IT & AI Product Manager

DEPARTMENT: Information Technology

REPORTING TO: Audiotonix Group IT Director

HOURS OF WORK: 37.5 Hours per week

LOCATION: Chessington, Surrey, UK

JOB SUMMARY:

The IT & AI Product Manager is responsible for the application and platform lifecycle management in line with the business needs of the brands. This role will be responsible for defining, delivering and maintaining the group IT application & AI strategy partnering with the group divisional functional teams (R&D, Sales & Marketing, Marketing, Operations, Production & Finance & ERP team) business stakeholders, IT Peers and 3rd party consultancies.

KEY DUTIES:

Application Strategy & Ownership

• Own the application roadmap for group wide IT applications & AI solutions, ensuring alignment with business strategy and customer experience goals.
• Define and maintain application lifecycle roadmap, including upgrades, enhancements, rationalisation and retirement.
• Act as the primary application owner, accountable for availability, performance, security and ongoing suitability.
• Partnering with the group functions, brands and IT peers to Identify opportunities to improve capability, reduce technical debt and optimise cost.

Project Delivery & Change Management

• Lead the end‐to‐end delivery of projects, from inception through to implementation.
• Apply appropriate project management methodologies (e.g. Agile, hybrid or waterfall depending on context).
• Manage scope, timelines, budgets, risks and dependencies.
• Coordinate project resources including internal IT teams, business stakeholders and third‐party suppliers.
• Ensure changes are transitioned into BAU with appropriate documentation, training and support models.

Business Analysis & Stakeholder Engagement

• Work closely with business teams to capture, analyse and document requirements.
• Translate business needs into clear functional and non‐functional specifications.
• Refine and prioritise requirements to ensure solutions are fit for purpose and deliver value.
• Act as a trusted adviser to stakeholders on application capabilities and constraints.

Operational Support & Continuous Improvement

• Oversee 2nd/3rd line support for owned applications, working with supporting teams and vendors.
• Ensure incidents, problems and service requests are resolved effectively and within agreed SLAs.
• Monitor application performance, usage and issues, driving continuous improvement.
• Ensure appropriate monitoring, support documentation and knowledge transfer communications are in place.

Vendor & Third‐Party Management

• Manage relationships with software vendors, implementation partners and hosting providers.
• Lead or contribute to vendor selection, RFPs, contract reviews and renewals.
• Hold suppliers accountable for delivery, quality and support.
• Support wider IT initiatives involving application or vendor reviews beyond the core portfolio.

Governance, Security & Compliance

• Ensure applications comply with IT security standards, data protection (e.g. GDPR) and internal policies.
• Contribute to risk assessments, audits and control reviews related to application services.
• Ensure appropriate access controls, data handling and change governance are maintained.

QUALIFICATIONS (Preferred):

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field.
• Project Management Certifications (PRINCE 2, SCRUM, AGILE PM etc.).
• Business Analysis certifications (PMI-BA).
• IT Service management (ITIL V4).

EXPERIENCE (Essential):

• Understanding of R&D, sales and marketing, production workflows, objectives and challenges for global businesses selling physical & or digital products both B2B and B2C.
• Proven experience in a Product Manager, Application Manager, Project Manager or Business Analyst role.
• Strong hands‐on experience with enterprise SaaS & PaaS platforms, custom app development and AI implementations.
• Experience in Power BI or other BI and analytics platforms.
• Understanding of Creative Marketing Technologies (Adobe CC and Digital Asset Management Systems) and Workflows including video, stills and audio creation for Socials, web and print would be beneficial but not mandatory.
• Demonstrable project management experience, delivering business‐critical IT systems.
• Solid business analysis skills, including requirements gathering and stakeholder engagement.
• Experience managing third‐party vendors and system integrators.
• Good understanding of application support models, SLAs and service management.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with practical delivery and operational responsibility.
• Experience working in multi‐brand or multi‐region organisations.
• Experience of system integrations, APIs and data flows.
• Knowledge of IT governance (ITIL V4), security frameworks (ISO27001, NIST CSF 2.) and compliance requirements (PCI DSS).

ATTRIBUTES (Essential):

• Strong communicator, able to engage confidently with both technical and non‐technical stakeholders.
• Organised, methodical and comfortable managing multiple priorities.
• Commercially aware, with a focus on value and cost control.
• Proactive, ownership‐driven and comfortable operating with limited supervision.
• Collaborative team player with a pragmatic, problem‐solving mindset

DISPOSITION (Essential):

• Ownership‐driven and accountable – takes clear responsibility for outcomes from strategy through to business-as-usual operations.
• Calm and pragmatic under pressure – able to manage competing priorities, incidents and stakeholder expectations without losing focus.
• Collaborative and stakeholder‐focused – work effectively with business stakeholders of all levels, IT Peers & 3rd party vendors.
• Detail‐oriented with strategic awareness – comfortable working at both high‐level roadmap and low‐level delivery detail.
• Commercially aware – understands cost, value and vendor dynamics, and makes proportionate, value‐based decisions.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS (Essential):

• Work from our Chessington Surrey Group Office.
• Able to travel regularly to meet the company’s business requirements.