Head of Product

Head of Product

Location: York

Salary: £80,000 - £100,000

Type: Permanent

Company Overview

Our client is a leading organisation operating within a highly regulated industry, recognised for delivering innovative solutions and exceptional customer experiences through technology, product development, and business transformation.

The organisation's success is built on attracting high-calibre talent, fostering a collaborative culture, and empowering employees to make a meaningful impact. With a strong focus on continuous improvement and innovation, the business offers an environment where individuals can develop their careers while contributing to long-term organisational growth and success.

Job Summary

Our client is seeking an experienced Practice Lead to oversee and develop its Product Owner (PO) and Business Analyst (BA) capability. This strategic leadership role will be responsible for shaping the direction, standards, and effectiveness of two critical disciplines that support the successful delivery of products, projects, and business change initiatives.

The successful candidate will lead the development of a high-performing community of professionals, ensuring clear career pathways, best-in-class ways of working, and a strong focus on value-driven delivery. Working closely with senior stakeholders across product, technology, and business functions, they will play a key role in workforce planning, capability development, and organisational effectiveness.

This is an excellent opportunity to influence how change is delivered across the organisation while building a sustainable and future-ready capability that supports both current and long-term business objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor Product Owners, Business Analysts, and team leaders, supporting their professional growth and performance.
• Contribute to recruitment, selection, and onboarding activities.
• Define and maintain clear role expectations and career pathways across both disciplines.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing culture.

Ways of Working, Standards & Best Practice

• Establish and lead a Community of Practice for Product Owners and Business Analysts.
• Define, implement, and continuously improve standards, frameworks, and methodologies.
• Drive consistency across discovery, analysis, requirements management, delivery, and value measurement activities.
• Promote best practice and continuous learning across delivery teams.

Capability Development

• Assess capability gaps and implement development strategies aligned to business and delivery objectives.
• Monitor industry trends and emerging practices to enhance organisational capability.
• Use data, metrics, and feedback to evaluate capability maturity and identify improvement opportunities.
• Support the ongoing evolution of Product Owner and Business Analyst competencies.

Strategic Workforce Planning

• Develop and maintain workforce plans to ensure the right skills and resources are available to support delivery priorities.
• Shape long-term capability and resourcing strategies across product and change functions.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to optimise resource allocation and utilisation.
• Support organisational design and operating model initiatives.

Performance, Outcomes & Value Delivery

• Define and monitor performance measures to demonstrate effectiveness, efficiency, and business value.
• Champion outcome-focused delivery and decision-making.
• Drive continuous improvement across Product Owner and Business Analyst practices.
• Ensure teams remain focused on delivering measurable business outcomes.

Qualifications & Skills

• Proven experience leading Product Owners, Business Analysts, or similar change and delivery professionals.
• Demonstrable experience building, developing, and maturing professional capabilities or Communities of Practice.
• Strong experience implementing best-practice frameworks and ways of working.
• Experience leading capability, operating model, or organisational design initiatives.
• Strong background in product and programme delivery within complex environments.
• Experience defining and embedding delivery standards and governance frameworks.
• Workforce planning and resource management experience.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, including engagement with senior leadership teams.
• Experience managing resource allocation across multiple teams, projects, or programmes.

Required Skills

• Product delivery methodologies
• Business analysis practices
• Discovery and requirements management
• Backlog management
• Operating model design
• Workforce planning and resource management
• Performance measurement and reporting

Behavioural & Leadership Skills

• Strategic thinking
• Leadership and coaching
• Stakeholder engagement
• Communication and presentation skills
• Problem-solving and decision-making
• Collaboration and relationship building
• Change leadership

Preferred Qualifications & Experience

• Experience within financial services, insurance, or other regulated sectors.
• Experience designing competency frameworks, capability models, or career pathways.
• Knowledge of emerging trends in product management, digital transformation, and AI-enabled delivery practices.

Benefits

• Competitive salary.
• Performance-related bonus opportunities.
• Pension scheme.
• Private healthcare and wellbeing support.
• Generous annual leave entitlement.
• Flexible and hybrid working arrangements.
• Professional development and learning opportunities.
• Career progression pathways.
• Inclusive and collaborative working environment.
• Employee assistance and wellbeing programmes.

Equal Opportunity Statement

SPG Resourcing is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace which values and benefits from the diversity of the workforce we hire. We offer reasonable accommodation at every stage of the application and interview process.

If this could be of interest, please feel free to reach out!

jarret.devlin@spgresourcing.com

01617110288