Have the digital world at your feet

The FA is significantly investing in and enhancing our foundational digital capabilities to support the development of new propositions, address existing challenges within the business, and provide a platform for future growth. Our aim is to build a direct known audience (England Fan and Wembley Guest) making our platforms the place to go for participants and our communities of fans and transforming the digital experience at Wembley. Equally, this will enable us to diversify revenue streams and provide broad reaching strategic upside in an increasingly competitive media and entertainment landscape.

Delivering value to our fans and guests and in turn leverage data & digital to grow & diversify our revenue

This will mean growing our digital/technology capabilities as we pursue our ambition to reach more people, grow participation and better serve existing participants, fans and attendees. As we transform our digital products and platforms we are looking for talented and experienced professionals to help us accelerate the delivery of world class, direct-to-consumer experiences.

The Technical Product Manager determines and oversees delivery of the strategy and roadmap for a number of products to achieve business outcomes and financial objectives. There are four key areas of responsibility:

• Understand the customer and market – continually research to understand customer needs and wants, and market trends; gather feedback, proactively identify and test new features and product enhancements
• Meet business goals – work with stakeholders to ensure products and solutions meet the economic business goals established by the relevant FA divisions and that ROI is maximised
• Own the product strategy – continuously refine the product vision, strategy and roadmap, and drive life cycle management efforts to inform all stakeholders and guide the product development team. This includes the removal of technical debt, delivery of non-functional requirements and maintenance of continued secure operations
• Steer product development – guide the lifelong development of the products, using shared platforms as far as appropriate, with a strong focus on the quality of the experience for all users. Note day to day/sprint to sprint this is usually led by the Product Owner

This individual will lead our work to improve the digital products we provide guests and visitors to the Wembley Stadium. The majority of our events are now concerts but our football and sporting events are also an absolutely key component of our strategy, as we grow our digital revenues. The individual will also be responsible for the internal apps and insight tools used by colleagues to help them deliver world class experiences.

In addition to the key accountabilities captured above/below, the preferred candidate will demonstrate Product Line specific expertise / proficiency (strong understanding of the space, key players and tech as well as trends, developments and innovation), and previous relevant experience.

What will you be doing?

Understand the customer and market

• Undertake market research and continuous exploration to continually and deeply understand customer and market needs
• Monitor and evaluate product performance and proactively champion product improvements.
• Proactively keep up-to-date with how world class comparable and adjacent businesses are using emerging and mature digital technologies to enable and support achieve FA goals and competitive advantage

Meet business goals

• Develop a deep understanding of business goals and processes; translate corporate strategies into clear outcomes for digital products
• Develop strong relationships and regularly communicate with product stakeholders and customers to shape the product strategy and surface and prioritize needs
• Ensure alignment and adherence to regulatory, security, corporate, financial, technology and architectural standards
• Manage investment decision making and finances for the product, taking a return-on-investment approach to increasing the value while minimizing product costs

Own the product strategy

• Develop and communicate the program vision and roadmap – continuously develops and communicates the vision and roadmap for the product
• Approve the sprint plan – the Product Owner owns the product backlog and detailed requirements, including detailed features, architecture, data validation/integration and quality work, non-functional requirements, technical debt and enabler work but typically seeks Product Manager input on the sprint plan to confirm it aligns with the product strategy
• Determine internal and contract/external resources and skills required for the product team to deliver on the product roadmap
• Contribute to the business area's annual budgeting and strategic planning process

Steer product development

• Guide the product engineering team to scope, plan and deliver work, applying established delivery methodologies (e.g., agile methods) and best practices (e.g. reusability).
• Proactively identify and resolve blockers to achieve business objectives for the product, including technical and resourcing challenges.
• Define, track, and communicate OKRs for the product to measure performance and contribution to business goals and strategy.
• Ensure the development and implementation of a suitable test approach, including garnering feedback and insights on the digital product and data during the development process, through beta to general release

