Title: Product Executive

Directorate: Research, Product and Member Proposition

Responsible to: Head of Product

Location: London (hybrid working 2 -3 days per week)

OVERALL, PURPOSE

The Institute of Customer Services is a membership organisation with a product range built around the members that covers benchmarking services, qualifications, accreditations, training, research and consultancy.

Product Management and membership delivery are two key parts of the Institutes services and the directorate has responsibility for all aspects of The Institute’s core products including design, development, delivery covering both pre and post sales.

This role is a key member of the team working with the Customer Experience Directorate and Operations teams :

1. For the current portfolio of products - specifically our customer and employee benchmarking surveys – managing the process end-to-end, working with the membership account teams to ensure successful delivery of products from customer requirements and reporting

2. Assist with designing enhancements to products

3. Assist in supporting the CDD and wider Institute team to understand and position products effectively

4. Working with the Communications and Corporate Affairs team to provide support especially focusing on product marketing activities

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Product Portfolio

Operational Delivery

a) Enable effective end-to-end delivery to members of a diverse portfolio of products including benchmarking surveys, accreditations, qualifications and other products delivered through our Virtual Learning Environment

b) Work with Client Delivery Managers and Client Development Directors to ensure that members’ requirements are understood and where appropriate reflected in delivery of products and services

c) Ensure that queries from members and the CED team are handled promptly and professionally

d) Liaise with suppliers through the Head of to enable effective delivery of products and services, identify operational issues and resolve them promptly

e) Check and reconcile invoicing for additional Business Benchmarking services to ensure that invoices have been raised by the Client Development team for relating to work for which the Institute has been invoiced by suppliers

f) Create and maintain product specifications for suppliers.

g) Review and maintain criteria for individual membership levels to ensure alignment with Institute objectives and standards.

Reporting and analysis

h) Support the Head of Product in delivering a monthly report on product penetration and ad hoc analysis of member usage of specific products

i) Assist the Head of Product in creating a competitor matrix and analysis

Product Marketing, Communications and Enablement

j) Working with the Head of Product and other key stakeholders, deliver a knowledge and training programme for new and in-life products for staff and internal communications relating to product development activities.

k) Support production of marketing collateral for all value propositions, products and services to ensure high quality output.

l) Maintain accurate and effective information about products on the intranet, including presentations and FAQs, to support colleagues across The Institute in positioning products and services

m) Undertake ad hoc project work to support the communications and product teams in promoting the Institute’s products and services

Product Development and Enhancement

n) Support the Head of Product in the design, development and implementation of product enhancements to increase automation, digital delivery and improve the user experience, especially for benchmarking products.

o) Assist with the review, design and development of applicable products and services and underpinning processes to ensure they remain relevant and current.

p) Work with Product Champions to record and assess member feedback about products and services

ROLE DIMENSIONS

Key relationships

Internal: Head of Product, Marketing & Communications Director, Senior Managers, Academy; Standards and Quality; Head of Operations; Business Support Team; Client Relationship Directors; Business Development and Finance Teams.

External: Members; suppliers; research agencies.

Related duties

This job description does not necessarily include every responsibility, requirement or skill associated with the role. It reflects the role as it is currently and you may be required to perform related duties.

SUCCESS CRITERIA

· Product KPIs/metrics

· Engagement level of members – take up of products and services

· Customer satisfaction with products and communications

· Support Head of Product on delivering against the business plan and financial objectives for products and services

· Knowledge and effective positioning of products by the CDD team

· Effective use of Product budget

PERSON SPECIFICATION – PRODUCT & MARKETING EXECUTIVE

Knowledge

· An understanding of and experience with the full product lifecycle.

· Good understanding of product management as a discipline

· An awareness of modern digital communications approaches including product launch, copy writing and marketing automation.

Skills

· Project management and the ability to manage changing requirements as well as multiple overlapping diverse projects at one time

· Problem solving

· Planning and implementation of effective product launches on time and within budget

· Excellent communication skills in English to deal with benchmarking survey formulation and training course development. The ability to produce concise and impactful marketing copy is also an advantage

· Highly organised

· Ability to analyse and interpret data to provide tangible outputs

· Attention to detail and quality of output

· Delivers to time and budget in line with project management principles

· Strong verbal and written communication skills

· Stakeholder engagement – managing relationships with internal and external stakeholders

· Commercial acumen

· Digital marketing / content skills: Wordpress, basic Adobe CC, SQL and HTML skills and experience with Moodle (LMS) an advantage

· Microsoft competency levels: Advanced Excel and good skills with Word and PowerPoint

Attitudes

· Lives The Institute’s values – Independent, Expert, Inspirational, Impactful, Inclusive and Ownership.

· High integrity

· Proactive and solution-oriented

· Customer focused

· Will do attitude

Experience

· At least 3 years’ experience in a product or product marketing B2B or B2C environment, with at least 2 years’ Product experience

· Briefing and managing suppliers

· Project management experience (desirable)

Education and Professional Qualifications

Educated to degree level or above

Minimum GCSE at C or above (or equivalent) in English and Maths

Note: Occasional evening work and travel to other locations will be necessary for business reasons