Digital product owner
Digital product owners lead a team of specialists to build web products and services.
Average annual salary (starting - experienced): £39,000 - £65,000
Typical hours (a week): 37 - 39
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 run by private training organisations
University
You could do a degree or postgraduate award in:
- computing
- project management
- business management
- marketing
University (Entry requirements)
You'll usually need:
- 2 to 3 A levels, or equivalent, for a degree
- a degree in a relevant subject for postgraduate study
Apprenticeship
You could start by doing a project manager degree apprenticeship. After completing your apprenticeship, you would get experience of working in digital delivery teams before taking on a role as a product owner.
Apprenticeship (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
Work
You could start out in an associate product owner role. You'll usually need to have some relevant work experience in a job like:
- product marketing
- software development
- customer experience
- user experience (UX) design
When you're looking for work, most employers will expect you to have:
- an understanding of online user behaviours
- knowledge of search engine optimisation (SEO), analytics, UX, design and marketing
- experience in helping a business make major changes in digital
- knowledge of agile project management methodologies like Scrum, Kanban and Lean
Other routes
If you do not have any relevant work experience, you could:
- develop some technical skills so that you understand basic design and data analysis
- study online resources about the role of product management
- take a specialist course in product management
- join online product management communities for tips and networking opportunities
More info
Further information You can find out more about working in the digital industry from Tech Future Careers.
What it takes
Skills & Knowledge
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
- maths knowledge
- excellent verbal communication skills
- analytical thinking skills
- to have a thorough understanding of computer systems and applications
What you'll do
Day to day
On a daily basis you might be:
- involving your teams in development and planning
- representing users by taking their feedback to help improve the product
- working with user experience (UX) design specialists to make sure the product is something that people like and is easy to use
- developing business cases and user stories for new features
- working with the design team to draft first versions of your product or service
- keeping people informed about your product
- managing less experienced product managers and supporting their development
- producing reports on the performance of the product
Working environment
You could work in an office or at a client's business.
Career path and progression
Career path & progression
With experience, you could apply for a more senior role like head of product or senior product manager. You could also move into general senior management positions. Some product managers become self-employed.
