Reports to
Product Manager
Direct reports
None
Overall purpose
GS1’s global purpose is to transform the way our stakeholders work and live through the power of standards. Our mission is to solve industry challenges through trusted data.
The Product Owner will play an important role in shaping, maintaining and delivering product roadmaps for GS1 UK products and services. Working closely with the Product Manager, this role will take day-to-day ownership of smaller and mid-sized products and services, ensuring they continue to meet member, business and operational needs.
The role will collaborate with business experts, stakeholders, delivery teams and service providers to gather insight, define clear requirements, manage backlog activity and contribute to product direction, roadmap priorities and the continuous improvement of products and services across GS1 UK.
- Support the Product Manager in developing, maintaining and delivering product roadmaps for GS1 UK products and services.
- Take day-to-day product ownership of selected smaller and mid-sized products and services, ensuring they continue to meet member, business and operational needs.
- Work with business experts, internal stakeholders and member-facing teams to understand user needs, business challenges, opportunities and product requirements.
- Translate business requirements into clear product requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria and backlog items for delivery teams.
- Manage and refine backlog items for assigned products, ensuring work is well understood, appropriately detailed and aligned to agreed product direction.
- Contribute to product vision and roadmap development by gathering insight from business experts, users, operational teams and delivery partners and turning this into clear recommendations.
- Work closely with development teams, UX/UI designers, analysts, testers and service providers to support the successful delivery of product changes and improvements.
- Review data, member feedback, support trends and stakeholder input to identify opportunities for product improvement and optimisation, and to assess whether changes are delivering expected outcomes.
- Support product testing, release preparation, documentation, demonstrations and communication activity for new features and product changes.
- Identify risks, dependencies and delivery trade-offs, escalating where appropriate and working with others to support effective decision-making.
- Develop knowledge of GS1 standards, GS1 UK services and member needs to help inform product decisions and ongoing roadmap development.
Day-to-day responsibilities
- Work with the Product Manager on roadmap planning, backlog management, product discovery and delivery activity.
- Lead the day-to-day management of agreed smaller and mid-sized GS1 UK products and services, escalating decisions, dependencies and risks where appropriate.
- Engage with colleagues across GS1 UK to gather requirements, clarify business needs and understand operational or member pain points.
- Write and maintain user stories, acceptance criteria and supporting product documentation so delivery teams have clear, actionable requirements.
- Work with business subject matter experts to validate requirements, explore options and support the development of product vision and roadmap priorities.
- Participate in delivery ceremonies such as backlog refinement, sprint planning, reviews and retrospectives, providing product context and clarifying requirements where needed.
- Review completed work against agreed acceptance criteria and support user acceptance testing, release preparation and communication with internal stakeholders.
- Monitor product feedback, support queries and usage information to identify issues, improvements and opportunities for future roadmap consideration.
- Manage priorities across assigned product work, keeping stakeholders informed of progress, risks, dependencies and decisions.
- Review outcomes after release to understand whether changes have delivered the intended value and to help inform future priorities.
This is a collaborative and visible role that works closely with internal stakeholders, business experts, delivery teams, service providers and, where appropriate, GS1 UK members. It offers the opportunity to develop product ownership capability while contributing directly to the improvement and evolution of products and services that support GS1 UK’s members.
Essential
- Minimum 3 years’ experience in a similar role.
- Demonstrable experience working with large data sets to deliver meaningful insights.
- Knowledge of SAAS metrics.
- Excellent IT and numerical skills, including the use of spreadsheets and databases.
- Completed a recognised accounting qualification e.g. ACCA / CIMA.
Desirable
- Experience working with Power BI or similar and producing dashboards.
Skills and experience
- Around five years’ experience in a product, business analysis, project delivery, digital, technology or service improvement environment.
- An understanding of product ownership principles, including product backlogs, user stories, acceptance criteria, prioritisation and iterative delivery.
- Experience of gathering, clarifying and documenting requirements from stakeholders across different areas of the business.
- Ability to translate business needs into clear user stories, acceptance criteria and actionable requirements for delivery teams.
- Experience of managing backlog items or product work within a cross-functional environment.
- Good communication and stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to work with business experts, operational teams, technical colleagues and external service providers.
- Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, maintain documentation and follow through on agreed actions.
- Analytical approach, with the ability to use feedback, data and stakeholder insight to support product decisions, prioritisation and improvement opportunities.
- Collaborative working style, with the confidence to challenge constructively, make recommendations and build alignment across teams.
- Problem-solving skills and the ability to work through ambiguity in a structured way, identifying options, risks and trade-offs.
- Good knowledge of Microsoft Office and confidence using collaboration, planning or product management tools.
Desirable
- A degree or equivalent experience in a relevant field such as business, technology, digital, marketing, product management or service design.
- Exposure to Agile delivery methods and product management approaches, such as Scrum, Kanban or iterative delivery.
- Relevant training or certification, such as Certified Scrum Product Owner, Agile Foundation, business analysis or project delivery qualifications.
- Awareness of GS1 standards, GS1 UK products and services, product master data, registries or data sharing services.
- Curious and user-focused, with a desire to understand member needs, business problems and opportunities for improvement.
- Passionate about the mission and values of a not-for-profit organisation.
- Able to build positive working relationships across teams and use business expertise to help shape product direction.
- Clear and structured communicator, able to explain requirements, decisions and priorities in a way that is easy for others to understand.
- Comfortable working with both business and technical colleagues, asking questions to clarify requirements and support delivery.
- Organised and dependable, with strong attention to detail and the ability to maintain accurate product documentation.
- A practical problem solver who can identify options, highlight risks and seek support when decisions need escalation.
- Able to balance stakeholder requests with agreed product priorities and roadmap direction.
- Comfortable taking ownership of a defined product area and making informed recommendations within agreed decision boundaries.
- Evidence-led and outcome-focused, with an interest in understanding whether product changes are delivering value.
- Open to feedback and continuous learning, with a commitment to developing product ownership skills and GS1 standards knowledge.
- Proactive and delivery-focused, with the confidence to follow up actions and help keep product work moving forward.
Why join us?
As a colleague at GS1 UK you will enjoy a supportive working environment along with a generous amount of benefits available to you
A healthy work life balance (hybrid working with flexibility on start and finish times)
25 days annual leave (excluding bank holidays) with the option to buy or sell up to 5 days every year
Join our social and charity team events
Generous pension scheme with employer contributions up to 12%
Life assurance policy (5x annual salary) to give you a peace of mind
Full range of benefits available (PMI, dental, travel, gym membership and many more)