
Senior Product Owner, WPP Open
- London
- Permanent
- Full-time
- Backlog Management & Ownership: Own and manage complex or high-impact product backlogs for your designated product area, ensuring they are meticulously prioritized, well-defined, and directly support your defined product area strategy and the overall WPP Open product roadmap and strategic themes.
- Product Area Ownership & Strategy Definition: Take full ownership of a designated product area, defining its detailed product strategy, roadmap, and key initiatives. Ensure this lower-level strategy aligns seamlessly with the broader WPP Open product vision and strategic themes set by the Product Lead and has buy in from cross-functional stakeholders.
- Requirement Definition: Translate high-level product strategy and user needs into clear, concise, and actionable epics, user stories, and acceptance criteria that lead to clear, testable outcomes.
- Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with engineering teams, UX/UI designers, and other product stakeholders throughout the entire product development lifecycle, from concept to release.
- Stakeholder Engagement: Proactively engage with a diverse range of stakeholders, including senior managers, Product Leads, and end-users, to gather feedback, shape the roadmap, and ensure alignment.
- Mentorship & Guidance: Begin mentoring or guiding junior Product Owners or Product Analysts, sharing best practices and contributing to their professional development.
- Problem Solving: Analyze and resolve complex product-related problems, considering broader implications and introducing new approaches to improve efficiency and delivery.
- Decision Making: Demonstrate strong prioritization and decision-making skills, especially under ambiguity, for your product area, to ensure the most valuable features are delivered and the product area's strategic goals are met.
- Communication & Presentation: Confidently present product progress, plans, and insights to senior stakeholders, ensuring clarity in complex discussions with both technical and non-technical audiences.
- Contribution to Vision: Actively contribute to the overall WPP Open product vision and roadmap, while independently shaping and owning the detailed vision and strategy for your specific product area. Ensure your product area's backlog consistently aligns with both your defined strategy and the broader strategic themes and business objectives.
- Continuous Improvement: Identify opportunities for process improvements within the product development lifecycle and contribute to the evolution of WPP Open's product practices.
- Experience in product management or a similar product ownership role.
- Proven ability to strategically own and manage a product area, including defining its lower-level strategy and complex or high-impact product backlogs with minimal supervision
- Strong understanding and practical experience with Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban). Agile certification (e.g., CSPO) is desirable.
- Ability to independently define and translate product area strategy into actionable backlog work with little help, demonstrating a deep understanding of technical considerations and constraints.
- Demonstrated experience in leadership or mentoring roles, with a desire to guide and develop team members.
- Ability to analyse and resolve complex problems, considering broader implications and introducing new approaches to improve efficiency.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to adapt communication style to suit different audiences (technical and non-technical).
- Proven ability to proactively engage with senior managers and external vendors, resolve conflicts independently, and contribute to shaping the product roadmap.
- A strong track record of successfully delivering features from concept to release in multiple sprints, with a focus on achieving clear, testable outcomes.