Data Product Owner - Databricks Specialist
6‑Month Rolling Contract - Outside IR35
Active SC Clearance or BPSS Required
Travel: 1 Day per Week or 1 Day per Month to Newcastle upon Tyne
Role Overview
We are seeking a Data Product Owner with strong experience in Databricks and valid SC clearance or BPSS. You'll take ownership of one or more data products, ensuring they deliver measurable value and operate reliably. This role acts as the connection between business stakeholders and technical delivery teams, owning the product vision, backlog, roadmap, and value realisation throughout the lifecycle.
This contract requires occasional travel to Newcastle upon Tyne - typically 1 day per week, though 1 day per month may be considered depending on project needs.
Key Responsibilities
Product Direction & Strategy
* Define and communicate a clear product vision, making full use of Databricks features and capabilities.
* Ensure the product is scalable, impactful, and aligned with business outcomes.
* Take responsibility for the commercial and operational success of the product.
Stakeholder Engagement
* Act as the primary interface with stakeholders, technical teams, and data consumers.
* Convert business needs into actionable requirements and prioritised backlog items.
* Balance competing priorities while keeping focus on the overarching product roadmap.
Backlog Ownership
* Manage and continuously refine the backlog based on value, feasibility, and Databricks platform capabilities.
* Write clear user stories and acceptance criteria aligned with consumer needs.
* Make informed trade‑offs around time, scope, cost, and quality.
SLAs, Delivery Agreements & Governance
* Define and manage service expectations, including reliability, refresh cycles, and data quality.
* Set non‑functional requirements such as lineage, retention policies, and pipeline performance.
* Communicate usage expectations, limitations, and upcoming product changes.
Performance Tracking & Value Realisation
* Create and maintain KPIs for usage, engagement, business impact, and Databricks job performance.
* Monitor data quality, pipeline reliability, and operational metrics.
* Drive decisions on enhancement, optimisation, or product retirement based on evidence.
Data Quality, Compliance & Ethics
* Ensure data products meet quality standards and regulatory expectations.
* Integrate governance, privacy, security, and ethical controls into Databricks workflows.
* Promote responsible data use across the product ecosystem.
Cross‑Functional Collaboration
* Work closely with data engineers, platform teams, analytics engineers, cloud architects, and UX.
* Support the adoption of product‑based working practices across the organisation.
* Help evolve data product management capabilities and standards.
Mandatory Requirements
* Active SC clearance or BPSS (minimum) is required to proceed.
* Ability to work in a secure environment following clearance‑related processes.
* Willingness to travel to Newcastle upon Tyne:
* 1 day per week, or
* 1 day per month (depending on project phase and agreement).
Essential Skills
* Strong experience as a Data Product Owner or Product Manager in a data‑centric environment.
* Deep understanding of Databricks, including jobs, clusters, Delta Lake, notebooks, and pipelines.
* Solid grounding in data management, data quality, and analytics use cases.
* Proven backlog ownership and prioritisation experience.
* Excellent stakeholder communication and value‑focused decision‑making.
* Ability to define, measure, and report on business value.
Desirable Skills
* Experience with data mesh or decentralised data ownership models.
* Familiarity with creating SLAs or service expectations for data solutions.
* Background in regulated, public sector, or security‑sensitive environments.
* Exposure to Agile frameworks and product management disciplines.
