Product Owner

Job Title: Product Owner Contract: Permanent Salary: circa £37,000 Location: Gateshead As part of Cambridge Assessment and Cambridge University Press, the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) is seeking a talented Product Owner to be responsible for the definition, prioritisation and delivery of improvements to CEM’s digital educational products. Exciting times Temporarily based at Ushaw College near Durham, we are moving to our vibrant new office based at Gateshead Quayside from May 2020. What it’s about Working with Agile teams developing digital educational products for schools. What you’ll be doing Working with Product Management team to understand customer needs and how they can be fulfilled. Working with Product Owners across the group to coordinate work across multiple agile teams to develop new products. You will use qualitative techniques to understand customer pain points and validate solutions, along with quantitative data to inform prioritization, success criteria, evaluation and decision making. You will participate in review and retrospectives to improve processes and outputs, and work with Service Delivery colleagues to ensure the service readiness for new products. What we’re looking for Passion for the development of digital educational products. You’ll work on ongoing improvements to products and new product launches. You’ll need a good degree or equivalent relevant experience, with a track record of delivering digital product improvements and working with cross-functional teams in an Agile environment. You’ll need a good understanding of digital technologies, along with excellent communication, organisational, analytical and problem-solving skills. Commercial acumen is required so that you can quickly understand the business value of deliverables. Qualifications • A good degree or equivalent qualification and relevant experience • Appropriate accreditation (e.g. Certified Scrum Product Owner) or relevant experience The demonstrable skills you’ll need - • Excellent communication and Stakeholder management skills • Strong level of commercial acumen to ensure understanding of the business value of deliverables • The ability to capture requirements, add details and describe user stories to teams • Excellent organisational skills • Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills • Analytical skills with the ability to map processes or user journeys and associated wireframes • A high level of attention to detail • A good understanding fo digital technologies and software development We're also looking for experience of - • Delivering digital product improvements • Working with cross-functional teams in an Agile environment • Backlog management, user story development and prioritisation with Agile development teams • Understanding of Lean Product approaches • UX and UI design experience would be beneficial If you would like to review the full job description, please email ,uk Who we are CEM, part of the Cambridge family is a vibrant organisation which, since its beginning over 30 years ago, has established a reputation for innovation and quality in educational assessment and research. CEM works with schools, colleges, education authorities, government agencies and other organisations to provide high quality information through scientifically grounded research. CEM aims to inform and improve education in two ways: 1. By providing educators and educational institutions with a body of world-class research to support evidence-based education practices, and 2. By providing cutting-edge, digital assessment and monitoring systems which support learning through the provision of robust information on the ability, attitudes, potential and progress of young people. This is an excellent opportunity to join a market leader and be rewarded with valuable learning opportunities, a competitive salary and benefits. Benefits In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a comprehensive package of benefits to help with your life both inside and outside of work: • Generous contributory pension • 28 days annual leave, plus bank holidays • Enhanced maternity/paternity pay • Employee discount and cash back scheme at 2,500 retailers • Cycle scheme • Season Ticket Loan • Support for professional qualifications We know that diversity of thinking, backgrounds and approaches lead to innovation and create an atmosphere where everyone’s contribution is valued. As well as wanting to create diverse teams, we also value diversity in the way our people approach their work. Work/life balance is important to us at Cambridge Assessment and we offer our colleagues a range of flexible working options according to the needs of the business and the individual, so please let us know of any flexible working requirements when applying and we can see how we can support you. The closing date for receipt of applications is 05/04/2020 and interviews will be held on 28/04/2020 . If you’re successful at interview stage we will ask you to undergo background screening (carried out by Credence Background Screening Ltd), to ensure that all information provided to us is accurate. We wish you all the very best with your application. CAMBRIDGE ASSESSMENT IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYER