At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead product strategy for pricing and data platforms, driving innovation in eCommerce.
- Company: Join World of Books, the largest seller of used books, committed to sustainability.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible working, and a chance to make a positive impact.
- Other info: Dynamic team environment with opportunities for growth and collaboration.
- Why this job: Shape the future of book buying while promoting recycling and sustainability.
- Qualifications: Experience in product management, data platforms, and pricing systems required.
The predicted salary is between 48000 - 84000 £ per year.
At World of Books, we’re on a mission to become the Planet’s Bookstore. Our business was founded in 2002 with the purpose of encouraging recycling, minimising waste and fostering sustainability by giving books a second life. Since then, we’ve grown into the world’s largest seller of used books, providing millions of customers with an affordable way to discover, purchase and enjoy books sustainably.
We have offices in the UK, US and Hungary, with over 1,000 employees dedicated to continuing to do good, protect the environment and support charities – as reflected in our certified B-Corp status.
Our lines of business:
- World of Books: The UK’s largest online retailer of used (and new!) books, reaching customers in over 190 countries through direct-to-consumer channels, marketplaces (e.g. Amazon and eBay) and wholesale partners.
- World of Rare Books: Specialists in rare, vintage and first edition books, providing one of Europe’s largest collections of pre-ISBN and decorative vintage books.
- Sell Your Books (SYB): An innovative app-based service enabling customers to scan barcodes or tap ISBN codes from their books for instant valuations and hassle-free resale.
- Sell Your Books Pro (SYBP): A SaaS product capable of scanning products on an industrial level, enabling organisations such as national charities to sell us their books, generate additional revenue for good causes and enable more items to be reused.
Our business model is underpinned by a combination of proprietary and off-the-shelf technology which enables us to dynamically select and price items. This means we’re able to offer customers a unique range of products across a range of channels and at prices that cannot be found elsewhere.
ABOUT THE ROLE
Over the next few years, World of Books plans to accelerate growth as a direct-to-consumer (D2C) eCommerce business. We’re enhancing our dynamic pricing, inventory management, warehousing operations and data capabilities to continue scaling internationally and at pace. Central to this is our investment in our pricing platform and data infrastructure – ensuring we have a scalable, high-quality data platform that powers our pricing algorithms, analytics, machine-learning and operational decision-making.
As Lead Product Manager of Pricing & Data Platform, you’ll be responsible for leading the product strategy and execution across two closely related product-engineering teams:
- Pricing Product Team: Collaborating closely with data scientists and commercial partners, this team is responsible for our pricing platform that enables data scientists to rapidly test, run and deploy new pricing algorithms across all our buying and selling channels, ultimately delivering pricing systems that deliver sales and profit.
- Data Platform Team: This team is responsible for building, developing and maintaining our data warehouse and data pipelines. Our data warehouse is a critical enabler to the entire business, and serves a huge amount of use cases, such as business insight, product analytics, and data science applications including pricing.
Reporting to the Product Director, you’ll work closely with data engineers, platform and infrastructure teams, pricing analysts, data scientists and business stakeholders to ensure we have robust, scalable and performant systems that drive customer and commercial value.
What you’ll be doing:
- Owning the end-to-end product vision, strategy and roadmap for the data platform and pricing systems – including ingestion, processing, and algorithmic decisioning.
- Driving enhancements to the infrastructure that powers our pricing models, ensuring systems are scalable, flexible and responsive to changing business conditions.
- Collaborating closely with engineering, design, data and commercial teams to define requirements, prioritise features and drive execution.
- Establishing clear product priorities and delivery plans that balance foundational improvements with speed-to-value.
- Developing an in-depth understanding of our customers, leveraging qualitative and quantitative insights to make informed, strategic product decisions.
- Defining and monitoring success metrics across platform performance, data quality, pricing impact, and stakeholder satisfaction.
- Serving as a trusted partner to both internal and external stakeholders, consistently championing outstanding customer experiences and product quality.
- Driving adoption of data platform capabilities across the organisation by developing clear, user-friendly services and interfaces that make data accessible and usable for analysts, data scientists, engineers and decision-makers.
- Moving fast, prioritising initiatives decisively and embracing pragmatism over theoretical product perfection.
Within your first year in the role, we anticipate that you will have demonstrated excellent progress towards the following key milestones and deliverables:
- Defined a clear product strategy and roadmap for both teams that align to delivering the goals of our overall business strategy.
- Pricing – all WoB channels and products live on our new platform, delivering improved sales and profit.
- Data Platform - significant progress towards delivering the refactor of our Data warehouse platform and new data sets delivering business value.
What we’re looking for:
We’re looking for a technically adept, commercially-minded product leader with a strong track record of delivering data or platform products that power complex business systems.
Key attributes:
- Significant experience as a product manager working on data platforms, pricing systems, infrastructure or systems products (e.g. data pipelines, data warehouses, event-based architecture, pricing engines).
- Strong understanding of cloud-native data stack components (e.g., Google BigQuery, DBT).
- Experience working with or supporting pricing, yield management or algorithm-driven decision-making platforms, ideally in eCommerce or high-volume transactional environments.
