Why LNER?

We go beyond. For everyone. Our vision is to be the most loved, progressive and responsible way to travel for generations to come. Now we're looking for the people who can deliver this, every day. 

Since we took over on the East Coast mainline, we've been changing the face of rail travel. Our new Azuma train has brought faster journey times, more space and greater reliability. Our exciting plans to embrace new ideas, experiences, backgrounds and ambitions make this the ideal time to join.

Bringing passion. Being bold. Always caring. Owning it. They're the values that make us LNER. 

Are you on board?

The role - We are recruiting for 2 x permanant roles and 1 x 12 month fixed term contract 

LNER is at the forefront of delivering innovative digital services, spanning Digital Retail, Digital Customer Support, and Digital Operations, among others. This role is a key position in shaping and delivering these services — leading the development of critical products and features that align with our business objectives, delight our customers, and empower our colleagues.  

As Associate Product Manager, you will report into a Digital Product Manager and will have responsibilities for specific parts of a product or period in which a specific product is undergoing development. This may change depending on the demands of the service. You'll be part of a dynamic team of product and service professionals, considering how needs can best be met by existing products and capabilities or whether new solutions are required.  

You'll also collaborate closely with business owners and product managers to prioritize initiatives and execute a clear delivery roadmap. By living and breathing a culture of continuous improvement and innovation you'll ensure our digital solutions evolve to meet the changing needs of the business and our users. Working with cross-functional teams, external suppliers, and support services, your goal will be to deliver and maintain digital features and products which fit seamlessly into our service models and provide value to our business, customers, colleagues, and the industry as a whole. 

Within this role you'll also be involved in; 

Product Strategy & Vision Support: Assist in the development and maintenance of the product roadmap in line with business goals and customer needs, with the guidance of product managers. 

Cross-functional Collaboration: Help in facilitating communication between internal teams and suppliers to ensure smooth product development and iteration. 

Delivery: Work in tandem with project professionals and closely with the development team to manage prioritised parts of the product backlog, create user stories, and ensure timely delivery of features through appropriate methodologies. 

Product Lifecycle Support: Manage product tasks from ideation to launch, supporting with backlog management, feature prioritisation, and release scheduling. 

Data-driven Decision Making: Support product decisions through data analysis, user feedback, and performance metrics, with guidance of product managers. Review key performance metrics to assess product performance and identify areas for improvement. 

User-Centric Design: Advocate for user-centered design by prioritizing user needs throughout the product development process. 

Market & Competitive Research: Assist in gathering insights on industry trends, competitive products, and emerging technologies to inform product strategy. Awareness of the competition and how competitors differentiate themselves, with some understanding of latest developments or changes of market conditions in the industry sector. Understanding of the industry sector in and how areas co-ordinate and contribute to the delivery of this business.  

Stakeholder Engagement & Communication: Strong communicator, able to build positive relationships with business owners and a wide range of stakeholders. Support in keeping stakeholders informed about product progress, timelines, and risks through regular updates.  

Financial Management and Commerciality: Ownership of change and maintenance budgets for prioritised parts of a product development. Ensuring that allocated change projects are delivered on time and within financial constraints. Provide regular reports on the financial performance of products and initiatives. With guidance from the product manager, you will balance cost, risk, and value in decision-making, ensuring that every investment in our digital products delivers a positive return and contributes to the overall profitability of the business.  

Line Management: Management of some systems administration and / or digital apprentices.  

Supplier Management: Support effective relationships with suppliers and third-parties, to ensure the delivery and continued maintenance of cost-effective, creative and quality products.  

Personal Development: Ensure relevant training and competencies are gained and maintained in order to keep up to speed with professional standards, industry trends and future thinking. Consider taking on a secondary competence role for the purpose of contingency planning and delivering our continued service during times of disruption. 

Knowledge: 

Professional Product Knowledge: Good understanding of the digital product landscape, including emerging technologies, user behaviour trends, and best practices for web and mobile products. Familiarity with the end-to-end product development process, from ideation to launch, and the ability to navigate complex project timelines. 

Market and Industry Trends: Some experience or familiarity with market trends, good knowledge of user behaviour, and competitive products. 

UX/UI Design Principles: A good understanding of need for excellent user experience and interface design, ensuring that the product meets user needs and provides an intuitive, seamless experience. 

