Digital product owner
Digital product owners lead a team of specialists to build online products and services for customers.
- Starter salary£39,000 a year
- Experienced£75,000 a year
- Typical hours37 to 40 a week
What you'll do
As a digital product owner, you could:
- help create a strategic plan for the development of a product or service
- recruit a team of professionals to carry out the project work
- continually analyse data and feedback to check plans are on track
- make decisions about adjustments to plans and prioritise workloads
- manage and motivate the project team to meet its targets at each development stage
- make sure work meets quality standards, is value for money and meets customer needs
- work with delivery managers to monitor progress and overcome problems
- manage relationships between teams, partners and customers
Working environment
You could work in an office or at a client's business.
Skills and knowledge you'll need
You'll need:
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- customer service skills
- the ability to use your initiative
- the ability to work well with others
- the ability to monitor your own performance and that of your colleagues
- excellent verbal communication skills
- analytical thinking skills
- to be flexible and open to change
- to be able to use a computer and the main software packages confidently
How to become a digital product owner
You can get into this job through:
- a university course
- an apprenticeship
- working towards this role
- specialist courses
University
You could do a degree or postgraduate qualification, then join a graduate training scheme with an employer.
Most subjects are acceptable, for example:
- project management
- business management
- business analytics
- computing
- marketing
Choosing a course that includes an internship or industry work placement could give you an advantage when looking for jobs.
Entry requirements
You'll usually need:
- 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
- a degree in any subject for a postgraduate course
Apprenticeship
You could apply to do an apprenticeship, such as:
- Digital Product Manager Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship
- Project Manager Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship
- Digital and Technology Solutions Professional Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship
These can take between 2 and 4 years to complete.
After finishing your apprenticeship, you'll need to get experience of working in digital delivery teams before getting a job as a product owner.
Entry requirements
You'll usually need:
- 4 or 5 GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 (A* to C) and A levels, or equivalent, for a higher or degree apprenticeship
Work
You could start in a junior or assistant role. Employers will set their own requirements, though an understanding of some of the following might be helpful:
- product marketing
- customer experience
- user research
- business change management
- agile project management methods
Other routes
If you do not have work experience, there are some things you can do, such as:
- develop skills in data analysis
- study online about the role of digital product management
- take a specialist course in product management
- join online product management communities for tips and networking opportunities
Career path and progression
With experience, you could become a senior product manager, product lead or head of product.
At these levels you would support and mentor other product managers and apply good practice across other departments in your organisation. You would also have a strategic overview of how different products and services fit together within the overall vision for the business.
Some product managers become self-employed and work as consultants.
Career tips
Digital products can be anything from websites, chatbots and apps to online payment and booking systems.
Guides for this industry
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