Product Owner - Payments in London

About Allica Bank

Allica is the UK’s fastest growing company - and the fastest-growing financial technology (fintech) firm ever. Our purpose is to help established SMEs, one of the last major underserved opportunities in fintech. Established SMEs are the backbone of local communities - representing over a third of our economy - yet have been largely neglected both by traditional high street banks and modern fintech providers

Department Description

The Payment Account squad is building Allica’s ground-breaking new current account, aimed at established SMEs, who need both fantastic technology and best-in-class customer experience. Allica aims to offer unparalleled value to UK SMEs, going beyond payments to make financial management simple and painless.

As Product Owner, you will lead a cross-functional squad with skills such as Engineering, Design and Data, as well as work closely with peers in functions such as Distribution, Operations, Compliance and Risk. The squad delivers via simple, elegant solutions to our customers’ complex problems, driving innovation in a space historically neglected by the more established players.

We are rare amongst banks in that our senior leadership team includes backgrounds at world-leading financial fintech firms, which shows in their active engagement with our product squads, and in our bank-wide adoption of modern tools and techniques such as Scrum and Jira.

Role Description

The Product Owner will lead the work to define and deliver a superior solution for how we handle our new, market leading Business Current Account (called Rewards Account) product going forward.

You will be accountable for driving the roadmap of your team, managing the day-to-day activities, development, planning and execution and defining how risks are addressed. You will aim to build robust and automated systems and processes that enable us to move quickly and innovate our current account product in the SME banking market.

Whilst a lot of the market aims to avoid the complex nature of SME businesses, we are going for it head on, designing simple and efficient solutions to the most complex problems in the market to provide excellent and efficient customer experience. A significant portion of this role will be dedicated to future strategy for our cards proposition and spend management.

We aim for our external view of the current account product, as well as our internal systems to be the best in market which will allow us to scale quickly to serve more and more UK SMEs, while doing so in a cost effective manner. This role will be instrumental in supporting the success of the Allica Bank Rewards Account and it’s ancillary card activities.

Principal Accountabilities

• Responsible for innovation and end-to-end solution for features for our current account products
• Responsible for shaping product area strategy, setting vision, direction and road-mapping and driving strategy forward, especially on cards and spend management
• Accountable for achieving commercial OKRs, including increasing balances and growing usage of the current account with customers
• Communicate with the team, leadership and key stakeholders frequently, effectively, clearly and assertively, articulating the problems being solved as well as the roadmap
• Collaborate with Distribution, Operations and Risk to understand the requirements mainly driven by our high-growth plans and new product launches
• Ensure alignment, together with other Product Owners, that we have a cohesive product offering and proposition to our target SMEs
• Develop, own, prioritise, and execute the Payments Tribe roadmap
• Define metrics to track and measure outcomes, and anchor decisions in data, using it to inform decision-making
• Be customer focused; always seeking deeper insight from customers and use this insight to create value
• Proactively define problems for your product area and partner with research to execute
• Lead a dedicated cross-functional team (e.g. designers, front and back-end engineers) to deliver the roadmap
• Continuously review the business needs, refine priorities, iterate to achieve milestones and deliverables, and identify and manage relevant risks
• Understand the competitive landscape and industry trends for your area, using these insights to inform product strategy
• Develop and maintain appropriate tracking, documentation, and risk management of the products and features created
• Line manage, coach and develop members of the Payments Tribe and beyond

Personal Attributes & Experience

• Significant experience in savings, as a Product Owner or Product Manager
• Significant experience in payments, as a Product Owner or Product Manager
• High level understanding of UK payment schemes, Visa cards and spend management tools is a must
• Understanding of payments regulation and specifically Open Banking is a plus
• Proficiency with APIs is a must
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• Decisive and assertive, resolving issues within the team make meaningful decisions quickly
• Identify and anticipate risks and issues and proactively find solutions
• Strong project management and coordination skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Experience in a fast-moving or high-growth business
• Proven track record of delivering data-driven solutions
• Strong process engineering design, implementation and automation skills

Proven track record of working with data to deliver solutions and accelerate decision making

• Strong analytical skills, attention to detail and business acumen
• Experience in working with/leading product/engineering teams, with experience in Agile methodologies a plus

Working at Allica Bank

At Allica Bank we want to ensure our employees have the right tools and environment in which to succeed in their role and in support of our customers.

Our employees are at the heart of everything we do, so our benefits are designed with you in mind:

• Full onboarding support and continued development opportunities
• Options for flexible working
• Regular social activities
• 25 days holiday – with the option to Buy/Sell
• Pension contributions
• Discretionary bonus scheme
• Private health cover (with the option to add family members)
• Life assurance
• Income Protection
• Family friendly policies including enhanced Maternity & Paternity leave
• Season ticket loans

Don’t tick every box?

Don’t worry if you don’t have all the skills or requirements listed on the job description. If you think you’ll be a good fit, we’d still love to hear from you!

Flexible working

We know the ‘9-to-5’ isn’t right for everyone. That’s why Allica Bank is fully committed to flexible and hybrid working. Please let us know what is best for you and, if we can, we will do our best to accommodate.

Diversity

We’re a diverse bunch here at Allica, with all kinds of experiences, backgrounds and lifestyles. Our openness and differences make us stronger, and we want everybody to feel comfortable bringing as much of themselves to work with them as they like.