Product Owner (Job Clubs & Life Skills Groups)

Job Description

CAP celebrates the value of diversity and our aim is for our workforce to be as inclusive as possible as well as representing the communities we serve. With this in mind, we welcome and encourage job applications from people of all backgrounds. We particularly welcome applications from candidates from black and ethnic minority backgrounds. We are committed to continue building an environment that embraces diversity and includes all.

Context:
Our vision at CAP is to see Transformed Lives, Thriving Churches, and an End to UK Poverty. Our core purpose is to inspire and equip churches across the UK to help people out of debt and poverty, and see them become followers of Jesus.

To do this, CAP offers churches a suite of products and services, through which they can serve their community. The Church Engagement and Partnership team oversees some of CAPs most accessible and widely used products, including money coaching, Job Clubs and Life Skills groups.

The Product Owner will work as part of a wider product team and report to the Product Innovation Manager, who reports to the Head of Church Engagement and Partnership. The Product Owner (Job Clubs & Life Skills) leads the development and delivery of the Job Club & Life Skills product roadmaps, working towards the ongoing success and effectiveness of these products.

Purpose:
This individual designs and oversees delivery of the Life Skills and Job Club product roadmaps, informed by rigorous user research, a strong understanding of their assigned product area, and a passion to serve the local church. They also act as a key source of expertise and encouragement on using these products, making Area Managers and Front Line staff feel appreciated, valued and supported.

Passion:
We love the local church! We are passionate about inspiring and empowering the church to serve their community in an effective and Christ centred way.

Responsibilities

Accountabilities:

Customer success

• Resource and support Area Managers so they can set up Life Skills and Job Club groups for success.
• Identify bright spots and best practice from successful Job Clubs/Life Skills and collaborate with the appropriate teams to share these insights across the broader church network.
• Identify issues and challenges, lead the discovery process for potential solutions and prioritise these appropriately within the wider product roadmap.

Customer insight

• Drive engagement with JOY through encouraging managers who submit found work and goals met reports.
• Develop and implement appropriate quantitative and qualitative feedback mechanisms to gather a broad range of user insight
• Develop and maintain customer personas to understand diverse customer segments and tailor experiences to their needs
• Establish and lead ‘product boards’ of engaged service managers to provide input to the ongoing development of Job Clubs & Life Skills

Product and Service Innovation:

• Support the Church Engagement Product Innovation Manager to define, develop and drive the product vision and strategy for Job Clubs and Life Skills in alignment with the organisation's mission and goals.
• Develop and maintain the product roadmaps for Job Clubs and Life Skills, ensuring alignment with the respective product visions and strategic priorities of the wider organisation
• Actively contribute to the culture of innovation within the team, generating and proposing creative ideas and solutions.
• Use data analysis to make informed decisions about product improvements.
• Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of strategies and make adjustments as necessary.
• Stay informed about relevant industry best practices and trends

Product team collaboration:

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to continually improve the customer (church and group member) experience
• Collaborate and lead as needed on project planning, ensuring that timelines and milestones are met for successful changes.
• Collaborate with the Project or Delivery Manager on the resolution of issues and roadblocks related to changes, ensuring that these are addressed promptly and effectively
• Foster a culture of teamwork and collaboration to drive innovation.
• Effectively communicate changes and provide support to team members, clients, and stakeholders during transitions

Strategic Lead accountabilities

• Strategy development. Uses their expertise to develop strategy for their whole department or a number of departments, usually in collaboration with a Director or Head.
• Strategy enablement. Uses their expertise to implement organisation-wide strategies that deliver on our strategic aims (e.g. project management, data protection, recruitment).
• Influence. Demonstrates people management or leadership skill in a matrixed organisation.
• Organisational awareness. Understands the wider organisation and how their work connects with other things happening around CAP.
• Self-leadership. Able to work with individual accountability and autonomy over deadlines, as is the case with most strategic lead work.

Measurable outputs:

• Area managers reporting a good level of confidence in their ability to manage and support Job Clubs/Life Skills groups.
• Churches & coaches expressing adequate satisfaction with the outcomes of their Job Clubs/Life Skills service.
• Job Clubs/Life Skills products achieving target outcomes such as proportion of members finding work.
• New product features and content delivered to scope, meeting defined quality criteria within an acceptable time frame.
• Users reporting high rates of satisfaction with suitability of new features to the product (e.g. 85% of users rate new features as good / very good).

Culture

• Clearly live out and embrace the cultural values of CAP.
• Clearly demonstrate a heart and passion for the charity.
• Sincere acceptance, understanding and practice of the Christian ethos and purpose of the charity.

Other responsibilities include:

• Being willing to pray with staff and fully engaged with our Christ-centered culture.
• Encouraging friends, family and other contacts to support the charity through the Life Changer program, and other fundraising initiatives.
• Attendance at annual CAP staff conferences.
• Completing all compulsory CAP training within given timescales.
• This role falls within the scope of the FCA’s conduct rules, and you will be provided with training as to how these apply to the role. It is your responsibility to ensure that you follow these conduct rules.

The above job profile is a guide to the work you may be required to undertake but does not form part of your contract of employment. It may change from time to time to reflect changing circumstances.

Skills required

Skills/abilities:

• Ability to build rapport and trust across the Job Clubs & Life Skills network, becoming a trusted and respected voice.
• A proven leader who can inspire, influence and deliver results.
• Strong creative and innovative skills.
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical and evaluation skills.
• Ability to analyse data (e.g. using google sheets/excel) and identify relevant trends
• Excellent written communication skills.
• Ability to develop collaborative relationships with other teams and managers.
• Ability to see the strategic need and prioritise work accordingly
• High emotional intelligence and ability to understand the human factors involved in the role.
• Strong change management skills
• Ability to work accurately and pay attention to detail.

Christian commitment:

• The candidate must be able to give both verbal assent to and practical demonstration of Christians Against Poverty’s Statement of Faith and Core Values.
• Must be able to actively participate in prayer and worship, whether individual, small group or corporately, as an expression of their own personal faith and in line with CAP’s Statement of Faith.

All adults working in or on behalf of CAP have a responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and adults. This includes:

• A responsibility to ensure a safe environment in which CAP services can be delivered.
• Identifying children and adults where there may be safeguarding concerns.
• Following the CAP Safeguarding policy in addressing any concerns appropriately.

Educational requirements

Education:
No minimum requirements

Experience:

Essential

• Project management
• Experience working with non-profit organisations, churches, or in a church based social action context is a plus.
• Experience collaborating across teams to deliver shared goals

Desirable

• Experience of delivering Job Clubs/Life Skills groups
• Experience of user research and/or user centred design
• Experience in product development and working within a Product team
• Understanding of Agile/Lean working practices.

You are advised to submit your completed application form as soon as possible to have the best chance of being considered. We reserve the right to close the post before the stated closing date where we have a high response rate.

Please note that we are unable to consider applicants who do not presently have permission to work in the UK.