Product Group Manager - eCommerce

Let’s talk numbers. When it comes to UK retail, it’s hard to find a bigger name. We sell thousands of items an hour and are expanding our e-commerce business by the second. For anyone in Tech, this is the place to learn. To grow. And to thrive. 

 

Our eCommerce websites and apps have grown steadily over the past 10 years to become one of the largest online retail platforms in the UK. We currently sell to 70 international markets, offering our 6 million active customers a personalised shopping experience and the ability to purchase from a wide range of products using multiple delivery methods and payment types. eCommerce is the biggest department at Next and is based across multiple sites and countries, working across development, testing, support, architecture and more to keep ourselves ahead of the pack.

 

About the role

As a Product Group Manager responsible for Central Support, Quality Assurance and Performance Testing within our Online Technology Domain, you will work with your own Product Delivery Managers and other teams both within and outside the Online Technology domain to ensure the integrity, performance and availability of Next’s Online platforms and to support the delivery of business priority features and key events. 

 

The Online Technology Domain develops and manages the market leading online platforms of Next and our Total Platform partners. A total of over 100 websites and associated mobile applications across UK and international channels.

 

You will have line management responsibility of Product Delivery Managers ensuring the most efficient resources are used within your portfolio and that stakeholder interests are managed and satisfied. You will be required to provide effective board level communication demonstrating progress, cost control and the strategic alignment of the programme. 

 

You will ensure appropriate budgeting is in place and all resources ensuring continuous improvement are anticipated and provisioned. You will have strong supplier  management and proven contracting and negotiating skills to provide excellent cost control. 

 

Day-to-day, your responsibilities will include:

Team Management 

• Lead, coach and develop a team of Product Delivery Managers to consistently deliver the highest  standards of service required by the business. 
• Develop technical and behavioural skills of the team and promote a learning culture within the  Systems function. 

 

Stakeholder Management 

• Ensure issues raised by business users are appropriately evaluated, prioritised and resourced.
• Ensure that communication to the business is professional, clear and appropriate.
• Build and maintain working relationships with key stakeholders and business users.
• Work closely with other systems teams to improve cross-team collaboration of issues, where  appropriate. 

 

Sub-Department Management 

• Ensure that budgets for all resources and services are correctly provisioned and obtained using  the appropriate financial processes. 
• Maintain, review and negotiate supplier contracts to maximise cost effectiveness and benefits.

 

You will also have direct line management of 3 Product Delivery Managers with responsibility for:

• Central Support
  • Systems Monitoring
  • Incident Management
  • Issue Investigation and triage
  • Key Event Management
  • Operational Development 
  • Continuous Improvement

 

• Quality Assurance
  • Manual and Automation Testing of new features within our Product Development Teams
  • Applying suitable quality gates within our development pipeline
  • Regression testing of code and feature releases to ensure the integrity of our applications
  • Continue on our strategy of cost effective testing and increased test coverage through automation testing

 

• Performance Testing 
  • Regular testing of our online platforms against agreed performance standards
  • Pre-Live performance testing of new online feature
  • Stress testing of our platforms ahead of seasonal Key Events

 

In addition to this you will work alongside the other Product Group Managers wi