Technical Product Manager

Our Engineering practice includes 80+ teams, working on everything from Cloud Platforms to Mobile Apps, from E-Commerce functionality to Machine Learning. At the heart of engineering excellence at JLP, our Technical Product Manager will be working as part of the Engineering Profession on assignment within our Cloud Infrastructure and Platforms team. You will initially be working in a team to ensure that we are building a Cloud Ecosystem that is flexible, reliable and secure to meet the needs of the internal product teams which build and run business applications on it. This will require building relationships with key stakeholders and working with the Delivery & Operations Manager, Engineering & Architecture Professions and Head of Platforms to lead the development of the Platforms Ecosystem product in a way that aligns with our strategy and ambition.

At a glance:

• Flexible Working: This is a hybrid working role, therefore your time will primarily be split between working from home (in the UK) and Bracknell Head Office. However, there will also be an expectation to visit other locations as the need arises. Our Cloud Infrastructure and Platforms department in which this assignment is based currently meets in the office once a week, therefore you'd likely be needed in the office for weekly planning and more often for key kick offs, planning and team updates required, however the team you'd be initially working in are largely remote, reducing the need for office presence.
• Expected Salary: £62,900 - £95,000 (depending upon experience)
• Contract type: Permanent

About the role: We are modernising our Infrastructure moving to Google Cloud and establishing a number of key Platforms that will be the foundation for the future of the John Lewis Partnership. We are migrating much of our existing on-premises Infrastructure services to cloud and SaaS solutions providing a modern Platform(s) on which newly formed Product teams can flourish. The Technical Product Manager role will enable you over time to work across a number of different technical products and Platforms. You will help shape how the assignment works within the Partnership, working within a small existing community. The capability will be essential as we modernise our existing estate, develop Platform thinking, to ensure our application and technical estate.

Key Responsibilities:

• Developing working relationships with key stakeholders understanding the commercial, technical and operational landscapes.
• Owning and delivering Product strategy and Roadmap for a Platform, Developer Experience or Technical Product, delivering end value to their team(s).
• Setting clear value outcomes based on work undertaken, be able to set and manage operational KPI's and SLA's related to cost, speed, ease and quality.
• Prioritising build and run capabilities balancing new feature demand, operational excellence and technical debt.
• Working with Architecture & Engineering teams to ensure outcomes aligned to Business and technical strategy.
• Developing and maintaining industry leading knowledge on Cloud and technology Platforms required to serve modern omni-channel retailing.
• Gathering data based on user research, feedback and observability to help prioritise work backlog.

Essential Skills / Experience you’ll have:

• Deep knowledge and ability to define Product vision, roadmaps, backlogs that prioritise user needs and the meeting of business goals.
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear and concise language for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Understanding and experience of working with at least one major Cloud Platform such as AWS, GCP or Azure with a good understanding of different cloud based IAAS/PAAS capabilities.
• Experience in Continuous Delivery practices.
• Practical experience selecting, designing, building, deploying and operating Cloud Compute services and enabling their use across many Engineering teams.
• Knowledge of architectural styles commonly deployed onto Cloud-Native Platforms (e.g. MACH and Event-Driven).
• Knowledge of a range of integration patterns, and how they can be implemented using Cloud-Native technologies, as well as the relative merits and downsides of each.
• Practical experience of practices such as Three Amigos, Pairing, optimising for flow / Theory of Constraints, team learning through retrospectives and other activities that drive continuous improvements.
• Engineering techniques needed to create resilient, production ready software including instrumentation and monitoring.
• Awareness of typical security threats to a cloud platform and experience designing solutions to mitigate them, including those which help secure workloads running on the platform.
• Skills in data-driven decision making, using metrics to measure product performance and guide continuous improvement.
• Strong communication and presentation skills and is confident in running workshops to small groups.
• Adept at fostering collaboration and building strong relationships with stakeholders.
• Managing relationships with third parties and vendors associated with platforms and devex.
• Understanding of metrics and measures and how they influence value and performance (including Operational excellence and Continuous delivery).

Desirable Skills / Skills you may have:

• Hands-on experience of at least one modern programming language typically used in Platform Development (such as Python or Golang).
• Hands-on experience writing infrastructure-as-code in a maintainable way (such as with Terraform).

Next Steps: The application form consists of a CV upload followed by application questions. Please ensure you refresh the page each time you complete a task to ensure you complete everything that you need to do before the closing date. If you are successful following your initial application, the next stages are: a screening call with a recruiter, and up to three rounds of interviews.

Important points to note: It’s important to note that some of our roles are subject to pre-employment vetting (which may include DBS checks for successful candidates). If required, you’ll be informed and provided with information about vetting during the recruitment process and we encourage you to complete any vetting documents quickly to avoid delays. Any DBS checks required will be carried out by a third-party registered body and financial probity checks may also be required for some of our roles. We also recommend that you apply as soon as possible as vacancies can close early if we see a high number of applicants. We want all of our Partners to have a good work-life balance and we support flexible working. This might mean flexible or compressed hours, job sharing or shorter hour contracts, where possible. Please discuss this further with the hiring manager during your interview.