Product Manager

About us

At Arbor, we’re on a mission to transform the way schools work for the better.

You’ve probably seen the headlines. Heavy workloads, constant change, admin pressure on teachers and staff at every level… sometimes it feels like this is just part and parcel of school life today. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

We passionately believe that there’s a better way to work. And it starts by giving everyone the right tools and technology for the job.

We’re building a platform and products we believe in - as well as a strong, diverse team of experienced specialists, ex-teachers and Edtech engineers passionate about making a difference to the sector.

Ultimately, we’re here to help make our schools and trusts stress a little less, and focus on what matters most - improving the lives of teachers and outcomes of students everywhere.

About the role

We are looking for a passionate and dynamic Product Manager to join our growing Product team and help us create and develop the best user experience possible for our partners. The remit and focus of the role is to lead the UX strategy across our platform, so this a broad and exciting role, so we’re looking for someone up for a challenge - if you’re a customer-focused and diligent Product Manager, then this is the role for you.

Core responsibilities

• Own and implement the strategy for great UX across the Arbor platform and app

• Lead the planning, scoping, and prioritisation of product features and improvements to achieve short and long term business goals and customer satisfaction

• Create and manage roadmaps, timescales, milestones, risks and constraints

• Empathise with school users, translating their needs into technical solutions for both School and Group MIS (Management Information System) products

• Represent the cross product nature of UX, inc engaging with other teams, pushing your requirements in other teams' roadmaps, as well as working with other teams to build reusable components that can be used consistently across the product

• Prioritise features and improvements utilising data and the RICE framework

• Leverage customer usage data to contribute to goal-setting and go-to-market strategies

• Validate with user research and market analysis in order to inform customer sentiment and feature planning

• Lead and manage the sprint planning process end-to-end, including ticket creation and scheduling and leading ceremonies

• Work in collaboration with the Designer to produce wireframes that showcase the intended solution and deliver

• Work closely with the Lead Engineer to effectively manage a distributed workforce of engineers

• Take full ownership of outcomes, sharing the success with the team and learning from mistakes

• Help to product market features, increasing engagement, usage and customer satisfaction metrics

• Use data and evidence to drive decision making

• Speak at sales meetings and conferences to school and industry stakeholders

• Educate Arbor’s Sales and Customer support teams on the use of the product

About you
As this position is focused on our User’s Experience, we are looking for someone with a passion for user-driven Product Management and who loves to work with Data. Beyond that, we’d love to see:

• Considerable product development experience in a technology business

• Experience in championing UX across and organisation

• Ability to effectively leverage data and metrics to make informed decisions

• Use of product management software such as Jira, Figma, Productboard and Slite

• Use of prioritisation frameworks such as RICE

• Experience implementing agile working practices

• Exemplary communication skills; ability to persuade and provide compelling rationale for decisions

• Can change tact where needed; adjusting strategy in order to deliver results

• Excellent organisation and presentation skills

• Track record of delivering results in collaboration with cross-functional teams

• A self-starter with a keen ability to balance product quality with on-time delivery

• Demonstrable passion for improving the working lives of school stakeholders

• A quick learner who embraces challenges and enjoys the pace of a scaling company

• A good understanding of UX and UI with an ability to talk expertly about both when challenged

• A self-starter who can work independently, taking full ownership

What we offer

The chance to work alongside a team of hard-working, passionate people in a role where you’ll see the impact of your work everyday. We also offer:

• A dedicated wellbeing team who champion initiatives such as mindfulness, lunch n learns, manager training, mental health first aid training and much more!

• 32 days holiday (plus Bank Holidays). This is made up of 25 days annual leave plus 7 extra company wide days given over Easter, Summer & Christmas

• Enhanced maternity and adoption leave (20 weeks full pay) and paternity (6 weeks full pay) pay

• 5 free return to work maternity coaching sessions, helping you adapt to this new exciting time of life!

• Access to services such as Calm, Bippit (financial wellbeing coaching) and Health Assured (Employee assistance programme)

• All of our roles champion flexible working and we are happy to discuss what this means to you!

• Social committees that plan team, office and company wide events to bring people together and celebrate success

• Dedicated professional development training budget (CPD courses, upskilling resources, professional memberships etc)

• Volunteer with a charity of your choice for a day each year

• Dog friendly offices!

Refer a friend: Know someone else who would be good for this role? You can refer a friend, family member or colleague, if they are offered a role with Arbor, we will say thank you with a voucher valued up to £200! Simply email: [email removed - click apply for more details]

Arbor Education is an equal opportunities organisation

Our goal is for Arbor to be a workplace which represents, celebrates and supports people from all backgrounds, and which gives them the tools they need to thrive - whatever their ambitions may be so we support and promote diversity and equality, and actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.

If you need any adjustments to be made to support you through the recruitment process, let us know at [email removed - click apply for more details].

Please note: We are unable to provide visa sponsorship at this time.