Digital Capabilities Product Owner

Cambridge University Press Ltd.; Cambridge; Hybrid; GBP 49,000 - 66,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading academic publisher in Cambridge seeks a Digital Capabilities Product Owner to manage GAI content generation and calibration. This hybrid role requires an Agile mindset and excellent problem-solving skills. You will oversee the product backlog, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and ensure timely delivery of high-quality outputs. The ideal candidate will have a degree and experience in digital capabilities. Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits offered.

Benefits

28 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Private medical and Permanent Health Insurance

Discretionary annual bonus

Group personal pension scheme

Life assurance up to 4 x annual salary

Qualifications

• Experience in product owner/product manager roles or equivalent.
• High understanding of digital capabilities or data.
• Broad experience in English language assessment.

Responsibilities

• Manage the product backlog for GAI content generation.
• Collaborate with engineering and operations to integrate GAI solutions.
• Monitor delivery progress and resolve operational issues.

Skills

Agile mindset

Organisational skills

Problem solving

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Education to degree level or equivalent experience

Tools

Project Management qualifications (e.g. Agile, Prince2)

Job description

Job Title: Digital Capabilities Product Owner: Assessment Content Quality

Salary: £49,300 – £65,950

Location: Cambridge, Hybrid (at least 40-60% of time in the office)

Contract: Fixed term (18 months)

Hours: Full time, 35 hours per week

Are you ready to play a pivotal role in delivering complex Generative AI (GAI) programmes?

Join us today as the Digital Capabilities Product Owner (DCPO) for Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world-leading academic publisher and assessment organisation and a proud part of the University of Cambridge.

This role focuses on technical and operational delivery of GAI-driven assessment content generation and calibration within a rapidly maturing programme, supporting the Lead DCPO as part of an innovative and first programme of its kind for Cambridge University Press & Assessment.

About the role

As the DCPO you will support the Lead Digital Capabilities Product Owner (LDCPO) in managing the programme backlog, prioritisation, and stakeholder engagement. The DCPO will ensure technical development of a new GAI platform and oversee the end-to-end delivery of a GAI-driven content calibration programme, ensuring outputs meet user needs, operational requirements, and appropriate solutions are identified that are fit for purpose and aligned to the broader GAI content strategy. The DCPO will be responsible for prioritising development and setting direction to scrum teams to maximise the value of their work and to ensure that capabilities meet the value expectations of users as well as the wider English business.

The role will manage elements of the end-to-end stakeholder journey from piloting through to on-going product team support and platform service performance. This will include product setup and relevant documentation as well as understanding and managing all parameters necessary to successfully deploy capabilities for delivery. The DCPO will also engage with any live delivery incident management processes and ensure timely and successful resolution.

Additional responsibilities and accountabilities include:

• Own and manage the product backlog for GAI content generation and calibration capabilities.
• Support the Lead DCPO in planning and delivering the GAI programme, ensuring timely and high-quality outputs.
• Collaborate with engineering, assessment, and operations teams to integrate GAI solutions into the GAI content generation platform.
• Gather and refine requirements from stakeholders, translating them into actionable user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Monitor delivery progress, manage risks, and resolve operational issues to maintain programme momentum.
• Champion user needs and ensure assessment content and calibration outputs meet validity and reliability standards.
• Facilitate sprint planning, backlog prioritisation, and agile ceremonies for cross-functional teams.
• Support transition of GAI capabilities into operational teams and provide training/documentation as needed.
• Deputise for the Lead DCPO when required, ensuring continuity of programme delivery.

This position has been classified as a hybrid role, requiring the selected candidate to typically spend 40-60% of their time collaborating and connecting face-to-face at their dedicated location. Aside from our hybrid principles, other flexible working requests will be considered from the first day of employment, including other work arrangements should you require adjustments due to a disability or long-term health condition.

About You

To succeed in this role, you will need to have an Agile mindset with excellent organisational, administrative, prioritisation and planning skills; able to manage complex tasks and meet inflexible deadlines under pressure. An excellent communicator, who has proven problem solving skills, with a strong track record on delivering results.

• Education to degree level (or equivalent experience)
• Experience of product owner/product manager roles, or equivalent transferable knowledge, with a high level of understanding of digital capabilities and/or data.
• Knowledge of Product Lifecycle Management
• Evidence of strategic thinking, ideally, combined with knowledge of product management principles and techniques.
• Broad experience of English language assessment and the importance of validity & reliability in assessment products
• Knowledge of required quality standards needed to operate effectively in a highly regulated market and ability to articulate and respond to potential risks
• Project Management qualifications such as Agile (SAFe POPM), product ownership (PSPO) or Project / Product Management (Prince2 / Prince2 Agile, Lean Six Sigma)

If you meet the above minimum requirements, we encourage you to apply. Your application will be even stronger if you can also demonstrate the following desirable criteria:

Desirable Experience

• Using and building with AI/ML technologies
• SAAS platform integrations
• Education, training and or assessment

For a detailed job description, please refer to the link at the bottom of the advert on our careers site.

We are a Disability Confident (DC) employer that is committed to equality and inclusion ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. The DC scheme's Offer of an Interview commitment applies to applicants who opt in, and disclose a disability or a long-term health condition, and best meet the minimum criteria for the role. In instances where interviewing all qualifying candidates is not practicable, we prioritise those who best meet the minimum criteria, as we would for applicants who do not have a disability or long-term health condition.

Cambridge University Press & Assessment is an approved UK employer for the sponsorship of eligible roles and applicants under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please refer to the gov.uk website for guidance to understand your own eligibility based on the role you are applying for.

Rewards and benefits

We will support you to be at your best in work and to live well outside of it. In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a world-class, flexible rewards package, featuring family-friendly and planet-friendly benefits including:

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Private medical and Permanent Health Insurance
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Group personal pension scheme
• Life assurance up to 4 x annual salary
• Green travel schemes

Ready to pursue your potential? Apply now.

We aim to support candidates by making our interview process clear and transparent. The closing date for all applications will be 3rd February 2026. We will review applications on an ongoing basis, and shortlisted candidates can expect interviews to take place the week commencing 18th February 2026. We aim to support candidates by making our interview process clear and transparent.

If you are shortlisted and progressed through the stages, you can expect:

• First stage virtual interview via MS Teams.
• Final stage interview: in-person at our offices in Cambridge.

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process due to a disability or a long-term health condition, there will be an opportunity for you to inform us via the online application form. We will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Please note that successful applicants will be subject to satisfactory background checks including DBS due to working in a regulated industry.

We are committed to an equitable recruitment process. As such, applications must be submitted via our official online application procedure. Please refrain from sending your CV directly to our recruiters. If you experience technical difficulties or require additional support with submitting your online application, contact the Recruiter.

Why join us

Joining us is your opportunity to pursue potential. You will belong to a collaborative team that is exploring new and better ways to serve students, teachers and researchers across the globe – for the benefit of individuals, society and the world. Sharing our mission will inspire your own growth, development and progress, in an environment which embraces difference, change and aspiration.

Cambridge University Press & Assessment is committed to being a place where anyone can enjoy a successful career, where it is safe to speak up, and where we learn continuously to improve together. We welcome applications from all candidates, regardless of demographic characteristics (age, disability, educational attainment, ethnicity, gender, marital status, neurodiversity, religion, sex, gender identity and sexual identity), cultural, or social class/background.

We believe better outcomes come through diversity of thought, background and approach. We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and communities, actively seeking to employ people from a wide range of different communities