Product Owner - UK
Are you a Product Owner who loves turning messy prioritisation into clearly defined, well-delivered outcomes? Do you love adventure and are passionate about travel? This role may be perfect for you!
Product Owner – UK
c£45K + dependent on experience
Glasgow, UK (hybrid – home working plus 3 days per week in our Glasgow hub)
Are you a Product Owner who loves turning messy prioritisation into clearly defined, well-delivered outcomes – and who’d relish doing it for a business that helps over 40,000 people a year discover the world on foot and by bike? If so, we’d love to hear from you!
This is a fantastic opportunity to own the full prioritisation and delivery lifecycle for the internal systems that keep Macs Adventure moving. You’ll be the vital bridge between our Operations, Sales and Customer Service teams and our development partner, making sure the right things get built, in the right order, to a high standard. You’ll also lead the user requirements and user stories for our back-office replatforming programme – a key part of our journey to become the world’s leading active travel company.
About Macs Adventure
We’re a scaling adventure tour operator on a mission to be the leading global brand in self-guided, active travel.
Welcoming over 40,000 customers on walking and cycling trips to destinations around the world, we employ over 150 people across the UK, US and Germany who share our purpose to create #macsmoments by leading, advocating & enabling self-guided, active travel as a positive force for people and planet.
Our Culture
We’re an ambitious, forward-thinking business with a bold vision for the future, and our culture reflects these ambitions. We’re an action-oriented, fast-paced organisation and we like to have fun along the way. We’re looking for people who can grow with Macs and grow with us on our journey to become the world’s leading active travel company. It’s not the easy route and we’re looking for people who enjoy challenges, love learning, want to make an impact and align with our core values:
· Love the journey: A Macs trip is all about the journey, not the destination. We are all believers in Macs’ unique brand of self-guided, active travel and shout about it. As more travellers convert to the Macs Way, we accept our business will grow and change. We welcome new connections, and embrace to new opportunities. Carpe diem!
· Take a different path: We’re not different for different’s sake; but we won’t succeed if we’re just the same as everyone else. We devise creative solutions to problems, find new ways of doing things, and trust colleagues who are doing so too. We are brave and feel empowered to take the initiative. We ask ourselves: is what I’m doing authentically Macs?
· Tread thoughtfully: We are considerate, empathetic and try to put ourselves in our customers’, suppliers’ and each other’s shoes. We support local, and find ways of having less negative impact on the planet. We find ways of having positive impact on people and communities. We are fair, and we do the right thing.
· Go the extra mile: We know that creating a perfect #MacsMoment involves going that bit further. We imagine the best feedback we can get and set out to earn it. We take ownership and accountability – it’s yours, not someone else’s, problem. We step up and help our team mates when they need us.
What you’ll do;
As Product Owner you’ll own and govern the full prioritisation and development lifecycle for our internal back-office and operational systems. It’s a pivotal role that keeps Operations, Sales and Customer Service aligned with our development partner, making sure business needs are clearly defined, prioritised by value and delivered with quality.
You’ll have real ownership from day one – shaping how we capture demand, run delivery and bring our back-office replatforming programme to life, with plenty of scope to define and improve the way we work.
· Own backlog management and prioritisation – capturing, triaging and prioritising requests from Operations, Sales and Customer Service, and maintaining a clear, well-groomed backlog that reflects business value and urgency.
· Oversee the end-to-end development cycle with our development partner, from brief through to deployment – managing scope, timelines, risks and dependencies.
· Coordinate UAT and testing with internal requestors, validating changes against acceptance criteria and acting as the final approval authority for go-live decisions.
· Lead the gathering, documentation and refinement of user requirements and user stories for the back-office replatforming programme.
· Keep Operations, Sales and Customer Service teams informed and aligned, building trust through consistent, transparent communication.
· Drive continuous improvement by championing agile and lean best practice, strengthening documentation, improving processes and embedding better ways of working across the Delivery Tribe.
What you’ll bring;
· 3+ years in a Product Owner or Delivery Manager role within a technology or operations environment.
· Proven experience owning a backlog end-to-end – including prioritisation, refinement, user story writing and acceptance criteria – within agile/scrum delivery frameworks.
· A talent for requirements gathering: translating business needs into clear user stories, acceptance criteria and functional specifications.
· Confident stakeholder management across technical and non-technical audiences, with the ability to balance competing priorities and set clear expectations.
· Experience coordinating user acceptance testing (UAT), documenting defects and driving resolution with development partners.
