Lead Product Owner (gn)

Reporting to: Head of Change
Location: Lisbon
Band: III

The Role

This role is part of the European Change Team, working closely with Value Streams, business sponsors, technology teams, and delivery roles in order to deliver strategic, operational, and regulatory change and achieve tangible business outcomes across Hiscox Europe.

The Lead Product Owner is accountable for the leadership, capability development, and performance of the Product Owner function across Hiscox Europe.

The role has a dual mandate:

• to act as the functional owner of Product Ownership, defining standards, career paths, and quality expectations; and
• to act as a Change Business Partner to one or more Countries or Functions, supporting senior stakeholders in shaping, prioritising, and delivering change outcomes through Value Streams.

The role is responsible for managing and balancing priorities across multiple Value Streams, ensuring that European, local, and functional initiatives are effectively incorporated into backlogs and delivery plans.

Working closely with the Agile Coach, the role ensures strong and consistent application of agile principles and practices across Value Streams.

The Lead Product Owner operates with a high degree of autonomy and judgment, influencing outcomes across multiple Value Streams, initiatives, and geographies, and acting as a key integrator between strategy, prioritisation, and delivery.

Key Responsibilities

Main activities for this role should be:

• Lead and be accountable for the Product Owner function across Hiscox Europe, ensuring consistent quality, value delivery, and outcomes
• Define, own, and embed Product Ownership standards, ways of working, and quality benchmarks in collaboration with the Agile Coach
• Establish and maintain a clear Product Owner career framework, including role definitions, progression criteria, and capability expectations
• Line manage, coach, and develop Product Owners, setting clear objectives and holding accountability for performance and delivery outcomes
• Manage and balance priorities across multiple Value Streams, ensuring alignment with European strategy and business objectives
• Ensure European, local, and functional initiative requirements are effectively translated into Value Stream backlogs
• Work with Value Stream sponsors and senior stakeholders to shape objectives, priorities, and expected outcomes
• Act as the senior escalation point for prioritisation conflicts, scope decisions, and value trade offs
• Oversee and challenge Value Stream roadmaps, backlogs, and delivery plans to maximise value and manage dependencies
• Ensure effective coordination and dependency management across Value Streams and initiatives
• Act as Change Business Partner to one or more Countries or Functions, supporting senior leaders in shaping, prioritising, and sequencing change agendas
• Work with the remaining Change team leaders to ensure a cohesive change pipeline across Europe and representing the interests of the Country or Function they represent
• Build trusted relationships with Country and Functional leadership, providing insight, challenge, and decision support
• Represent Product Ownership in governance, prioritisation, and senior decision forums
• Promote a value-driven, customer-centric, and outcome-oriented mindset across Value Streams
• Drive continuous improvement in agile maturity, delivery effectiveness, and ways of working
• Ensure Product Ownership practices align with Hiscox Europe change frameworks, agile principles, and operating model

Technical must-haves

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, ideally in Management / Economics / Engineering (or similar)
• Proven experience in a Product Owner or similar role within agile delivery environments
• Strong understanding of agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban, or hybrid models)
• Experience working in Value Stream based or product-centric operating models
• Ability to translate business needs into clear, actionable backlog items
• Experience working closely with business stakeholders and Tech delivery teams
• Strong prioritisation and decision-making capability
• Fluent in English, verbally and written

Personality trades

• Strong sense of accountability and ownership for outcomes
• Ability to make informed prioritisation decisions in complex environments
• Clear and confident communicator with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Pragmatic, delivery-oriented, and value-focused mindset
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving environment
• Strong collaboration and stakeholder management skills
• Curiosity and drive for continuous improvement

Nice to haves

• Experience in insurance or financial services
• Exposure to multi-country or European operating models
• Agile certification (e.g. CSPO, SAFe PO/PM, or similar)
• Experience working with regulatory or compliance-driven change
• Fluency in other European languages (e.g. French, German, Spanish)