ABOUT US

At Arbor, we’re on a mission to transform the way schools work for the better.
We believe in a future of work in schools where being challenged doesn’t mean being burnt out and overworked. Where data guides progress without overwhelming staff. And where everyone working in a school is reminded why they got into education every day.
Our MIS and school management tools are already making a difference in over 7,000 schools and trusts. Giving time and power back to staff, turning data into clear, actionable insights, and supporting happier working days.
At the heart of our brand is a recognition that the challenges schools face today aren’t just about efficiency, outputs and productivity - but about creating happier working lives for the people who drive education everyday: the staff. We want to make schools more joyful places to work, as well as learn.

ABOUT YOU

We’re looking for a clear communicator who can take complex requirements and turn them into a prioritised roadmap and backlog for their engineering team. Beyond that, we’d love to see:

• Experience working in a product role, with cross-functional teams, including engineering, design, and marketing.
• Knowledge of financial systems and processes, and/or a proven track record working with data products where details matter!
• Experience of leading a Product team
• Experience working with remote teams.
• Passion for building user-centric products that make a difference.
• Experience in the education sector is a plus.
• Enjoy working in a fast paced environment and manage multiple lines of communication

ARBOR EDUCATION IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES ORGANISATION

Our goal is for Arbor to be a workplace which represents, celebrates and supports people from all backgrounds, and which gives them the tools they need to thrive - whatever their ambitions may be so we support and promote diversity and equality, and actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.

ABOUT THE ROLE

Arbor MIS is a product that helps over 7000 schools across the UK to manage everything from attendance and assessment, to clubs and trips and timetabling. At the core of our product is allowing schools to keep up with, and track their statutory obligations to the Department for Education, and shifts in the education landscape. This includes statutory returns for students and staff, but also championing great user experience for areas that every school needs to use, and ensuring that statutory data is easy to analyse alongside the rest of the school data.
We are looking for a data driven and detail oriented Lead Product Manager to lead our statutory teams for Arbor School MIS.
The remit and focus of this role is to own the direction of our statutory areas and capabilities across both England and Wales, as well as any new countries Arbor goes into. It will involve managing our two PMs and one Technical BA who work with our statutory engineering teams, as well as creating the direction for future statutory work, and functionality that can be shared across multiple countries. We’ll expect you to also build a deep understanding of user needs, the market landscape, and the business direction.
It’s a broad and exciting role, so we’re looking for someone up for a challenge - if you’re a clear communicator and enjoy working collaboratively, this is the role for you.

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

Product strategy and practice

• Define a clear, compelling and ambitious product strategy for the statutory domain, which clearly delivers on the overall product strategy.
• In collaboration with the CPO, to set the measurable outcomes that your teams must deliver on/prioritise against to ensure we’re delivering on the strategy.
• Collaborate with engineering and design during discovery to identify assumptions, risks, and testing strategies.
• Plan and coordinate the delivery of product development in collaboration with the engineering and product teams
• Use data-driven iteration and testing to measure impact and inform adjustments.
• Maintain contextual awareness of the business, education sector, and user needs, and effectively communicate this to the team.
• Champion a user-centric approach using feedback, metrics, and research to inform product decisions.
• Continuously seek improvement opportunities and share learnings

Communication

• Foster collaboration, communication, and a culture of shared learning within the team and across departments, as well as representing the statutory areas of the product team in projects across multiple departments.
• Keep colleagues and customers informed on roadmap plans and progress. Proactively communicate milestones, progress, and changes to stakeholders.

Team leadership and support

• Coach and lead a multi-skilled Product team to deliver against the roadmap and collaborate with our Engineering team
• Ultimately accountable for strong problem definition and discovery practice happening throughout your teams, through coaching and challenging the product team who report to you.
• Work with the PMs and Senior Technical BA to support their growth and understanding of what good product work looks like

The chance to work alongside a team of hard-working, passionate people in a role where you’ll see the impact of your work everyday. We also offer:

• A dedicated wellbeing team who champion initiatives such as mindfulness, lunch n learns, manager training, mental health first aid training and much more!
• 32 days holiday (plus Bank Holidays). This is made up of 25 days annual leave plus 7 extra company wide days given over Easter, Summer & Christmas
• Life Assurance paid out at 3x annual salary
• Comprehensive wellness benefit provided by AIG Smart Health, which provides a 24/7 virtual GP service, Mental health support, Counselling, and personalised Health Checks
• Private Dental Insurance with Bupa
• Salary sacrifice Pension provided by Scottish Widows
• Enhanced maternity and adoption leave (20 weeks full pay) and paternity (6 weeks full pay) pay
• 5 free return to work maternity coaching sessions, helping you adapt to this new exciting time of life!
• Access to services such as Calm and Bippit (financial wellbeing coaching)
• All of our roles champion flexible working and we are happy to discuss what this means to you
• Social committees that plan team, office and company wide events to bring people together and celebrate success
• Dedicated professional development training budget (CPD courses, upskilling resources, professional memberships etc)
• Volunteer with a charity of your choice for a day each year
• Dog friendly offices