Kinetic
Product Operations Manager
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Head of Product Operations – Kinetic
About Kinetic
At Kinetic, we’re redefining operational excellence in higher education, conferencing, and events. As the leading provider of software solutions for student accommodation, event management, catering, and residential services, we help institutions streamline operations, elevate customer experiences, and unlock their full potential.
With over 25 years of experience and trusted by more than 350 institutions worldwide, our software empowers universities and venues to run smarter, faster, and more collaboratively. From bustling campuses to dynamic corporate environments, our technology adapts to the rhythms of each organisation—helping them thrive in a fast-changing world.
But we’re more than just software. We’re a team of passionate problem-solvers, innovators, and collaborators who care deeply about our customers and each other. Our culture is built on empowerment, community, and continuous growth. We believe in giving people the tools, support, and freedom to do their best work—and have fun while doing it.
Joining Kinetic means being part of a purpose-driven business where your ideas matter, your development is supported, and your impact is real. If you’re ready to help shape the future of operational technology in education and events, we’d love to meet you.
The Role
This is a new role. We are building it because we identified specific operational gaps in how our product team works, and we need someone whose entire job is to close them.
We have six Product Owners looking after 36 products across legacy Delphi and modern cloud platforms. They know their domains and their customers. What they don’t have is:
- Consistent processes
- Standardised tooling
- A discovery framework
- Anyone filtering the constant stream of requests from every direction
That is where you come in.
You are the person who builds the systems that let Product Owners do their best work. You will:
- Standardise how we estimate, refine, and release
- Set up governance materials for our Product Review Board
- Create the discovery and go-to-market frameworks that don’t exist yet
- Be the first line of defence between the product team and the rest of the organisation
This is not a line management role. You will: ✅ Not own any products ✅ Not make product decisions ✅ Build processes and frameworks that help those who do
Think of it as the operating system underneath the product team.
We expect you to use AI every day. Dashboards, delivery reports, governance materials, communications, data analysis—if it can be done faster and better with AI, we expect you to do it that way. We are not looking for someone who builds manual spreadsheets. We want someone who builds AI-powered processes from day one.
You will not inherit a finished operating model. You will build it.
The cross-functional exposure you get in this role is extensive: stakeholder management, process design, data systems, coaching coordination, working across every product stream. For the right person, this breadth prepares you for senior product leadership. We see this as a genuine progression path, not a dead end.
What You’ll Be Doing
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Process & Governance
- Standardise Jira boards, backlog structure, and estimation methods across all product teams
- Establish a consistent refinement cadence and format
- Create a lightweight discovery framework and embed it across the team
- Design initiative kickoff templates so large projects start with clear scope, stakeholders, and success criteria
- Coordinate release cadence with engineering
- Prepare investment cases, health cards, and delivery metrics for the fortnightly Product Review Board
- Evaluate and manage product team tooling (Jira, analytics platforms, feedback collection tools, and roadmapping software)
Data & Insights
- Set up systems to capture product usage data, feature adoption, and customer satisfaction metrics for PM prioritisation decisions
- Build and maintain dashboards tracking product health (delivery velocity, adoption trends, support tickets, customer feedback)
- Create a structured system for collecting, tagging, and routing customer feedback and feature requests
- Help PMs define "success" metrics for shipped features and track post-launch value
- Establish lightweight experimentation practices (hypothesis tracking, feature flag coordination with engineering)
Stakeholder Triage & Communication
- Filter and prioritise incoming demand before it reaches Product Owners (acting as their "shield")
- Build a go-to-market playbook and coordinate launches across product lines
- Set up delivery metrics and reporting for clear visibility on every stream’s performance
- Use AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT to build dashboards, analyse data, and draft governance materials
Coaching & Transition
- Build and maintain a structured peer-coaching framework across the product team
- Own transitions when externally-built products move into core ownership (define criteria, document lessons learned)
- Track and manage dependencies between classic Delphi and modern Pulse product teams
- Develop onboarding materials to accelerate new Product Owner productivity
Core Experience
- 3+ years in Product Operations, Agile coaching, delivery management, or programme management in a SaaS or software product company
- Process design experience (built estimation methods, refinement cadences, governance frameworks from scratch—not just followed existing ones)
- Stakeholder management & triage: filtered demand, protected delivery teams from noise, said “not now” with evidence
- Governance experience: reviewed investment cases, prepared health cards, chaired review boards
- Jira proficiency and experience with delivery metrics tooling
- AI mindset: uses AI tools daily (Claude, ChatGPT, AI dashboards, automated reporting—not just "planning to start")
- Data literacy: built dashboards, interpreted usage data, turned customer feedback into clear patterns (no need to write SQL, but comfort with data transformation is key)
- Clear communication with product, engineering, commercial, and leadership teams
- Comfortable in ambiguity: this role builds systems where none exist yet
Nice to Have
- Experience in higher education, student accommodation, events, or hospitality tech
- Multi-product environments and cross-platform coordination
- Coaching or mentoring frameworks for product teams
- Go-to-market coordination across multiple product lines
- Product transition experience (designing handovers for externally-built products)
- Delivery forecasting and predictability metrics
- Familiarity with analytics tools (Pendo, Amplitude, Mixpanel, etc.)
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What Makes You Stand Out
If you’ve actively built operational workflows, governance tools, or reporting systems using AI (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot)—not just thinking about it— you’ll stand out. We want people who are already leveraging AI for dashboards, automated communications, data analysis, and reporting.
How We Work
Your Scope
This is a cross-cutting role: you’ll engage with six Product Owners (plus two-three new hires) across legacy Delphi and modern Pulse products. No product ownership—just process, data, and framework design.
Your Team
Reporting to the Head of Product, you’ll collaborate with:
- Product Owners
- Engineering squads
- QA and UX teams
Decision-Making & Accountability
- Fortnightly Product Review Board makes final prioritisation calls
- Sprint commitments are sacrosanct—no mid-sprint disruptions
- Decision rationales are published in writing (every “no” has an explanation)
AI-First Mindset
We integrate AI into everything:
- Dashboards
- Governance materials
- Delivery data analysis
- Reporting automation This is not a side project—it’s how we work.
Building from Scratch
We are constructing Processes. Governance frameworks. Go-to-market structures. Discovery methods. This is a fresh playbook, not a maintenance role.
Career Path Impact
- Builds balanced technical and leadership skills (stakeholder mgmt., process design, cross-product coordination)
- Ideal preparation for senior product leadership
- Our tiered product management framework offers clear progression (salary bands and clear criteria)
Benefits & Perks
At Kinetic, work supports what matters most—both in and out of the office.
Wellbeing & Growth
- 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays)—with bonus days for long-term staff
- Two paid wellbeing days/year (budget for personal time)
- Enhanced pension contributions
- Two paid volunteer/day charity days (aligns with our sustainability initiatives)
- Salary sacrifice schemes for electric vehicles and bikes
Health & Support
- 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme (counselling, mental wellbeing)
- Annual health check
- Flexible benefits platform (healthcare, learning opportunities)
Culture & Rewards
- People-first culture with focus on growth and wellbeing
- Performance-related bonuses
- Regular social events (team potlucks, all-hands celebrations—each dept. owns its budget)
- Conferences & conferences (UK and international networking)
Workplace Environment
- On-site wellness hub: free breakfast, fresh fruit, beans, drinks, and snacks
- Remote flexibility where applicable
- Diversity & inclusion: a commitment to saddle equality
Kinetic is an equal opportunity employer, actively fostering diversity and inclusion.
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
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