Innovation/Product Manager - Energy

Location: Flexible London/Bristol/Glasgow - Hybrid working 

 

We’re making zero carbon happen

We’re OVO Group, a big family of companies united by a single vision: to get to zero carbon, fast. 

We call this Plan Zero – and it shows how we’ll be fighting the climate crisis and redefining the way people use energy over the next decade. To do this, we need the sharpest minds. Are you up for the challenge?

Do great green things with OVO Energy

So much has changed since we launched in 2009.  Our goal remains the same though: make energy cheaper, greener, and simpler. Just as it was on day one.

 

Everyone belongs at OVO

Our aim is to build a diverse and inclusive movement: teams of brilliant people, with unique talents, skills, passions, and experiences. 

We encourage everyone to join us, whatever your gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, life experience, or background. So please come as you are – we can’t wait to meet you.

 

Where in the world of OVO will I be working?

The SSE Energy Services / OVO Retail vision is to become the leading supplier of climate friendly energy and essential services and to provide Members with a route to decarbonising their homes. 

The Energy Innovation Team sits within the Commercial business and is part of the Propositions and Pricing Directorate. In this critically important role you will report directly to the Head of Energy Innovation and  help to design and deliver insight driven, customer centric and brand enhancing domestic propositions.

As the Energy Innovation Manager, you will be responsible for developing and delivering customer propositions across our core markets of energy, home services and retail telecoms. You’ll demonstrate a real understanding of the needs of our target customers, develop propositions that enable market success, build strong data driven business cases and make recommendations to senior leaders. Moreover, you will collaborate with marketing & sales to ensure we deliver impactful go to market plans. 

As an individual, you will be passionate about using customer insight to deliver market-leading propositions, have a proven ability to engage and contribute with a dispersed stakeholder group, and experience in communicating effectively and influencing senior management.

This is an exciting and challenging role within the proposition team, with an opportunity to make a real difference at a defining time for our business. 

 

What will I be doing?

Proposition Development

• Ability to demonstrate thought leadership established through previous proposition experience, which will help develop proposition development opportunities. 
• Take ownership of the development and delivery of compelling customer propositions driven by customer & market insight, ensuring alignment with Sales, Retention, Plan Zero and Smart targets (for example).  
• Lead on a number of strategic proposition developments that have the potential to reframe how SSE / OVO engages with its customers.

Customer Experience

• Work with our Customer Experience, Digital, IT and Product teams to ensure propositions remain straightforward and easy to access – through a brilliantly simple experience
• Design and be accountable for the desired outcomes from the journeys this team will design. Ensure designs are fit for purpose, aligned to proposition vision and super simple for our customers & colleagues (through a rigorous testing programme that you will own)

Proposition Modelling

• Support all proposition recommendations with the creation of clear business cases, demonstrating the commercial and ‘group value’ opportunities on a case by case basis.  This could include commercial modelling for both energy and non-energy elements. Support business case recommendations that will be presented to Head of Customer Propositions and appropriate Directors / Execs.

Customer & Competitor Insight

• Maintain an accurate knowledge of the external environment, as well as the needs of our target audience, by collaborating with Insight.  Propositions should not only look to solve identified customer challenges, but also seek out opportunities to differentiate and competitively lead the market - a process that you will own and use to define our proposition vision and strategy.

Preparation of briefs and approval papers

• Creation of proposition briefs, approval papers and any other supporting documentation as required, ensuring these follow the appropriate processes and receive the relevant sign offs and post launch analysis
• Responsible for creation of new proposition T&Cs and for supporting with contracting discussions with prospective partners

Governance Process

• Ensure that all propositions are compliant and delivered through an auditable New Product Approvals process

Innovation 

• An ability to be a champion of creativity and innovation within the wider business. Utilising data and insight to inform opportunities for new propositions and working collaboratively with stakeholders to effectively gain sponsorship and support to innovate. 
• Employ your Design Thinking expertise to facilitate organisational wide innovation programmes, solving for customers and organisational challenges.
• An innovative and creative problem solver who can deploy a number of tools and techniques to address design thinking challenges. 

 

Is this the job for me?

Ideally you will have:

Business Knowledge

• A sound knowledge and experience of working in the UK domestic market
• Knowledge of Home Services, Phone & Broadband, and/or energy products and business preferred.

Technical Skills / Competencies

• Experience in proposition development
• Understand how to use customer and market intelligence through an ideation process, to form new product and proposition concepts
• Experience in bringing significant new product and propositions to market, and measuring the impact
• Ability to manage several projects at one time
• Experience of developing compelling customer journeys and where efficient and effective optimisation changes can be made
• Ability to articulate high and low level business requirements
• Experience in innovation techniques such as Design Thinking, with clear examples of what impactful propositions you have delivered
• Excel and modeling skills and experience of developing presentations in PowerPoint

Personal Attributes / Competencies

• Creative problem solver
• Ability to work cross-functionally and in a constructive and engaging way that still provokes thought/challenge where needed. 
• Positive can-do attitude and willingness to find a way to overcome obstacles
• Strong communication and influencing skills, and ability to communicate and present at a senior level.
• Excellent problem solving and analytical skills with the ability to quickly interpret and synthesise information into clear and concise recommendations. Agility of thought and the ability to bring clarity & insight to complex situations and challenges.

 

Brilliant benefits for a world-changing team

Our people are at the heart of Plan Zero. That’s why we offer plenty of green benefits and progressive policies to make you feel at home.

For starters, you’ll get 34 days of holiday (including bank holidays).

Then there’s Flex Pay. It’s an extra 9% of your salary on top of your core pay to use as you like. You can take it as cash, add to your pension, or choose to spend it on a huge range of flex benefits.

Here’s a taster of what’s on offer:

For your health
With benefits like a healthcare cash plan or private medical insurance depending on your career level, critical illness cover, life assurance, health assessments, and more

For your wellbeing
With gym membership, gadget, travel and cyber insurance, workplace ISA, will writing services, DNA testing, dental insurance, and more

For your lifestyle
With extra holiday buying, discount dining, culture cards, tech loans, and supporting your favourite charities with give-as-you-earn donations

For your home 
Get up to £300 off any OVO Energy plan (when you pay by Direct Debit), plus personal carbon offsetting and great discounts on smart thermostats and EV chargers

For your commute
Nab a great deal on ultra-low emission car leasing, plus our cycle to work scheme and public transport season ticket loans

Want to hear about our full range of flexible benefits and progressive people policies? Our People Team can tell you everything you need to know.

 

Oh, and one last thing...

We’d be thrilled if you tick off all our boxes yet we also believe it’s just as important we tick off all of yours. And if you think you have most of what we’re looking for but not every single thing, go ahead and hit apply. We’d still love to hear from you!