Product Owner

About us 

Seccl is the Octopus-owned embedded investment platform that’s helping more people to invest – and invest well.   

   

Our sector is being held back by old tech, dismal processes and misaligned interests. Together they create pointless complexity for financial planning and investment professionals, and provide outdated, overpriced experiences for customers. We’re on a mission to fix it.   

   

We help forward-thinking financial planners, wealth managers and investment platforms to reimagine their business and client experience – empowering them to build better, more sustainable and more valuable operations, and meet the digital demands of the future, not the baseline expectations of the past.   

   

And we do it by reimagining their technology – with a low-cost, hyper-efficient and (genuinely) API-first technology infrastructure that handles millions of requests every day, and powers the portfolios of more than 160,000 investors.   

   

A regulated custodian and ISA/SIPP provider, we combine the disruptive mindset and ambitious mission to shake things up, with the commitment and substance to not screw them up.   

   

We’ve doubled the size of our business over the last six months and expect to do that a few more times over the next few years.   

   

We’re proud to be part of Octopus, the £12.8 billion group that's on a mission to breathe new life into broken industries, through companies like Octopus Energy, Octopus Investments and Octopus Money.   

TLDR 

We’re a business with insane product-market fit, impressive early traction and an offering that has the potential to transform an outdated industry for the better.   

The role  

We’re looking for a Product owner to join one of our cross-functional squads ‘SIPP'. This person will be obsessed with solving customer problems and transforming the advice and investments space. Seccl’s technology spans the breadth of the retail investment landscape, ranging from trading, custody, client money, client reporting, tax wrapper administration, portfolio tools and much more – so this is an exciting opportunity.  

On a typical day you will be… 

• Part of a tight-knit, high-performing, autonomous cross-functional squad who love our customer problems more than our solutions

• Collaborating with a squad of engineers and QA to own the end-to-end delivery of technology to our customers – shaping, designing, building and maintaining your squads part of the product.

• Translating product roadmap features into well-defined product requirements including epics, user stories and acceptance criteria

• Prioritising and maintaining the sprint backlog for assigned products, balancing the requirements of stakeholders and maximising value

• Partnering with the Lead Product Manager, stakeholders and customers across the organisation to inform the product vision, strategy, features and prioritisation

• Engaging with customers to gather requirements and validate solutions that your squad is building

• Using quantitative and qualitative data to make evidence-based decisions

  

You’ll be successful in this role if you… 

• You have direct experience working in either investment platforms, fintech or a related domain such as banking tech. Experience of one or more of the following areas desirable – APIs, payments technology, tax wrappers such as SIPPs and ISAs.

• Has a bias for action – you are not afraid to be pro-active, even in the face of uncertainty

• Can bring structure and clarity to situations of ambiguity and unknowns

• Is obsessed by problems, analysing the world around you and assessing opportunities for growth and change

• Is delivery focused

• Is an effective communicator and listener

• Is a self-directed learner able to bring the outside in to Seccl for the benefit of our team and customers

• Has an interest for continuous improvement in product management – you read and listen to a range of influences

This role isn’t for you if: 

• You rely on a lot of top-down direction.Here, you’ll have a lot of freedom and ownership of your role, and you’ll be expected to shape your own progression

• You’re not comfortable working in a fast-paced environment. Our speed and scalability is what set us apart; you need to be able to act quickly and think on your feet

• You struggle to follow through on your ideas. We value people who do what they say they will. If you care about something, you have the freedom here to make it happen

• You don’t like change. You’ll get on great here if you relish the ambiguity of rapid growth and are willing to embrace uncertainty

Our culture  

We are proud to cultivate a culture first, human environment and genuinely listen to our people about what matters to them most. As a result, we’re proud we’ve cultivated a transparent and inclusive environment that encourages diversity of thought, challenge and experimentation.   

  

Our purpose is supported by a series of non-negotiable operating principles that define how we work to deliver value for each other and for our clients:    

Never settle 

We think of ourselves as ‘embedded hero-makers’ for our customers. We put them first, and if we say we’ll do something, we’ll move heaven earth to do it. We think boldly and embrace change.    

Take ownership 

We think rigorously and deeply about a problem, but then charge at it, acting with and urgency and speed that sets us apart. But we never lose sight on quality or long-term scalability.    

Be generous and candid 

We encourage our people – and our customers – to challenge us and never shy away from tough conversations. We have a flat and inclusive culture where everyone can be themselves – and speak up.    

  
We have offices in central Bath and Edinburgh, and London. We’re working as a hybrid team supporting each of our people to choose how they work best. We’ve always been supportive of flexible working that focuses on delivery and impact, rather than hours worked. Don’t just take our word for it, check out our Glassdoor page for the latest reviews or our Instagram, and LinkedIn for company updates and insights from the team.  

What’s in it for you… 

We offer a generous blend of benefits for the things that really matter to our people, including:  

  

• 27 days holiday + bank holidays (some can be flexible) + day off on your birthday.

• 3 days (full time) per year for Dependant leave

• 2 days off per year to volunteer for a registered charity of your choice, including our charity partners Aid Box Community and Edinburgh Food Project

• Length of service award – 1 month paid sabbatical at 8 years.

• 6% employer pension contribution, and life assurance

• Private medical insurance with AXA Health

• Enhanced Parental leave and flexibility to integrate your home and work life in a trusted environment.

• Will writing offering via Octopus Legacy

• MacBook and up to £500 home office set up budget.

• £500 per person learning budget.

• Option to work abroad for up to 6 weeks in the year.

• Health and wellbeing initiatives including free therapy via Wellness Cloud, mental health support via Headspace.

• Strong financial wellbeing focus including access to Octopus Money, Octopus Share Incentive Plan and Seccl invest (our own platform for you to manage your investments)

• Octopus Electric Vehicle scheme after 12 months of employment

• Perkbox – Flexi-points giving you a range of discounts and perks including free weekly coffee, gym and retail discounts.

• Cycle to work scheme - saving money on a range of bikes and accessories.

  

Our aim is to build a diverse and inclusive company of awesome people, with unique skills, passions and experiences.  We encourage everyone to join us, whatever your gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or background.   

  

Please note that we do not provide sponsorship for candidates residing outside the UK. However, we welcome applications from individuals who possess valid work permits that allow them to work in the UK. If you already have the right to work in the UK or hold an eligible work permit, we encourage you to apply for this position.  

We usually allow around two weeks for sourcing some great candidates so don’t be dishearten if we’re not in touch right away, we’ll let you know next steps as soon as we can.  

  

If you think you have most of what we are looking for, then what are you waiting for? Go ahead and apply. We’d love to hear from you!