Head of Product Management

Job content

About RM

RM is the leading supplier of technology and resources to the education sector, supporting schools, teachers and learners, enabling the improvement of educational outcomes worldwide. We work across the industry from pre-school to higher education and professional qualification, our customers include schools, examination boards, central governments and other professional institutions. We have a clear purpose to enrich the lives of learners worldwide.

Join RM and Learn What’s Possible for you in your career

What We Can Offer You

• Competitive salary depending on experience
• 25 Days Annual Leave (with an option to buy an extra days)
• Performance related bonus scheme
  

What’s the purpose of the role?

Reporting to the RM Resources (RMR) Product Director the Head of Product Management will define and deliver the product strategy for our Consortium brand ensuring customer needs and market opportunity are fully potentialised whilst aligning the brand product plan to the broader RMR multi brand product strategy.

You will have a passion for product and the curiosity and drive to acquire a detailed of understanding of customer requirements, competitor capabilities and current and future market influences. With a customer centric lens you will utilising these skills and knowledge to identify product and pricing plans that meet the needs of current and future customers whilst ensuring profitable sales growth across all markets. You will be a brand and customer champion and a visionary leader to your product team.

What does the job entail?

• Leading the product team in creating and managing a product, category and range strategy which meets the needs of our consumers across all selling channels
• Working closely with the Director of New Product Development (NPD) to share performance, customer and industry insights and align on profitable growth opportunities that can be addressed by new product ranges
• Develop financially astute product ranges with full accountability for assortment planning, pricing, product positioning and timing, partnering with procurement and marketing
• Develop and maintain strong external relationships with industry experts, educationalists and nursery care providers to develop insights and knowledge and maintain knowledge of government educational policy & funding, educational pedagogical best practice, educational establishment priorities and issues supporting strategic planning and range selection
• Work closely with the Director of NPD, the Commercial Director and the Head of Procurement to ensure products meet/exceed brand quality standards and offer value for money
• Collaborate with the Head of Marketing to understand customer engagement with omni-channel campaigns, effectiveness of customer journeys and to identify future ‘Go To Market’ opportunities
• Own concept through to end of life product planning
• Partner with marketing and lead the product team to deliver against their critical deadlines including catalogue delivery, website and email delivery and event delivery
• Create and develop high performing, highly engaged, enabled, & well equipped teams
• Drive efficiency and lean principles across Product Team
  

What are we looking for?

• A strong leader with a proven track record of delivering profitable growth in a highly challenging role, ideally as a Head of Buying or Head of Merchandising
• Experience of successfully translating customer and market insights into commercial and profitable product ranges
• Strong analytical skills, confident with data and the ability to translate performance metrics into meaningful insights and strategies
• A strong track record of managing teams to create a clear road map for talent management, motivating and upskilling
• Demonstrable drive, energy and passion with an appetite for change and experience of successfully leading change and engaging people on the journey
• Highly personable, engaging approach and a strong alignment to RM’s core values: Be Brave, Win Together, Be Curious, Make it Simple and Consider it Done
• A confident decision-maker who is able to demonstrate sound commercial judgment in a broad variety of complex business scenarios
• This role would ideally suit someone from a retail, commodities or wholesalers background
• An interest in the education sector is desirable
  

What’s in it for you?

As well as a competitive salary, you could earn a performance related bonus and you would receive our core benefits package which includes private medical healthcare, life assurance and a Group Personal Pension Plan with higher contribution levels available.

There are lots of voluntary benefits too. You could buy additional annual leave, join our dental plan, sign for a health assessment or take part in our cycle to work scheme. You could even earn yourself an extra bonus for successfully recommending a friend or family member for a position within RM.

At RM we are committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the customers and communities we serve, and to creating an inclusive and flexible workplace where all our colleagues can be themselves and succeed on merit.

At RM we recently introduced My Work Blend @RM which provides office based colleagues with multi location and hybrid working. As well as your office base you can spend a proportion of your time working at other locations that suit your role and your life, including home, other offices, customer sites, distribution centres or on the move. We encourage you to discuss arrangements for this role with your potential line manager during the recruitment process. We expect how we make best use of hybrid working may continue to adapt as we adjust to our new ways of working.