Career Suggestion

Digital product owner

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

Average salary (a year)

£39000.0 to £65000.0 (starter to experienced)

Typical hours (a week)

37.0 to 39.0 a week

You could work

evenings occasionally

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:

More Information

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:

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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 .

Skills and 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
  • 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

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.

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.