FT Group Products is the home to all customer facing products outside FT.com and its apps. It encompasses FT Specialist, FT Events, Scout Asia, Nikkei Products designed and run by FT Technology, (currently limited to Nikkei Asia Review) together with new early life cycle product development (currently focused on commercialisation of FT Technology capabilities).
This is new grouping with the CPIO organisation and as such, the role will have to work alongside Technology and Delivery to establish its vision, culture, ways of working and identity. This should be done in way which is consistent with FT Technology guardrails and the broader FT culture.
Scout Asia is a new business information service developed by the Financial Times and Nikkei. It combines up-to-date, accurate and trustworthy financial and corporate data with in-depth coverage of company activities from regional and international business news. With details of over half a million entities across Asia, users can discover and monitor target companies, save searches and receive email alerts on significant company activities.
The 20-strong team behind Scout Asia has grown rapidly in the past year, comprising Project Managers, Product Designers, Customer Researchers, Engineers and QA, as well as stakeholders in the UK, Hong Kong and Tokyo and third parties in Bulgaria and Romania. Scout Asia is officially based in Hong Kong.
Job Purpose
The FT is looking for an experienced product manager to lead one of the portfolios in the programme that is FT Group products, namely Scout Asia. The successful candidate will develop and implement a roadmap, putting customers at the heart of the process and meeting the needs of Nikkei stakeholders, and commercial teams. As well as ensuring day-to-day execution, the role requires a strong strategic thinker who can define and implement the long-term roadmap for the product while understanding the business information landscape.
The role requires strong leadership and the ability to communicate with and influence teams and stakeholders in multiple territories at a senior level. Candidates must be able to write a compelling business case for investment, demonstrating an understanding of digital and market trends and their significance to Scout Asia.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
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Articulate and maintain a product vision and strategy for the product
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Work closely with senior stakeholders to set business goals and success metrics that are relevant to our business
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Use insights from competitor analysis, analytics, and user research to inform decisions
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Work closely with Project Managers, Product Designers, Customer Researchers, Engineers and QA to define and deliver new features for the Scout Asia
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Maintain a keen awareness of trends within the business information landscape
Qualifications / Competencies / Skills / Experience
Essential
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Significant product management experience
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Experience managing and presenting to multiple senior stakeholders across territories
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Previous experience of working within high-growth digital businesses, having brought innovative digital products to market
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Knowledge of the entire product lifecycle from insights/analysis, roadmap development, UX, UI and data-driven approaches
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Experience in working with high performing tech teams and 3rd party suppliers
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The ability to manage and integrate complex schedules to best advantage
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Highly developed and proven influencing and negotiation skills
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The ability to produce strong business justifications including market positioning, size of opportunity and return on investment.
Preferable
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Experience working with business information tools such as Bloomberg Terminals, Capital IQ, Speeda, Factset or Factiva
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A knowledge of Machine Learning, particularly Natural Language Processing