Product Development Manager

At a Glance

Us: Prolific is not just another player in the AI space – we are the architects of the human data infrastructure that's reshaping the landscape of AI development. In a world where foundational AI technologies are increasingly commoditized, it's the quality and diversity of human-generated data that truly differentiates products and models.

We've built a unique platform that connects researchers and companies with a global pool of participants, enabling the collection of high-quality, ethically-sourced human behavioral data and feedback. This data is the cornerstone of developing more accurate, nuanced, and aligned AI systems.

Our mission is to bridge the gap between AI potential and human insight. We believe that the next leap in AI capabilities won't come solely from scaling existing models, but from integrating diverse human perspectives and behaviors into AI development. By providing this crucial human data infrastructure, Prolific is positioning itself at the forefront of the next wave of AI innovation – one that reflects the breath and the best of humanity.

Salary: £95,000-115,000 + bonus + share options

You: As a Product Development Manager you will have responsibility over one of our development teams and product areas. You will be a versatile player/coach with responsibilities for product management, engineering, delivery and people management. The product area this vacancy is responsible for is platform quality of service, which includes stability, reliability, resilience, performance, scalability and security. You will also be responsible for improving the maintainability and extensibility of the platform.

You will be responsible for your team’s impact and behaviours and you will be accountable for timely delivery of improvements to our platform/products that make our customers happy and strengthen the position of our business. This is a leadership role that requires you to be adaptable and comfortable in complex scenarios and domains, both technical and commercial, including client-facing scenarios.

The Role

At Prolific we have a united product development group with Engineering, Data, Product, Design and Research all working closely.

Within the product development group, we have cross-functional teams that are centred on product areas with an associated mission. The teams have the autonomy to self-organise towards the best possible outcomes. We optimise for fast flow of work and search for continual improvement every day. We understand the importance of good product development and engineering practices, so we place collaboration, communities, and personal improvement at the heart of our culture.

What you'll be doing

• Leading one or more of our product development teams, performing platform scoping/prioritisation/backlog management functions, technical oversight and delivery management
• Taking accountability for both the delivery and quality of the team’s output to agreed timelines and high-quality standards
• A strong customer focus, making data driven decisions to guide the team to the highest impact outcomes for our customers
• Manage, coach, and mentor team members to nurture their growth with the goal of developing the group into a high-performing team
• Where necessary, you will effectively manage the performance of underperforming team members to ensure that the overall team unit remains strong and high-performing
• Working closely with your technical leads, you will ensure that the technical solutions, architectures and designs of your teams align with the overarching company technology and product strategy
• With a You Build It, You Run It mindset, you will champion and contribute to our collaborative DevOps culture, optimising your team for fast flow
• Understand the architecture, codebase and services your teams works with, actively engage in technical workshops and facilitate technical decisions that reduce complexity without introducing undue technical debt
• Take a hands-on approach to leading the team in analysing the operations of the platform/products through looking at logs, APM tools and code, and building a backlog of changes to reduce errors and enhance stability, reliability, resilience, performance, scalability and security
• Oversee the support of code developed by the team and deployed to production
• Champion our principles, ensure our communities of practice are well established, and contribute to the improvement of our product development culture
• In support of our growth, you will lead the hiring, on-boarding and training of new team members
• You will be looking for opportunities to experiment with better ways of working, understanding where the current constraints are to delivery, and how incremental improvements in ways of working could help, but are not afraid to make radical changes based on proven best practice where necessary

What you’ll bring

• A strong technical background which informs how you help the teams solve problems
• You must be comfortable wearing the hats of a delivery manager and product manager for your team—that is, being accountable for prioritizing, phasing, experimenting, and understanding customer needs, and delivering these to agreed timelines
• You have a deep understanding of both monolithic and distributed web applications and the surrounding stacks, and you have experience building and supporting public cloud apps
• A passion for developing others and experience in managing, motivating, coaching and mentoring others
• Previous experience of working in an environment with strong product development practices and the ability to demonstrate how you have improved the culture
• You care about the product life cycle and are customer value focused
• Ability to demonstrate the use of continuous, iterative improvement and a culture of feedback to drive change in your team and across the wider organisation
• A passion for software product development, and an appetite for learning and self-improvement
• You have previously been hands-on technically and are fluent in communicating technical solutions and their feasibility to non-technical stakeholders

What We Expect from You

We’re proud of the culture we’ve built at Prolific, and as a Prolifico, we expect you to contribute positively to our workplace culture by embracing our core principles:

• Celebrate our wins - for our customers, partners, Prolificos and Prolific
• Break down silos to partner across teams, fostering a unified effort toward company objectives
• Strive for excellence in all that you do, setting and working towards ambitious goals
• Continuously seek opportunities for improvement and innovation, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible
• Act with integrity, prioritizing customer satisfaction and trust above all else
• Actively seek and act on customer feedback to deliver solutions that exceed their expectations
• Manage your time efficiently, focusing on tasks that drive impact and support our mission
• Take ownership of your responsibilities, and be accountable for your progress and the quality of your work
• Approach challenges with a growth mindset, viewing them as opportunities for learning and innovation
• Encourage and participate in experimentation, embracing failure as a valuable learning experience

Our Interview Process

Talent Call - You'll meet with one of our Talent team and have an exploratory call about the role requirements, life at Prolific, as well as your background and aspirations.

Hiring Manager Interview - You'll interview with two members of the team, one of which will be the hiring manager. You'll have the opportunity to ask about the company and the role, and we'll ask you questions about your experiences and goals.

Panel Interview - We'll hold a panel interview that evaluates skills required for the role. You'll meet with more of our team and may be asked to complete a presentation or task. You'll be compensated with a £50 voucher for completing the task because we know your time is valuable!

Final Interview - We will deep dive into your past experiences, goals, motivations, and skills all aligned to our Prolific Principles. You'll speak with two to three members of the team and - as always - have an opportunity to ask questions about the role and company.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Monitoring

Prolific is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. We welcome all applications, and consider them without regard to race, religion, belief, age, gender, gender expression, gender identity, gender reassignment, disability, marriage or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity, sex or sexual orientation.

We are committed to ensuring a fair recruitment process, it's essential to our success. Under the Equality Act (2010) we collect information from individuals at the point of application. We anonymously monitor the profiles of individuals that apply to each vacancy to ensure that no individual is unfairly discriminated against or disadvantaged.

Privacy Statement

By submitting your application, you agree that Prolific may collect your personal data for recruiting and global organisation planning. Prolific's Candidate Privacy Notice explains what personal information Prolific may process, where Prolific may process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over Prolific use of your personal information.