Jen joined NOTHS in April last year as a Product Manager, working alongside our Tech team and looking into how we revolutionise the way our customers interact with notonthehighstreet

She loves Thai food, yoga and Digital Product (obviously…) Find out all about her story below 👉

So Jen, what’s your favourite thing about your role?

I really enjoy the problem solving aspect of my role. It’s exciting when you’ve discovered a complex business problem and get to work with our engineering and UX teams to execute ideas to solve that problem — testing and learning quickly along the way.

Tell us more about your team and what you guys do here?

Each Product Manager at NOTHS leads a cross-functional team focusing on a particular digital product or part of a product. It’s our job to identify and deliver valuable digital experiences for our Customers and Partners (the small businesses we work with), whilst considering the viability and feasibility of each project for Tech and the wider business.

This means being at the centre of a lot — being close to our users, our technology and the business — constantly asking questions, saying no and demanding evidence, to ensure we are always delivering value.

What does an average day look like from the beginning of the day to the end?

I get into the office at 9am and the first hour is usually spent checking my emails and Slack messages with a cup of tea.

I’m currently leading two teams, one focusing on improving the basket and checkout experiences and the other focusing on growing and utilising our customer data to tailor our on-site and marketing experiences. This means I attend two standups every morning, getting an update from the teams on how we’re progressing with the delivery and understanding if there are any blockers etc.

What I do for the rest of the day then massively varies. It all depends what stage we’re at with a product or project — be that the discovery phase when we’re understanding what needs to be built, I can be interviewing customers, running workshops, researching competitors or digging into data. We work with lots of different internal stakeholders so when we’re in the planning phase, I’m often presenting findings and suggestions for the roadmap to them.

Then once we’re actually executing on what’s been planned, I can be working with designers on mock ups, running usability tests with customers or defining requirements for developers. It’s great because you’re often doing a mix of these things at any one time which keeps it exciting and the days often fly by!

What’s been your most memorable moment at NOTHS?

Well the Christmas party was very fun. It was held at The Aeronaut in Acton — it was a circus themed evening with a variety of acts, from air acrobatics to sword swallowing. It was a great opportunity for us to celebrate a successful year as a company.

What do you love about working at notonthehighstreet?

People genuinely want to hear your thoughts and ideas — whether that be ideas directly related to your role and your team or ideas more generally about NOTHS as an employer. The company promotes a culture of sharing and giving feedback and actually follows up and delivers on suggestions where possible.

How did you get into working in Tech and what excites you about it?

I started out my career in marketing, then moved into digital project management, before getting a job in product management. Very early on in my career I realised that tech would be an interesting field to work in, as it’s constantly evolving. I knew it wouldn’t ever be boring and there would always be lots to learn throughout my career, as technology and consumer behaviour continues to evolve.

How is NOTHS different to other places you’ve worked?

I’ve worked for a couple of very large organisations and I’ve worked at a startup. NOTHS is somewhere in-between in terms of size, so you have more people, processes and tools in place to support you in your role than you do at a startup, but because it’s still fairly small, you feel as if you can still make an impact as an individual, which is very important to me.

What’s been the steepest learning curve since you joined NOTHS?

The importance of moving fast. Generally my approach to product discovery and planning is very thorough — I like to have a high level of certainty before executing on an idea, but that often takes time. As a result of working with some great leaders in Product and Tech during my time at NOTHS, I’ve learned that sometimes it’s ok to execute ideas fast and learn quickly along the way.

What are you most excited about over the next 12 months?

With our CPO joining and working closely with our CTO, our product strategy is being formed and there are some great plans to grow both the product and engineering teams in the coming months, so that’s all very exciting.

If you could describe NOTHS in 3 words, what would you say?

Opportunity. Growth. Fun.

We’re recruiting in Jen’s team! 🙌 Click here to read about the roles and apply…