Product Owner - Property Accounting

Primark is undergoing an exciting technology transformation, investing in people and technology as we continue to scale.

Technology is at the heart of the company’s ambitious growth and transformation agenda, which is a huge opportunity to turn technology into a driver for business growth as we:

o Expand into new markets and continue store growth in existing markets
o Deliver more memorable in-store experiences every day
o Further deliver on our Primark Cares sustainability strategy
o Create operational excellence to support and empower our customer-facing teams

At Primark we want to use the latest technologies to do things smarter, better and faster … to continue to offer Amazing Fashion at Amazing Prices.

This role is the Product Owner for Property Accounting, responsible for delivering the technology transformation in alignment with the Finance team’s goals for fixed asset accounting, depot and supply chain management, property management and lease management.

Job Purpose:
Part of the Enterprise Technology domain, this role is the Product Owner for Property Accounting.

The successful candidate will be an expert Product Owner, responsible for driving the delivery and maintenance of Primark’s technical applications related to property accounting, ensuring that the agreed approach is unified and aligned to the company’s finance and operational strategies.

This is a key role within the Primark technology organization that will see the successful candidate working with key stakeholders across the business to ensure strategic alignment and to identify new opportunities.

Key Responsibilities:

• Creating effective working relationships with teams to support transformation within the areas of fixed asset accounting, depot and supply chain management, property management and lease management to ensure technology applications remain aligned as the function continues to evolve
• Initiating and translating a product roadmap into a manageable product backlog and prioritising delivery based on value, risk and service considerations
• Working alongside the Senior Finance Transformation Manager - Property to define a product backlog and prioritise and break the into user stories, including clarification and acceptance criteria
• Collaborating closely with key team members and delivery partners to ensure the acceptance criteria of stories is met and support the release planning and sprint planning exercises
• Knowing our market, our competition and our business models. Identify trends within customer segments and product segments for new products or improvements for existing ones
• Keeping abreast of new technical developments which could improve or redefine the product and customer experience
• Supporting our technology transformation by proactively educating colleagues within technology and wider Primark about agile methodologies and product ownership best practices
• Building a culture of customer value driven development
• Promoting a cross-team spirit amongst Product Owner peers

Knowledge & Experience Required:

• At least 5 years’ Product Owner experience in a complex and fast-paced environment
• Experience fixed asset accounting, depot and supply chain management, property management and lease management processes and how they impact the finance ecosystem
• Industry or functional expertise validated through experience working for a global retailer
• An appropriate degree, equivalent qualification or experience
• Preferably a certification in Agile Product Ownership, Scaled Agile or equivalent

Successful candidates will:

• Be a passionate and visionary technologist able to inspire others to challenge and disrupt the current reality to co-create a compelling technology-orientated future business by:

1. Being able to scan potential technologies (established, emerging and emergent)
2. Finding ways to translate that into business opportunities
3. Be able to take people along with you, empowering new ways of working and successfully executing on those opportunities

• Possess proven experience in establishing and growing products
• Have excellent knowledge of relevant business portfolio and functional expertise
• Possess excellent Business partner and supplier leadership skills
• Consistent track record of strategic and innovative thinking
• Consistent record of driving service and delivery improvement
• Commercial management experience and financial literacy
• Excellent communication skills – relatability to non-technical business users and technical resources
• Excellent people leadership skills
• Ability to work with multi-disciplinary development teams with a mixture of onshore and offshore colleagues