Head of Product Operations

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United Kingdom.

📋 Description

• Take full ownership of the New Product Introduction process for all AI-driven products we release: lead the stage-gate reviews (concept → pilot → general availability) and the re-entry reviews that determine a product's readiness for enhanced capability levels.

• Hold the ultimate decision-making authority on whether a product is ready for launch, even in the face of commercial pressures.

• Manage the capability-tier framework that outlines how AI-driven products gain increasing levels of operational responsibility over time — transitioning from informational support to assisted decision-making and supervised execution — along with the criteria for tier advancement.

• Oversee portfolio prioritization within the product organization, utilizing a robust framework for assessing impact and readiness, while maintaining a single source of truth regarding the organization’s projects.

• Govern product trust and safety: ensure impact containment in case of issues, readiness for rollbacks, and the audit process for how AI-driven products arrive at their recommendations.

• Enforce accountability for every released AI product: each product must have a designated accountable owner, a quality owner, an exception handler, and a customer success partner prior to going live.

• Act as a strategic advisor to the Chief Product Officer, serving as a respected voice for the function during leadership and board discussions.

• Recruit and lead a team of two to three individuals, while functioning as the support for both reports during the initial 12 months as the role evolves.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 8 years of experience in product management, product operations, or program leadership, including establishing central systems, NPI processes, or release-governance functions in scaling enterprise software organizations.

• Proven track record of managing a stage-gate or release-governance process for a complex multi-product portfolio.

• Solid understanding of LLM-based products: tool utilization, evaluation frameworks, telemetry, safety constraints, and autonomy boundaries — sufficient to govern this type of work credibly, rather than to create it.

• An instinct for balancing chaos and bureaucracy while establishing processes — comfortable with structure, yet averse to unnecessary formalities.

• Strong resolve. You will frequently need to inform product and engineering leaders that a product is not ready for shipment, and your judgment will often be correct.

• Experience in manufacturing, ERP, or enterprise SaaS is a significant advantage.

🏝️ Benefits

• Your health and well-being are a priority for us at QAD.

• We offer programs designed to help you achieve a healthy work-life balance.

• An opportunity to be part of a growing business as it embarks on its next phase of expansion and transformation.

• A collaborative culture filled with intelligent and diligent individuals who support each other in accomplishing tasks.

• An environment that fosters growth and opportunity, where sharing ideas is consistently valued over rank or hierarchy.