· A track record of managing third-party or offshore development partners with accountability for quality and timelines.
· A good grasp of back-office systems and operational workflows, and how technical changes ripple through business processes.
· Excellent communication and documentation skills, with a natural ability to translate technical language for business audiences and vice versa.
· Organised and detail-oriented, comfortable managing multiple workstreams at once.
Not essential, it would be a bonus if you have;
· Exposure to back-office or internal system projects – CRM, ERP, booking systems or similar replatforming programmes.
· A genuine love of the outdoors, walking or cycling, and a passion for active travel.
The knowledge and skills we’ve listed represent “the perfect candidate”. No one’s perfect and we know the ‘confidence gap’ can stop brilliant people applying. If you love the sound of this opportunity please apply, we’d love to hear from you.
You could belong here;
To deliver adventures for more than 40,000 customers we need to build a company that’s reflective of their diversity. We’re building an inclusive workplace that promotes and values difference, where everyone, from any background, can do their best work and be proud to belong.
What we’ll offer
As well as your salary;
ANNUAL LEAVE: We want you to be able to take holidays that matter to you, so 8 public holidays are included in your annual leave allowance of 33 days, which increases to 35 days after 5 years’ service.
BIRTHDAY BOOSTER: An extra day off on your birthday!
PENSION: We offer a contributory pension scheme.
DISCOUNTS: You are eligible for great discounts on Macs Adventure trips!
TRAVEL INSURANCE: We provide you and your spouse/partner/children with annual worldwide travel insurance.
FLEXIBLE WORKING: A flexible work culture - you’ll be able to work from home as well as coming into our hub office in Glasgow 3 days per week to collaborate with colleagues.
GETTING TOGETHER: Regular team, management and leadership meetings and retreats.
CULTURE: An innovative, fast growth, international and solution focused culture, where we work hard to embed our values across the business.
L&D: We support your self-guided learning journey to make the most of your strengths.
WELLBEING. We'll support you in looking after your health and wellbeing so you can do your best work.
TRAVEL: Occasional international travel may be required.
IMPACT: The opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives and the planet.
- Department
- Digital Experience
- Locations
- Skypark 5, Glasgow, G3 8JU
- Remote status
- Hybrid
Why work at Macs?
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Your Passion for Active Travel
You'll share our passion for active adventure travel, and the satisfaction you get from connecting people with amazing self-guided experiences is what gets you up in the morning! We make sure you experience first-hand the joy, challenge, and sense of achievement a Macs holiday brings our customers.
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Create Macs Moments
There's nothing more rewarding than connecting people with the outdoors, and at Macs you'll get to do that every day. Whether your improving our App, booking trips or creating great marketing content, you'll love being part of a passionate team creating Macs Moments for our customers every day.
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Challenge and Growth
Join us and be part of our vision - to be the world's leading active adventure travel company. Our culture reflects these ambitions. If you love challenges, are curious, love learning, and want to make an impact, and experience personal growth and development, you'll love the journey at Macs.
It's our culture that sets us apart
We know working for a great company is about more than a great salary, paid time off, and all that good stuff. This is how our culture sets us apart:
• We move fast and work at pace.
To achieve our big goal, we can’t hang around! And you will achieve more than you ever thought possible.
• Our culture is innovative and entrepreneurial.
We recognise that trying new things can be risky and they don’t always work. So we have a no-blame culture. You’ll be supported by colleagues when you’re trying something new and you’ll support them when they are taking the lead.
• We are leaders, not followers.
Thinking outside the box and look for better ways of doing things – it’s what we do. We believe that everyone is creative and has something to offer, so you’ll find the conditions here to let your ideas thrive to make us a better business.
• Our people have autonomy to use their initiative and judgement in their roles.
You make decisions and problem-solve without constant manager approval or consulting endless policies. Hate micromanagement? So do we, and you won’t find that here.
• We are accountable and take responsibility for our actions.
It’s your problem, not someone else’s, You have accountability, and you have support. We work as a team to help each other do our best work.
• Direct communication and challenge.
This enables us to achieve as a team. We value your contribution and want to hear your views.
About Macs Adventure
We’re a self-guided adventure tour operator on a mission to be the leading global brand in self-guided, active travel.
Welcoming over 40,000 customers on walking and cycling trips to destinations around the world, we employ 150 people across the UK, North America and Germany who share our purpose to lead, advocate & enable self-guided, active travel as a positive force for people and planet.