Product Manager in Ipswich

About the role

ARC (Automation, Reporting & Collection) is a software engineering area within BT Networks, made up of multiple product-focused development teams. We build and maintain systems that are critical to BT's network operations.

We're looking for a Product Manager who will work across our software teams to improve how we plan, coordinate and deliver. This isn't a traditional product management role — the "product" here is our collective capacity to produce great software. You'll help our teams deliver more by improving the quality of planning, documentation, processes and cross-team alignment. The key deliverable of this role is process improvement not software.

You'll report to the Senior Software Engineering Manager and support team leads across ARC, helping them think beyond the immediate backlog and work in a more organised, joined-up way. We value our people highly, invest in training and self-improvement, this is how we succeed. This is a role for someone who wants to improve the work of a team who enjoy challenging themselves and others.

What you’ll be doing

• Work across multiple software teams to improve planning quality, processes and documentation.
• Support team leads to think longer-term and broader than their immediate backlog, helping them structure work more effectively.
• Coordinate cross-team initiatives, ensuring the right people are aligned on shared problems (e.g. Larger Scales projects, broader issues such as security).
• Identify where process is needed and improve it, while respecting agile principles and team autonomy.
• Define and track measures of progress to understand how ARC is improving as a whole.
• Spot opportunities for improvement by spending time with teams, understanding their cultures, software and challenges.
• Provide comprehensive visibility of team health and delivery across ARC back to the team as well as leadership.
• Contribute to the development of product roadmaps and prioritisation across the area.
• Potentially line-manage a small number of people in broader team support roles.

Essential Skills / Experience

• Strong background in agile methodologies and agile planning.
• Experience improving processes and ways of working within software teams.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to coordinate across multiple teams and priorities.
• Understanding of software development principles and how engineering teams work.
• Ability to define and use objectives, metrics or goals to track progress and drive improvement.
• Strong communication skills — able to work with technical teams and senior stakeholders alike.
• Experience working across multiple teams or products rather than being embedded in a single delivery team.

Desirable Skills / Experience

• Experience with product roadmapping and backlog prioritisation.
• Background in user story definition and requirements documentation.
• Experience with OKR definition and tracking.
• Line management experience or willingness to line-manage.
• Familiarity with cross-functional programme delivery (e.g. transformation or infrastructure projects).
• Experience in a telecoms or network operations environment.

Our Package

• 10% on target bonus
• BT Pension scheme, minimum 5% Employee contribution, BT contribution 10%
• From January 2025, equal family leave: receive 18 weeks at full pay, 8 weeks at half pay and 26 weeks at the statutory rate. It’s for all parents, no matter how your family is made up.
• Enhanced women’s health support: including help with menopause symptoms, cancer screenings, period care and more.
• 25 days annual leave (not including bank holidays), increasing with service
• 24/7 private virtual GP appointments for UK colleagues
• 2 weeks carer’s leave
• World-class training and development opportunities
• Option to join BT Shares Saving schemes

BT Group is the UK’s leading communications group and the holding company behind some of the country’s most recognised brands – including BT, EE, Openreach and Plusnet. Our purpose is as simple as it is ambitious: we connect for good. Our customers include consumers, small, medium and large businesses, public sector organisations and other communications providers.

BT Group’s role is about setting direction, unlocking value and creating the conditions for our brands and businesses to thrive. Having come through the most capital-intensive phase of our fibre investment, our focus now is on what comes next – simplifying how we operate, using technology and AI to work smarter, and organising ourselves to serve customers better and grow sustainably. Group teams shape strategy, policy, brand, capital allocation and transformation, helping the whole organisation perform at its best.

We have a singular culture that unites all our people: we are customer-first challengers, who are committed, clear and connected. These behaviours unite us as one team to deliver for our colleagues, our customers, our stakeholders and the country. Joining BT Group means working at the heart of a business that matters to the UK, with the opportunity to shape decisions, influence outcomes and help set the future course of one of the country’s most important companies.