Product Manager – Agent Experience

Reading, Berkshire
Pertemps Thames Water
Are you a strategic Product Manager who thrives on turning ambitious ideas into real business outcomes?

Do you enjoy leading transformational change, solving complex challenges, and delivering products that make a genuine difference to customers and colleagues?

At Thames Water, we’re looking for an exceptional Product Manager (Agent Experience) on a 13 – 18 Month Fixed Term/ Secondment to lead the evolution of our Agent Experience product portfolio. This is a high-impact role where you’ll define product strategy, own multi-year roadmaps, and deliver innovative solutions that enhance both customer and agent experiences.

Working closely with the Head of Agent Experience, you’ll bring together business, operational and technology teams to deliver meaningful change at scale, ensuring products remain aligned to customer needs, business priorities, and future growth ambitions.

What You’ll Be Doing as our Product Manager, you’ll take ownership of the full product lifecycle, from defining the vision through to delivery and continuous improvement.

• Create and deliver a clear product vision and roadmap aligned to strategic business objectives.
• Lead the development and evolution of agent-facing products that deliver measurable value.
• Prioritise initiatives using customer insight, operational performance data and user feedback.
• Work across multiple product teams and all contact channels to identify opportunities, manage dependencies and drive innovation.
• Translate complex business challenges into practical, scalable product solutions.
• Drive adoption of new products and capabilities through effective change management and business readiness activities.
• Ensure products comply with Thames Water’s security, data, digital, quality and Agile standards.
• Monitor product performance and continuously improve outcomes for agents, operational teams and customers.
• Influence senior stakeholders through clear, evidence-based recommendations and strategic thinking.
• Deputise for the Head of Agent Experience when required.

You’ll Work Closely With

This role offers extensive visibility across the organisation, partnering with:

• Retail, Operations, Digital, Commercial and Data teams.
• Senior leaders and business stakeholders.
• Product Owners, Business SMEs and delivery teams.
• Change, transformation and customer experience specialists.

You’ll be equally comfortable presenting strategic roadmaps to senior stakeholders as you are collaborating with frontline teams and end users to understand challenges and identify opportunities for improvement.

What You Should Bring to the Role

Essential Experience

• Proven experience as a Product Manager or Senior Product Owner, owning product strategy, roadmaps and delivery.
• Experience within customer service, contact centre or operational environments.
• Experience leading cross-functional teams to deliver customer-focused products and business change.
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to build relationships and drive decision-making at all levels.
• Experience using customer insight, user research, operational data and feedback to prioritise product investment and improvements.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, translating complex business challenges into practical and scalable solutions.
• Experience balancing customer, operational and commercial priorities to deliver measurable business value.
• A proactive, customer-focused mindset with a passion for innovation and continuous improvement.

Essential Qualifications & Technical Skills

• Proven experience managing products within an Agile environment, including roadmap ownership and backlog prioritisation.
• Strong understanding of Agile delivery methodologies, including Scrum.
• Experience defining, measuring and tracking product performance and success metrics.
• Relevant qualification in Agile, Scrum, AgilePM, PRINCE2, APM or a related discipline.
• Degree-level qualification, or equivalent professional experience, in Business, Technology, Marketing or a related field.

Desirable Experience

• Experience leading digital transformation, product innovation or large-scale change programmes.
• Experience assessing competitor products and identifying opportunities for improvement.
• Advanced analytical and problem-solving capabilities.
• Experience working with enterprise-scale digital products and technology platforms.

Desirable Qualifications

• Additional certifications in Agile, Product Management, Project Management or Business Analysis.

Base Location: Clearwater Court, Reading (RG1 8DB), with hybrid working. The role requires planned travel to our Kemble Court office in Reading and Newbridge Square in Swindon and occasional travel to London as needed.

Hours: 36 hours per week

What’s in it for you?

• A starting salary of £65,000 and up to £75,000 per annum depending on skills and experience.
• 26 days holiday per year, increasing to 30 with the length of service. (plus bank holidays)
• Car Allowance.
• Annual Bonus.
• Private Medical Health Care.
• Performance-related pay plan directly linked to company performance measures and targets.
• Access to lots of benefits to help you take care of you and your family’s health and wellbeing, and your finances – from annual health MOTs and access to physiotherapy and counselling to Cycle to Work schemes, shopping vouchers and life assurance.

Find out more about our benefits and perks (Please note different T&Cs apply if on secondment)

Who are we?

We’re the UK’s largest water and wastewater company, with more than 16 million customers relying on us every day to supply water for their taps and toilets. We want to build a better future for all, helping our customers, communities, people, and the planet to thrive. It’s a big job and we’ve got a long way to go, so we need help from passionate and skilled people, committed to making a difference and getting us to where we want to be in the years and decades to come.

Learn more about our purpose and values

Working at Thames Water

Thames Water is a unique, rewarding, and diverse place to work, where every day you can make a difference, yet no day is the same. As part of our family, you’ll enjoy meaningful career opportunities, flexible working arrangements and excellent benefits.

If you’re looking for a sustainable and successful career where you can make a daily difference to millions of people’s lives while helping to protect the world of water for future generations, we’ll be here to support you every step of the way. Together, we can build a better future for our customers, our region, and our planet.

Real purpose, real support, real opportunities. Come and join the Thames Water family. Why choose us? Learn more.

We’re committed to being a great, diverse, and inclusive place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and want to ensure you feel supported throughout the recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, whether that’s extra time, accessible formats, or anything else just let us know, we’re here to help and support.

When a crisis happens, we all rally around to support our customers. As part of Team Thames, you’ll have the opportunity to sign up to support our customers on the frontline as an ambassador. Full training will be given for what is undoubtedly an incredibly rewarding experience. It’s also a great opportunity to learn more about our business and meet colleagues.

Disclaimer: due to the high volume of applications we receive, we may close the advert earlier than the advertised date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.