Head of Product – UK Pension Administration Software (12 month contract) Full Time NEW

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Summary

• £600 daily rate
• Inside IR35
• Hybrid (2-3 days in Bristol office)
• 12 month contract

Role Overview

The company is a leading provider of pensions administration software operating in a highly regulated and complex UK market. The organisation is experiencing significant growth, expanding geographically across market sectors and through an evolving product portfolio.

The Head of Product will provide senior leadership to the Product Management function and define the strategic direction of the company’s software platforms. Operating within a value-stream model, product areas are delivered by multidisciplinary squads (Product, Engineering, QA, Design).

This position acts as the critical bridge between commercial functions (Sales, Marketing, Finance) and delivery teams (Engineering, QA, Product, Design), ensuring alignment between what is sold, built, and operated. The role also sets standards for product practice and mentors Product Managers to operate effectively within a complex regulated environment while driving long-term value creation.

Key Responsibilities

Product Leadership, Mentorship & Standards

• Provide day-to-day leadership, coaching, and mentorship to Product Managers, raising capability and ensuring consistently high standards of product thinking and execution.
• Define, embed and uphold best practice across the Product Management function, including discovery, prioritisation, roadmap development, value measurement, and stakeholder engagement.
• Ensure product briefs include clear business cases demonstrating how solutions meet client needs and deliver measurable return on investment.
• Maintain accountability for the quality, clarity, and consistency of product artefacts and decision-making across squads, balancing standards with team autonomy.

Commercial Strategy & Market Alignment

• Own and shape value propositions, ensuring products solve meaningful, high-value problems for pension schemes, insurers, and administrators.
• Drive commercial alignment in product investment decisions based on revenue impact, cost efficiency, strategic value, and long-term sustainability.
• Partner closely with Sales and Marketing to ensure positioning, messaging, and go-to-market narratives accurately reflect product capability and roadmap intent.

Systems Thinking & Value Delivery

• Ensure squad-level roadmaps align to a cohesive overarching product strategy, avoiding siloed or locally optimised decision-making.
• Own end-to-end product lifecycle accountability, from discovery and business case through to launch, optimisation, operation, and decommissioning.
• Apply systems thinking to understand interdependencies across the pensions platform, including regulatory compliance, operational processes, and user experience.
• Drive a shift from output-based delivery to outcome-based delivery, defining clear success measures tied to user and business value.

Internal & External Advocacy

• Partner with Engineering and Delivery leadership to ensure clear problem definition, aligned priorities, and effective trade-off decisions.
• Collaborate with Sales and Marketing to support go-to-market execution, including shaping propositions, messaging, assets, and participating in client and prospect engagement where required.
• Act as a senior advocate for product-led thinking in technical and architectural discussions, balancing quality, risk, speed, and value.
• Maintain strong domain expertise in UK pensions and regulatory frameworks, ensuring compliance and forward-looking product direction.

Experience & Expertise

• Significant experience leading Product Managers within a software organisation, with a strong track record of capability development and performance uplift.
• Strong commercial acumen with demonstrable experience linking product decisions to revenue growth, cost efficiency, or strategic advantage.
• Experience in pensions administration, financial services, fintech, or another complex regulated industry is essential.
• Proven delivery of complex software products from concept through to stable operation in regulated environments.

Skills & Attributes

• Able to simplify complex regulatory, technical and operational challenges into clear product direction.
• Pragmatic decision-maker, balancing ideal outcomes with commercial, regulatory, and delivery constraints.
• Strong influencing skills with the ability to challenge senior stakeholders constructively using evidence and commercial logic.