Technical Product Owner

We are looking for an EDINA Technical Product Owner to join our team at the University of Edinburgh. In this role you will own, develop and manage a digital product from concept to delivery as part of EDINA’s growing product portfolio. Examples of our products include an extensible generative artificial intelligence (GAI) services platform, a computational teaching tool and online map and data delivery services. You will work closely with the Head of Services and have significant autonomy to drive the product strategy in a highly collaborative environment.

This post is an open-ended contract based at EDINA, University of Edinburgh. EDINA is a center of digital expertise providing EdTech solutions to the higher, further and school education sectors for decades with a national and international reputation. The post is a hybrid one with the technical product owner expected to be on campus in Edinburgh at least one day a week. The team would prefer full time working hours (35hrs per week) however are committed to offering flexible working options such as compressed hours or staggered start/finish times.

What we can offer you:

• A competitive salary of £49,559- £60,907 per annum
• The chance to influence and shape EDINA’s digital product portfolio
• Generous annual leave allowance of 40 days per year (inclusive of festive closure days)
• Highly competitive defined-benefit pension scheme with a substantial employer contribution
• A range of flexible working options to help prioritise work/life balance
• A day of paid leave annually for your chosen volunteering activity
• Access to excellent online learning and a Staff Scholarship fund
• Varied staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, support for staff wellbeing and more

What the job involves:

In this role you will:

• Define and articulate the product vision: Develop a clear product roadmap that aligns with strategic business goals such as income generation, market growth and recognition. Oversee the agile development process with a cross-functional team to deliver features on schedule.
• Prioritise and manage requirements: Identify and analyse ideas from stakeholders, ensuring that user and business needs are central to the product strategy. Maintain and update the product backlog to maximise value delivery.
• Facilitate collaboration and communication: Build strong relationships with university staff, customers, internal teams and external partners. Produce business plans, reports and publicity materials, and represent EDINA at events and outreach initiatives.
• Use analytics and risk management: Utilise data and analytics to inform decisions and anticipate risks in service deployment. Propose and implement strategies that mitigate impact on the product and broader business objectives.
• Support EDINA’s core service development: Contribute to planning and managing activities for digital products throughout their lifecycle, ensuring smooth operation and user engagement.

A bit about you:

To be successful in this role you will have:

• A substantial level of relevant work experience and a proven record of digital product ownership or service management
• Experience of managing online, web-based services and familiarity with modern technology stacks
• Excellent written, IT, presentational and organisational skills with the ability to communicate clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
• A proactive approach and experience working both independently and as part of a senior team
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to plan effectively to meet fixed deadlines
• Well-developed interpersonal skills to build effective working relationships across diverse teams
• Experience working in higher education and familiarity with generative artificial intelligence (GAI) technologies is desirable though not essential. Experience in managing staff, leading project teams or working with digital service frameworks such as ITIL is also an advantage.

Application procedure:

We welcome informal enquiries about the role – to find out more please email James Reid (Head of Services @ EDINA) at james.reid@ed.ac.uk. Please ensure you include the following documents in your application: CV, Cover letter.

Championing equality, diversity and inclusion: The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.

Prior to any employment commencing with the University you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages.

On this occasion the University will not consider applicants requiring sponsorship for this role. International workers will therefore only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.

Key dates to note: The closing date for applications is 29th April 2025. Unless stated otherwise the closing time for applications is 11:59pm GMT.

About Us: As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.

About the Team: EDINA are specialists in developing and delivering digital products including large-scale online services, mobile apps and digital tools for education. Our expertise includes geospatial and satellite data, computational learning, text and data mining, e-preservation and machine learning.