Head of Product Innovation

Location: Hybrid between home and one of our offices in Kettering and/or London 2 days per week.

Reports to: Chief Product & Marketing Officer

Salary: £80,000 plus car allowance, bonus & excellent benefits

Closing Date: 01st May 2026

About the role:

CMI is seeking a customer-centric Head of Product Innovation to lead the development, delivery and continuous evolution of our portfolio of management and leadership products, pathways, and chartered qualifications. This role is ideal for someone who thrives on pragmatism, who can move at pace from concept to prototype, is delivery focused and is energised by shaping the future of professional management & leadership.

Leading a small team and working collaboratively across the organisation, you will drive modern end-to-end product innovation. You will use customer, competitor and market insights, as well as AI tools to design engaging, impactful and practical pathways that give employers choice for upskilling their managers and leaders at all levels.

Working at the intersection of customer needs, digital capability, and innovation, you will collaborate closely with employers, educators, their employees and learners, to build high-impact, outcome-driven product experiences at pace ensuring CMI’s Chartered USP is embedded in all propositions.

Responsibilities:

• Use customer, market and policy insight to identify and validate high-impact opportunities to expand CMI’s suite of offerings (both regulated and unregulated) for the UK and international markets, ensuring CMI’s Chartered USP is at the heart of all its propositions.
• Build strong relationships with employers, universities, training providers and colleges to bring the voice of the customer to validate needs and refine propositions.
• Develop clear business cases for opportunities, demonstrating alignment to CMI’s strategic objectives and including expected commercial benefits and KPIs.
• Translate strategic opportunities into clear, relevant and customer-centric product requirements, user stories, qualification/product specifications, and success metrics.
• Define and lead a fast-paced product development process that includes the judicious use of AI to rapidly prototype, test and take to market new products, modern frameworks and chartered pathways aligned to customer needs..
• Partner with colleagues across sales, marketing, membership and compliance to ensure products are robust, scalable and future-proof and that the go-to-market strategy is defined from the outset.
• Embed a culture of iteration - focusing on rapid experimentation, early validation and continuous improvement.
• Use AI to analyse product take-up and outcomes data to demonstrate product impact and value to training providers, employers and learners.
• Regularly consult with the executive team on the success of new products, with strategic recommendations for fast improvement & iteration, and opportunities to scale success further.
• Embed learnings in future product development cycles to ensure continuous improvement.

About you:

We are an inclusive employer and welcome all diverse backgrounds, where individuality is celebrated, creating both a forward-thinking team and a supportive space for everyone in the CMI team. We actively invite applications from diverse cultures and experience.

• We are looking for someone who can enhance our culture and align with our core values. We want someone who is ‘Passionate’ in making a positive difference to the skills of managers and leaders, ‘Practical’; with the ability to make quick and smart decisions, ‘Progressive’ about creating a better future and maintaining a ‘Professional’ code of conduct, through being accountable and ethical in everything that we do.
• Extensive experience in product innovation and product management - ideally from a fast-paced environment such as FMCG . Understanding of learning design, or related roles within education, EdTech, skills development helpful but not essential.
• Experienced in using AI smartly and judiciously to aid and expedite the development of propositions.
• Strong ability to translate customer needs and feedback as well as market insights into actionable product requirements and clear qualification/product structures.
• Experience of rapid prototyping & testing, getting products to market quickly with proven impact. Ability to tailor language and design to multiple target audiences.
• Proven experience leading fast-paced, end-to-end product development - from discovery through to launch and iteration with exceptional agility.
• Experience in developing or launching AI-enabled learning experiences, qualification products, or digital education tools (desirable but not essential).
• Experience working with data to create insights and inform decisions, including setting success metrics, analysing product take-up data, evaluating pilot outcomes, and designing experiments.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills with both internal and external stakeholders.
• Curiosity, creativity, and passion for using emerging technologies.
• Comfortable leading and developing teams as well as being very hands-on in the innovation and development process.

Why CMI:

Are you looking to join a dynamic and ambitious organisation? At CMI, new leadership and management strategies are at the fore-front of what we do. We know the importance of fresh ideas and encourage new perspectives. We are a not for profit, Sunday Times Best Company To Work for 2024, with a Platinum Accreditation with Investors in People. We offer an engaging, flexible and collaborative culture with a wealth of opportunity for professional development.

It doesn’t stop there. We believe we are only as good as the people that work at CMI and in turn offer a competitive benefits package for all employees:

• Flexible working - our expectation is 2 days a week in the office, to suit you. We are not a traditional 9 to 5, we are flexible with what hours you work and when you work. Our offices in both London and Kettering provide comfortable collaboration spaces for team get-togethers
• 21 days’ holiday + 8 days’ Bank Holiday + 4.5 days allocated for CMI holiday over Christmas and New Year period - with annual leave days increasing with length of service and the opportunity to buy and sell holiday
• Wellbeing and mental health - in-house mental health first-aid trainers and BUPA Employee Assistance for 24 hour support
• Inclusion at our core - Our colleague-led Inclusion Hubs for Ethnicity, LGBTQIA+, Menopause, Age, Disability and SocioEconomic are open for anyone to join
• CMI membership - take advantage of our amazing courses and become a Chartered Manager. Plus, CMI will pay your professional membership to one additional organisation of choice
• Rewards and Recognition scheme - cash prizes awarded to employees throughout the year
• Pension - we add an extra 6% of your gross salary to your pension pot every month after 3 months

About us:

The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) sets the Professional Standard in Management and Leadership. We have worked with businesses and education providers to inspire people to unleash their potential through qualifications, apprenticeships and training to become skilled, confident and successful managers and leaders, resulting in Chartered Manager status - the ultimate management accolade, which is proven to boost individuals’ career prospects, management capability and impact in the workplace.

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We reserve the right to close this vacancy earlier than advertised should we receive a high number of suitable applicants.