Data Analytics: Ability to analyze and interpret data from a variety of sources (e.g., Google Analytics, tableau etc) to inform product decisions. Ability to track and interpret key product metrics, OKRs and KPIs. 

Understanding of rail industry: a good understanding of the rail industry – the purpose and core functions of a train operating company, the stakeholders involved in running the railway and the interconnected systems involved in delivering it.  

Skills:

Creativity: Bring a creative mindset to product development. Contribute to the generation of creative solutions to improve products based on feedback. Always looking for ways to improve products, processes, and your own skills. Eager to learn about new tools, technologies, and user trends.  

Communication and Relationships: Foster positive, productive relationships across teams. Recognize and celebrate diverse perspectives and work well with colleagues from different departments. Good written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to tell compelling stories, explain concepts clearly and support decision making.  

Problem-Solving: Good analytical thinking and the ability to break down problems into actionable solutions, using data and user feedback to inform decisions.  

Delivery: Proven ability to manage multiple priorities and tasks in fast-paced environment. Experience working with Agile/Scrum methodologies, waterfall project and programmes: managing agreed priorities for product development.  

Collaboration: Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams, including 3rd parties, colleagues, customers and industry professionals to achieve shared product goals.  

Negotiation & Prioritisation: Ability to prioritise competing demands, highlight any challenges in meeting them with options to resolve. 

Working as part of a complex rail environment: Constantly aiming to learn more about ways of working in the railway, the stakeholders involved, interconnected systems and operational complexities.  

Qualifications:  

Experience: Demonstratable experience in product management, with a focus on digital products, web or mobile applications. Experience in agile environments is a plus.  

Education (desirable): A bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Computing /IT, or a related field. Professional certifications (e.g., Scrum, Agile, Product Management) is a plus.  

Technical Skills: Familiarity with product management and collaboration tools such as Jira, Trello, Confluence, etc. Good understanding of front-end and back-end development concepts is desirable. 

What you'll get:

• Free travel on LNER + 75% off other companies' tickets (for you & dependents)
• Discounted international train tickets (after one year's service)
• 50% discount on LNER tickets for friends & family
• Generous pension scheme
• Annual cycle to work schemes/electric vehicle scheme
• Discount, savings and cashback scheme from top retailers
• Health & wellbeing schemes and discounts
• Host of training opportunities to help further your career
• Rewards & awards to recognise when you shine

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Check

If you are successful in your application and are new to the business, we will undertake a basic DBS check as part of our pre-employment checks. This only happens once we have conditionally offered you the job. Here we check for any unspent convictions and conditional cautions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (ROA) 1974. If there is evidence of an unspent conviction or conditional caution, the details of these are reviewed internally by a cross functional panel on a case by case basis before a final offer of employment is issued. This however may result in any offer being withdrawn. Further information on how we collect and use this data is available on our privacy notice.

Medical screening

We're a safety conscious business so for all roles you'll need to pass a medical screening and a drugs and alcohol test before we send you an unconditional job offer. For our safety critical roles, you'll also need to have a safety critical medical. Our friendly, in-house Health and Wellbeing team will book a time and place to suit you. The sooner, the better, so please be flexible with your availability. Once your medical gets the thumbs up, we'll finalise any last details and look forward to you joining our team. 

What we believe:        

To be the most loved, progressive and responsible train operating company, we must make a meaningful difference – always doing what's right for our customers, our people, the communities and destinations we serve, the future of the industry we lead and the environment we cherish.

We know that our people are the beating heart of everything we do. We are committed to creating an inclusive, engaged culture that supports everyone at every stage of their journey – and ensures that when you're at LNER, you can always be you. No wonder most people never want to leave!

Diversity and inclusion
We are passionate about creating a diverse and inclusive workforce, representative of the communities we serve, and are creating ways to inspire diverse talent to join LNER.

Developing our people
We are focused on creating a learning culture, to support our people to be the best they can be at work by providing them with the tools and resources to navigate their development and career journey.

Health & wellbeing
To create a culture where our people can perform at their best, the physical health and mental wellbeing of our people is of paramount importance to us.

What next?        

As we say, we have fantastic opportunities for ambitious people from all sorts of different backgrounds, so now is the time to join the team at LNER – without delay! 

Start your journey here