Technical Product Owner

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Technical Product Owner – SAP SuccessFactors

Summary

Based at Manchester Airport (2 per week onsite)

Permanent position
Also open to East Midlands Airport (EMA)

Why MAG?

Every year, Manchester Airport connects over 30 million passengers with more than 200 destinations across the globe. As the third largest airport in the UK, Manchester is also in the top 20 airports in Europe. Part of the largest UK owned airport operator group, MAG, Manchester Airport supports over 19,000 jobs onsite and generates around £7.75bn each year for the region. 

We’re at a genuine inflection point in how we use technology across the business. Significant investment is going into our platforms, including SAP SuccessFactors, but we’re not yet realising their full potential. That creates a rare opportunity: you won’t be maintaining a mature, optimised product - you’ll be shaping how it should work, where it should go, and how it delivers real value.

This role offers the chance to influence both technology direction and operating model, improving employee experience at scale across a complex, multi-site organisation. You’ll work on problems that are real, visible and commercially important, not theoretical product work, and have the backing to challenge the status quo, simplify complexity and drive meaningful change.

You’ll also have access to some great benefits including:

• Flexible and generous company pension plan with various company contribution options (up to 10%) that you can change to suit your personal needs
• 24 days holiday plus bank holidays
• Free parking
• Subsidised public transport
• Huge range of company discounts
• 2 volunteering days per year
• Free Virtual GP service, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Care Concierge service 

The Role

We’re looking for a Technical Product Owner (TPO) to take ownership of our SAP SuccessFactors product landscape across the full HCM suite - including Employee Central, Recruitment, Onboarding, Learning, Payroll and Succession.

This is not a configuration role.
This is a technology-led product role.

You’ll sit at the intersection of business, technology and delivery, owning how the platform evolves, scales and delivers value across the organisation. You’ll translate complex SAP capabilities and constraints into clear, actionable outcomes - and ensure the team delivers against them.

You’ll act as the bridge between “what the business needs” and “how we deliver it.”

Key Responsibilities

• Product & Technology Ownership
• Own the end-to-end SuccessFactors product landscape, ensuring it delivers measurable business value
• Develop and maintain a clear product roadmap, balancing new features, platform stability and technical debt
• Work closely with architects to shape solution design, environments and route to live
• Understand and articulate system constraints, integrations and downstream impacts
• Technical Leadership (without hands-on config)

Demonstrate strong understanding of:

• System architecture
• Non-functional requirements (performance, scalability, resilience)
• Integration patterns and dependencies
• Act as a credible voice with engineering teams, challenging and guiding decisions
• Translate technical complexity into clear business language

Agile Delivery & Backlog Ownership

Own and prioritise the product backlog based on business value

Define clear acceptance criteria and success measures

Support teams in breaking down work into deliverable, outcome-focused stories

Drive best practice in:

• Sprint planning
• Backlog refinement
• Managing enablers and technical debt

Stakeholder Management & Communication

• Build strong relationships across HR, Payroll, Technology and Transformation teams
• Act as a translator between business and tech, simplifying SAP complexity

Clearly communicate:

• Trade-offs
• Limitations
• Risks and workarounds
• Challenge stakeholders constructively to ensure focus on value over output

Leadership & Team Enablement

• Provide leadership to a team including System Analysts / BAs (direct or matrix)
• Create an environment where teams:
• Speak up
• Challenge ideas
• Continuously improve ways of working
• Drive a culture of ownership, collaboration and accountability

Data-Driven Decision Making

• Define and track product success metrics and KPIs
• Use sprint and delivery data to:
• Identify improvement opportunities
• Inform prioritisation decisions

What We’re Looking For:

Core Experience

• Experience as a Technical Product Owner, Product Owner or Technical BA within SAP SuccessFactors
• Strong understanding of SAP SuccessFactors modules (e.g. EC, Recruitment, Onboarding, Payroll, Learning, Succession)
• Proven experience working in Agile delivery environments

Technical Capability

Strong understanding of:

• System architecture and integrations
• Environments and release processes
• Non-functional requirements
• Ability to engage deeply with engineers and architects without needing to configure the system

Product & Delivery Expertise

• Experience managing backlogs, roadmaps and prioritisation frameworks
• Comfortable balancing features vs stability vs technical debt
• Focus on outcomes over outputs, with clear success measurement

Stakeholder & Communication Skills

• Able to confidently engage with both:
• Senior business stakeholders
• Technical teams
• Strong ability to simplify complex concepts into clear, practical language

Leadership Mindset

Natural leader who can:

• Encourage openness and challenge
• Improve team ways of working
• Comfortable operating in ambiguity and making decisions

Desirable

• Understanding of regulatory and compliance constraints within HR systems

Background in:

• System Analysis
• Technical Business Analysis
• Transformation programmes

Interview Process

30-minute initial screening call

90-minute formal interview (deep dive, including scenario-based discussion)

Equal Opportunities & Reasonable Adjustments

We’re building something brilliant at MAG: a diverse team of Journey Makers who share our values and want to make a difference. We’re on a mission to be number one in our industry, and that takes talent in all its forms. With so many exciting roles across our airports and businesses, there’s space for your unique strengths to shine.

Whether this is your first role or your next big step, we want to hear from you – even if you don’t think you tick every box. What matters most is what you bring.

We’re proud to be a Disability Confident employer. If you need any adjustments to support your application or interview, just let us know. We’re committed to helping you perform at your best.

At MAG, every journey matters. Our Colleague Communities play a big part in that: Women’s Network, Embrace (Race & Ethnicity), Fly with Pride (LGBTQIA+), Mind Matters (Mental Health), PACT (Parents & Carers), RespectABILITY (Disability & Neurodiversity), and the CAVU Global ID&E Affinity Group.

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