- Proven experience in working out what the right things to build are (as opposed to being told what to build by someone else).
- Dual track (discovery/delivery) experience.
- Demonstrable ability to create impactful product roadmaps and deliver results.
- Deep understanding of how to work effectively with cross-functional teams (data scientists, analysts, engineers and commercial stakeholders) to define needs and translate them into value-creating capabilities.
- Strong commercial acumen, an affinity for data and the ability to make informed, pragmatic decisions based on incomplete or imperfect information.
- Exceptional stakeholder management and influencing abilities at all organisational levels.
- Ability to navigate ambiguity, prioritising execution and iterative improvement.
- Proactive mindset with the capability to independently drive initiatives and influence leadership.
LOCATION
London (~3 days a week), with some travel to our other offices in the UK (Coventry and West Sussex), US (Illinois) and Hungary on an ad hoc basis.
WHY JOIN WORLD OF BOOKS?
We believe in building great things with great people. As a values-driven organisation, we:
- Work as one team, fostering collaboration across all functions.
- Are customer-obsessed, ensuring everything we build delivers value.
- Simplify, move fast, and deliver results, embracing agility and innovation.
- Protect the environment, making sustainability the core of everything we do.
This is an opportunity to lead game-changing innovation in our marketplace, shaping how millions of books are bought and sold every year.
Lead Product Manager - Pricing & Data Platform in London employer: World of Books Group
As a Lead Product Manager at our innovative company, you will thrive in a dynamic work culture that prioritises collaboration and creativity. We offer competitive salaries, comprehensive benefits, and ample opportunities for professional growth, all within a vibrant location that fosters both personal and career development. Join us to make a meaningful impact on our data platform and pricing systems while enjoying a supportive environment that values your contributions.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Lead Product Manager - Pricing & Data Platform in London
✨Join Product Management Meetups
Get involved in local product management meetups or workshops. These events are perfect for meeting industry folks, sharing ideas, and staying updated on trends. Plus, you never know who might be hiring—it's a fantastic way to make connections that could lead to a job at places like World of Books Group!
✨Show Off Your Product Sense
Create case studies or mini-projects showcasing your product management skills, and share them on platforms like Medium or LinkedIn. This not only puts your skills on display but also boosts your visibility in the product community. Imagine how impressed the hiring team at World of Books Group would be by your initiative!
✨Utilise Online Communities
Dive into online product management communities like Product Coalition or Mind the Product. Engage in discussions, ask questions, and share your insights. These platforms are goldmines for networking and finding hidden job opportunities—many companies often scout talent from within these circles.
✨Leverage Your University Network
If you’ve recently graduated or are still in uni, tap into your alumni network for connections in product management. Many universities have their own job boards and affinity resources to help graduates land roles. Don't forget to keep an eye out for job openings at World of Books Group through your school's career services!
We think you need these skills to ace Lead Product Manager - Pricing & Data Platform in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Off Your Product Passion:When applying for a product management role like Lead Product Manager - Pricing & Data Platform, let your passion for developing products shine through in your cover letter. Share specific examples of products you've managed, how you solved user needs, and any successful outcomes you've achieved. This is your chance to showcase your understanding of the product lifecycle!
Highlight Your Cross-Functional Skills:Product management isn't just about understanding the product; it’s about collaborating with different teams! Make sure to emphasise your experience working with developers, designers, and marketers. Use your CV to showcase your ability to bridge gaps between these areas, and include relevant experiences that demonstrate your communication and leadership skills!
Include Your Metrics and Achievements:In a full-time product management application, data speaks volumes! Quantify your achievements wherever possible. Did you increase user retention by a certain percentage? Launch a product ahead of schedule? Include these metrics in your CV to paint a picture of your impact and effectiveness in previous roles.
Tailor Your CV to the Role:Make sure your CV is tailored for the Lead Product Manager - Pricing & Data Platform position at World of Books Group. Use keywords from the job description and ensure your relevant experiences are front and centre. Highlight any certifications or relevant training you’ve completed that will make you stand out as a strong candidate for the role. And remember, we’re excited to see your application on our website!
How to prepare for a job interview at World of Books Group
✨Understand the Product Life Cycle
As a product management candidate, we need to get our head around the complete product life cycle. Be prepared to discuss real-world examples of how you’ve managed product development from ideation to launch. Bring specific insights on tools like JIRA or Trello that can help streamline these processes.
✨Showcase Your Cross-Functional Skills
Product management is all about collaboration. We should be ready to highlight how we’ve worked across teams—think marketing, engineering, and design. Prepare to discuss scenarios where you had to mediate differing opinions and how you got everyone on board with a shared vision.
✨Prepare for Case Studies
In a full-time role, we can expect to encounter case study questions during our interviews. Practise solving hypothetical product problems on the spot, such as prioritising features for a new app or improving user engagement metrics. This will show our analytical thinking and decision-making skills.
✨Know Your Metrics
Let’s face it, numbers are our best friends in product management. We should prepare to discuss key performance indicators (KPIs) and how we've used analytics to inform product decisions. Dive into examples where data has driven our strategy for improvements or justified product changes.
