Practice Lead – Product Owners & Business Analysts
As the Practice Lead for Product Owners (POs) and Business Analysts (BAs), you will shape and lead a dual-discipline capability that underpins how Hiscox UK Retail delivers value across both product, project and programme-driven change. You will set the strategic direction for these disciplines, ensuring they maintain distinct identities whilst having the frameworks, support and environment needed to excel across the full delivery lifecycle. You’ll cultivate a thriving, high-performing community that continually learns, evolves and raises the bar on how we discover, define and deliver change. You will also play a key role in workforce planning and capability development, ensuring we have the right skills, structure and deployment model to support a more product‑led focus.
Responsibilities
* People Leadership & Line Management: Lead a core team of Product Owners and BA Team Leads, supporting their growth and performance; contribute to recruitment and selection for roles; set clear role expectations across the PO and BA career pathways.
* Ways of Working, Standards & Best Practice: Lead a multi‑discipline Community of Practice that connects POs and BAs across change initiatives; define, evolve and embed ways of working for POs and BAs across both product and programme environments; drive best practice across discovery, delivery, analysis, requirements definition and value measurement.
* Capability Development & Uplift: Identify capability gaps and shape uplift strategies aligned to evolving business, product and programme needs; maintain a strong understanding of how PO and BA roles are evolving across the industry and use insights to strengthen delivery; use data and insights to track capability maturity and drive continuous improvement across PO and BA disciplines.
* Strategic Workforce Planning: Apply operating model experience to ensure the right PO and BA skills and roles are in place to support effective delivery; formulate and drive forward a long‑term strategy for BA/PO resourcing; work across the function to ensure effective deployment and utilisation of POs and BAs across portfolios.
* Performance, Outcomes & Value: Develop and embed performance metrics that demonstrate increasing efficiency and value delivery; champion outcome‑focused thinking and decision‑making across delivery teams.
Qualifications – Must Haves
* Strong proven experience in a similar role leading Product Owners and Business Analysts, or similar digital/change delivery professionals.
* Experience building and maturing a capability, discipline or community of practice.
* Ability to demonstrate examples of driving best practice/best‑in‑class ways of working across BA and/or PO communities.
* Experience leading or shaping capability, operating model or organisational design initiatives.
* Strong experience in product and programme delivery, including discovery, backlog management and outcome‑driven delivery in complex environments.
* Experience defining ways of working and driving standardisation across teams.
* Strong operating model and workforce planning experience.
* Excellent stakeholder management skills, engaging senior leaders across product, technology and business functions.
* Experience overseeing resource planning, allocation and utilisation across multiple teams or initiatives.
Nice to Haves
* Experience working in financial services, insurance, or other regulated industries.
* Experience designing capability frameworks, career paths or competency models.
* Awareness of emerging trends in product, technology, or AI‑enabled discovery.
Diversity and flexible working: We are committed to diversity and creating an inclusive culture. Working life can be flexible, with 2 to 3 days in the office per week when safe to do so.
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