- Deep knowledge of mobile applications and the apps market more widely – ideally you’ve built and grown consumer apps in the past
- Experience with OKRs and hands-on agile processes so you can coach the team
- Track record of hiring, developing, and retaining high calibre candidates
- Understanding of regulated industries and how to deliver within this environment
- Experience with consumer financial services