Product Manager- microbit.org in Oxford

The Micro:bit Educational Foundation is looking for a Product Manager (two year fixed-term contract) who is passionate about the Foundation’s mission, to lead the evolution of our website microbit.org. The site is already a valuable resource for a range of audiences, from new and experienced teachers to prospective funders and partners, and there’s plenty of scope to make it better.

You’ll take an evidence-led approach, drawing on analytics, audience research, and insights from our team and partners to identify potential areas for improvement across all aspects of the website. You will work closely with the Head of Product to prioritise this insight within the microbit.org strategy and roadmap, then translate these areas of work into recommended solutions that positively impact our audience and the Foundation, within resource, timeline and budget constraints.

Building strong collaborative relationships with colleagues in Marketing, Education, Technology, Partnerships and Commercial teams will be essential to achieving buy-in on the plan and as you lead the product work end-to-end, from discovery and design through experimentation, build, launch and review.

Main Responsibilities

• Understand the audience and user journeys: Build deep understanding of the different audiences for microbit.org and their needs, using top task analysis, audience research and insight from colleagues and partners. Support internal alignment on which audiences and tasks to prioritise. Use analytics and other data to assess how well the site serves those audiences, and to make the case for what to improve. Learn from how comparable organisations tackle similar problems.
• Set objectives and manage the roadmap: Work with the Head of Product to evolve the strategy and roadmap, demonstrating alignment with the Foundation’s Theory of Change, Theory of Learning and strategic objectives, securing sign-off from senior leadership. Translate the roadmap into clearly scoped work, managing delivery across projects and workstreams, keeping track of related work elsewhere in the Foundation. Define and track success metrics, reporting on and learning from progress towards meeting objectives.
• Lead design and delivery: Lead product design activities for microbit.org, working collaboratively with colleagues to turn discovery insights into impactful solutions. Shape the site's information architecture and navigation so audiences can find what they need quickly. Build user research, accessibility research and co-creation into design and development, and make sure the site meets WCAG 2.2 AA.
• Maintain site quality and compliance: Work with colleagues to establish and maintain content governance, including standards, ownership and review cycles, and make sure the CMS supports how teams create and update content. Monitor and improve search visibility (SEO) and site performance. Support translation and localisation, so that audiences in different countries have a good experience. Make sure the site meets UK GDPR, cookie consent and Age Appropriate Design Code requirements.

Requirements

• A minimum of 3 years' product management experience, working with web based products, including experience owning a product area with some involvement in product strategy and roadmaps.
• Experience working with Google analytics, particularly to define and track non-commercial success metrics and deriving valuable insights from analytics.
• Experience in user-centred design and research, including using AB testing or similar techniques.
• Experience with CMS platforms, SEO and accessibility standards.
• Strong instincts for good user and learning experience, simplicity, inclusivity and accessibility.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; you can write slides to align senior management, communicate detailed requirements to developers and explain technical features to non-specialist teachers.
• A genuine interest in inspiring children to learn coding, AI and data science, and in accessible, inclusive education.
• Comfortable working with technical teams and education specialists.
• Experience building consensus across teams with different priorities.
• Good judgement about when to collaborate, when to decide for yourself, and when to escalate.
• Comfortable working largely remotely in a small, passionate team working at pace, to high standards with limited resources.
• Experience working with educational technology and for not-for-profit organisations is desirable.

The impact you’ll have

The Micro:bit Educational Foundation is a UK-based not-for-profit with the goal to inspire every child to create their best digital future. There are now more than 12 million micro:bits in use around the world, and we estimate that more than 74 million children have learned to code with the BBC micro:bit. In 2023, we deployed micro:bits into more than 90% of UK primary schools in a project with Nominet and the BBC. One of the greatest benefits of working here is knowing that your work contributes to something positive and constructive, with beneficial social outcomes. We are a small organisation with a large audience and reach, and we thrive on creative problem solving — which gives each person the chance to have enormous impact while ensuring the days are diverse and the challenges complex.

Benefits

• Location – Home based and Oxford, UK (hybrid). We expect the successful candidate to be in our Oxford office four days per month on average.
• Flexibility: This position is full-time, though we'd consider four days a week on a pro-rata basis. Please note that this role is a two year fixed-term contract.
• Salary: £45,000–£52,000 FTE, depending on experience. Once a probationary period is complete, contractual benefits include options to join group private medical and group life insurance plan, EAP plan, flexibility in working hours, flexible annual leave policy (taking at minimum 25 days a year not including bank holidays and Foundation closures) and competitive pension contributions.

Application and recruitment schedule

Please send us a copy of your CV and a covering letter explaining your suitability for the role. Please note applications without a covering letter will not be progressed. The closing date for this role will be 6pm on Friday 4th December, UK time. However, we may shortlist and interview sooner if application volumes are high, so please apply at your earliest convenience. We will be conducting initial zoom interviews from the week commencing 7th December onwards, and face-to-face final interviews at our Oxford office in January 2027.

We monitor our performance on hiring diversity, using a questionnaire at the end of the application process. This is viewed by the operations team only, the aggregated data is shared with the wider team. The questionnaire is optional and you have the choice to not answer any question, but is hugely valuable for us to understand our performance in this area. You will automatically be directed to this survey upon submission of your application.

At the Foundation, trust is one of our core values, and we want to keep the application process fair for everyone. While AI can be a great tool, we ask that you let us know if you've used it to assist with your application. AI isn't off-limits, but keep in mind that overly AI-generated responses may lack the specificity needed to effectively address the key criteria outlined in the job description and might not fully showcase your unique skills and experiences.

Applicants must have the right to live and work in the UK.