Leadership

• Support the Head of Product Management by playing a key role in the development and delivery of the Product Management strategy and business plan, working collaboratively with key stakeholders
• Organise and hold regular team meetings to share information, updates and to maintain a high level of communication
• Take ownership for relevant teams product strategy and standards. Ensure these standards are adhered to and where they aren't, ensure corrective actions plans are in place
• Promote and develop a performance focused culture where required. Provides regular feedback and learning opportunities to enable the achievement of the Product and IT Strategy
• Ensure resource is aligned behind the priority activity
• Create an inclusive, diverse and supportive environment that reinforces the Company values and culture, ensuring the acquisition, retention and development of talent

Other

• Champion delivery execution and cut through low/no value adding processes that inhibit delivery
• Proactively demonstrate and role model required behaviours in line with the expectations of the role
• Support the development and continuous improvement of DT policies, process and documentation in order to continually enhance the overall service to the business
• Execute additional tasks as required in order to meet The FA's changing priorities
• Comply with all company policies and procedures to ensure the highest standards of health, safety and wellbeing can be maintained.

What are we looking for?

Essential for the role:

• Significant experience in product management roles and delivered compelling and sustainable consumer grade digital experiences and relationships
• Identifies, opens, drives and delivers opportunities towards a strategic vision
• Experience coaching and leading team members and other colleagues
• Excellent ability to listen, support, collaborate with colleagues and supports the development of FA people including any direct reports
• Demonstrable ability to be an excellent role model and to encourage others to exhibit an organisations values and behaviours
• Excellent ability to influence external and internal stakeholders effectively
• Demonstrable experience in engaging colleagues to ensure the product vision is achieved
• Excellent persuasive skills, including the ability to bring people around to your way of thinking if required including (may include senior stakeholders)
• Excellent ability to develop relationships
• Demonstrable experience engaging effectively with senior and demanding stakeholders to build and deliver strategic plans

Beneficial to have:

• Degree or equivalent
• Excellent knowledge of business to consumer trends (e.g. consumer packaged goods, travel and hospitality) and experience of deploying and driving adoption and building digital relationships at scale using apps and/or mobile digital products
• Experience of driving change in operating models to transform the delivery of Digital / Technology services and associated benefits
• Experience of using consumer data to provide tailored and personalised experiences to customers and achieve a more engaging relationship
• Good managerial accounting skills to ensure that budgets are managed

What's in it for you?

We are committed to ensuring everyone can flourish in their roles, to achieve this we have unique office spaces under the arch of the iconic Wembley National Stadium, which is the home of English Football. We are also delighted to offer a world-class, Elite Performance Centre, St. George's Park in Staffordshire which is an exceptional setting to develop and inspire high-performing England teams and leaders.

We pride ourselves in offering a competitive salary as well as great opportunities to develop and grow in your role. But that is not all; we also have a range of exciting benefits, some of which can be found below:

• Access to event day tickets at Wembley Stadium, alongside a host of regular internal events throughout the season, encouraging you to connect and learn with your colleagues and look after your mental health and well-being.
• Free, nutritious lunches at Wembley Stadium and St. George's Park.
• Free private medical cover.
• A contributory pension scheme.
• An additional 'Thank You' days leave, volunteering days as well as 25 days annual leave (based on a full-time, permanent contract.)
• A hybrid working model which offers greater flexibility.

For more information on what it is like to work at The FA, please visit our FA Careers page, https://www.thefa.com/about-football-association/careers

We are a diverse workplace, aspiring to represent football across the country. The Football Association actively promotes inclusion and diversity, encouraging you to be the best version of yourself at work. 

We welcome applications from everyone and are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. If you have any particular requirements in respect of the recruitment or interview process, please mention this during your application.

As part of the FA's commitment to ensuring a safe environment for everyone in football, every employee will be required to complete a DBS check. The level of the check required will be based on the activity of the specific job role and in line with legislation and government guidance.