The Background
At ASOS we build our technology in-house to help us stay close to our Customers. We work in cross-functional, cross-discipline Product Teams to deliver world-class experiences. At ASOS, we put our Customers first. From innovative website features like Catwalk to leading the way in Mobile web, IOS and soon to add to our suite Android apps, we build products that excite our Customers, building engagement and making it easier to shop and grow an advocacy for the brand. ASOS products are the lifeblood of who we are; we take pride in the initiatives we launch and our obsession to constantly innovative makes ASOS stand out from the crowd. We at ASOS are all about delivering exceptional products at an exceptional speed; our work is never done and we have passion and pride in the work we deliver, we deliver small and then iterate and never stop to find the next big product.
Purpose of the job
- Responsible for Customer Experience and the feature set of the end product, our Senior Product Managers are responsible for building 1-3yr strategies; building products from conception to launch.
- Forecast budgets and resource plans to deliver against strategy; communicate requirements in a timely manner and manage the sign off process
- Build and manage multi discipline product roadmaps across more than one product
- Govern the product backlog, ensuring business buy in; communicate progress to board level.
- Break down complex business problems into achieveable initatives; bridge technical and business worlds as you design products and technologies with prolific engineers.
- Acting as an advocate for our Customer you will be expected to stay abreast with interdependencies across programmes and other product roadmaps; leverage functionality or learning’s delivered in a product or programme outside of your own.
- As a Senior Product Manager you will be confident in your approach to challenges and conflict and tackle resolutions with a positive and proactive mindset; you are proficient in working independantly and have experience in building and mentoring internal and external teams, sourcing and managing partnerships when required.
- Manage a team of internal and external product managers who have ownership of multiple product roadmaps
Responsibilities
- Define the long-term strategy and priortise and product roadmap for your area(s); you will define and manage the process for requirements gathering and priorisation.
- Influencing key stakeholders to buy into your roadmap and will be responsible for ensuring other department strategies are being supported within the product development.
- Building capabilities within your area is a key factor for success, having a thorough understanding of potential partners and propositions currently in the market will excelerate ASOS to the next level; bringing this newness to the forefront is one which differentiates our Senior Product Managers.
- Improve KPIs through: -Innovation: Identifying, analyzing and implementing game changing product innovations; enjoys generating new ideas while thinking laterally; comfortable in challenging the status quo and takes calculated risks -Continuous Improvement: Ongoing/incremental improvements to site capabilities, represented within a strategic product roadmap.
- Develop and own business cases to grow revenue within your product area; setting KPIs and measuring ROI. Translate business objectives into product requirements, ensuring goals/milestones and committed dates are met and communicated; solution oriented approach to delays and set backs
- Understand and have a natural interest/flair in the latest technology advancements and the competitive landscape and work with engineering in identifying optimal opportunities and solutions; Identify innovative product opportunities and define product vision and strategy at a senior level
- Agree on a release plan for each product set including clear decision points for scope reduction, risk management and change control processes
- Ensure appropriate coordination with Marketing, Social and Customer Services to constantly monitor user feedback; participate in usability tests by providing requirements and often driving research sessions
- Coordinate cross functional groups to determine international requirements and rollouts; including consideration for mobile
- Develop, track & present routine and ad-hoc product performance updates, with the goal of improving conversion rates, number of orders, and average basket size; lead the forecasting and planning process for your product roadmap
- Developing communication plans and building a strategy to engage customers within product concepting, through to development
The Product Manager is a focal point for stakeholders and will be expected to:
- Act as a decision maker; resolve conflicts between stakeholders, departments and individuals
- Communicate release plans and the progress being made to make them happen
- Formulate engaging and informative presentations demonstrating vision, progress and plan for execution to senior management and exec level
- Represent the stakeholders and, therefore, the business and its Customers; they stand proud as a guardian of quality, accepting or rejecting work as necessary, including closely collaborating with the team to ensure any required functionality is met.
- Works with other Product Managers to maximise value delivered by all teams, to eliminate dependencies, maximize functionality and knowledge provided by other product areas and get work ready for teams.
- Ensure we select the right partners; responsible for managing the process of sign off when working with a colocation model; building proposals and SOW which reflects the full brief and expectation we have at ASOS.
- Understanding how to translate consumer insights from data and user behaviors into potential products; outstanding analytical and strategic skills
The Person
- An obsession with digital and online; passionate about fashion, retail and e-commerce; highly motivated self-starter who can enthuse, motivate and influence at all levels.
- An intense curiosity to identify trends and build award winning products Technical understanding is crucial as is an eye for detail, especially when it comes to keeping abreast of large amounts of complex requirements that can change frequently.
- Think on your feet, keeping away from potentially unproductive meetings to focus on problem solving, creative thinking around those problems and conflict resolution.
- Patient and calm demeanour, using your excellent interpersonal skills to keep people energised, positive and focussed on delivering value.
- Highly organised by nature and proficient in multi-tasking; you see pressure as a challenge and work through problems in a logical manner.
- Clear and concise communication keeps senior management and the exec engaged; striking the balance between passionate, innovative and forward thinking will empower you to make a difference.
- A strong understanding of the technical architecture of complex applications, plus an innate sense of what makes a successful user experience
- Have excellent leadership skills; ability to inspire confidence, influence and persuade others
- Results focused and a decision maker, sees obstacles as positive challenges; a person happy to roll up their sleeves and get involved
Work Experience and Education Guidelines:
- Business Analysis experience
- Experienced in building strategic roadmaps and delivering successful multi million pound product roadmaps within a live production involvement across multiple geographies and platforms (including mobile considerations)
- Finanical management experience; including business case, ROI creation and budget management
- Experienced in producing resource plans and managing internal/external resource; including an offshore/collocation model
- Supplier Relationship and commerical management experience with leading services and technolgoy providers; able to prove esablished key contacts/relationships within the industry
- Proven experience in line management and mentoring; and a track record demonstrating multi discipline/department management
- Bachelors degree or equivalent experience required; experience of working in mature Agile environments certified Scrum Product Owner through the Scrum Alliance
- Retail industry experience a preferred