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Retail

Digital product owner

Digital product owners lead a team of specialists to build online products and services for customers.

Annual Salary

£39,000 to £65,000

Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)

Working hours

37 to 39 a week

You could work: evenings; occasionally

2.4%
Future employment

There will be 2.4% more Digital product owner jobs in 2027.

Day to day tasks

As a digital product owner, you'll:

  • work closely with your teams
  • look at user feedback to help improve the product
  • work with designers to make the product easy to use
  • develop business cases and user stories for new features
  • work with the design team to draft versions of your product or service
  • keep people informed about your product's development
  • manage relationships between teams, partners and customers

Working environment

You could work in an office or at a client's business.

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 start on a graduate training scheme with an employer. Most subjects are acceptable, for example:

  • project management
  • business management
  • business analytics
  • marketing

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
For more information
  • equivalent entry requirements|https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/list-of-qualification-levels
  • student finance for fees and living costs|https://www.gov.uk/student-finance
  • university courses and entry requirements|https://www.ucas.com/
Apprenticeship

You could apply to do an apprenticeship, such as:

  • Digital Product Manager Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship
  • Project Manager Level 6 Degree Apprenticeship

These can take between 2 and 4 years to complete.

After finishing your apprenticeship, you'll need to get experience 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 degree apprenticeship
For more information
  • equivalent entry requirements|https://www.gov.uk/what-different-qualification-levels-mean/list-of-qualification-levels
  • guide to apprenticeships|https://www.gov.uk/apprenticeships-guide
Work

You could start out 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 like Scrum, Kanban and Lean

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

More information

Further information

You can find out more about working in the digital industry from techskills.

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With experience, you could apply for a more senior jobs, such as head of product or senior product manager.

Some product managers also become self-employed consultants.

Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

You'll need:

  • knowledge of computer operating systems, hardware and software
  • 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 able to use a computer and the main software packages confidently
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