Senior Manager, Product Operations

Role Overview

• Own the Product Operations Framework
• Define, document, and maintain the Product Ops framework for the organisation — including planning processes, release governance, product lifecycle stages, and delivery checkpoints
• Translate strategic product direction into practical, scalable artefacts: templates, workflows, standards, and governance models
• Lead the piloting and rollout of new ways of working across selected tribes, iterating based on real feedback
• Own the implementation of frameworks and standards into the tooling the organisation uses to manage and standardise the product management process
• Own the Operational Infrastructure
• In collaboration with Engineering Operations, lead the setup, structuring, and ongoing governance of core product tooling (e.g. Jira, Confluence, Jira Product Discovery or equivalent)
• Define and maintain the standard suite of product management artefacts: requirements templates, release readiness checklists, status reporting formats, and decision logs
• Ensure all materials are consistent, accessible, and designed for adoption — building reusable systems that compound in value over time
• Own the tooling roadmap for the product function, evaluating and recommending improvements as the organisation scales
• Drive Adoption Across Tribes
• Lead the rollout of Product Ops practices across all product tribes through enablement sessions, documentation, and direct partnership with tribe leads and PMs
• Proactively identify where standards are not being followed or where adoption is struggling, and address root causes rather than symptoms
• Create and maintain a feedback loop between the tribes and the product leadership team, surfacing what is and isn't working
• Act as an enabler and trusted partner to the product organisation — not an enforcer
• Own Product Data and Reporting Foundations
• Define and maintain the core product KPI framework — what we measure, how it's structured, who owns it, and where it lives
• Build and own the reporting infrastructure: dashboards, cross-tribe views, and portfolio-level performance reporting
• Ensure data is consistent, reliable, and structured to support decision-making at both squad and leadership level
• Partner with engineering operations to ensure data sources are well-connected and trustworthy
• Enable Cross-Tribe Alignment and Visibility
• Own portfolio-level visibility: delivery progress, product performance, and operational health across tribes
• Lead the design and maintenance of cross-tribe dashboards and reporting cadences that give leadership a clear, real-time view of the product portfolio
• Proactively surface inconsistencies, gaps, and risks across teams and bring them to the attention of the Head of Product Management with recommendations
• Champion transparency as a cultural norm, not just a reporting exercise
• Establish Portfolio Governance & Product Lifecycle Management
• Own the governance framework for the product portfolio — defining the structures, checkpoints, and decision-making processes that ensure the right products are built, progressed, and retired at the right time
• Design and maintain a product lifecycle model that gives the organisation a consistent, shared language for where each product sits — from discovery and validation through to scaling, optimisation, and end-of-life
• Establish and run the governance cadences that connect tribe-level activity to portfolio-level decisions: stage gates, investment reviews, prioritisation forums, and roadmap alignment sessions
• Lead Continuous Operational Improvement
• Identify recurring pain points and systemic issues across tribes — unclear requirements, inconsistent processes, tooling friction — and own the improvement roadmap
• Propose, prioritise, and implement practical improvements to templates, tools, and processes with measurable impact
• Track adoption and improvement outcomes, reporting regularly to the Head of Product Management on the health and maturity of the ProductOps function

Requirements

• Proven ability to design and implement operational frameworks in a product or technology environment
• Strong systems thinking — able to see how processes, tools, data, and people interact and where friction lives
• Deep knowledge of product delivery tooling (Jira, Confluence, Jira Product Discovery, or equivalent)
• Confident working across multiple tribes and senior stakeholders simultaneously
• Excellent written communication and documentation skills — able to make complex processes simple and usable
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and bringing structure to undefined problems
• Demonstrable experience in a Product Operations, PMO, delivery management, or programme management role in a technology organisation
• Track record of designing and rolling out processes or frameworks at scale across multiple teams
• Experience owning tooling configuration and governance for a product or engineering function
• Previous exposure to portfolio-level reporting and data structures
• Experience working in an agile, squad-based or tribal product organisation preferred
• Strategic and outcome-oriented — focused on impact, not just activity
• Pragmatic — builds for adoption and usability, not theoretical perfection
• Comfortable challenging the status quo and making the case for change with data and evidence
• Credible with senior stakeholders, able to influence without authority across organisational boundaries
• Balances standardisation with autonomy — knows when to enforce consistency and when to allow flexibility
• Proactive and self-directed — does not wait to be told what to fix.