Job description:
Mission and purpose:
Horizon is an AI-enabled forecasting and intelligent operational orchestration platform. It combines deterministic with predictive machine-learning models to forecast workload and resource demand across multiple time horizons, supporting strategic, tactical, and day-of-operation decisions.
Horizon enhances decision-making by providing accurate, data-driven insights that improve service performance, productivity, and cost control.
As the Horizon Programme Manager you will serve as the end-to-end Product Owner of Horizon AI, the WFS AI-enabled forecasting and resource optimisation platform. This role combines programme leadership, product ownership, and technical capability to drive ongoing technology development of the platform and ensure system maturity.
The Programme Manager ensures that Horizon evolves in line with business needs, future technologies, scaling requirements, and emerging opportunity. This includes owning the product backlog, defining and prioritising enhancements, validating features with SMEs, and collaborating closely with developers (system engineers) and data scientists.
As Programme Manager you will lead and coordinate the full Horizon programme across EMEAA. Manage the planning of development milestones, risks, resources, and cross-functional dependencies. Ensures timely, deployment, facilitates UAT, and secures operational readiness and adoption in each country. ensures operational requirements are embedded into programme design and deployment.
Main Responsibilities:
1. Product Ownership & Technology Development
- Own the Horizon product, ensuring alignment with EMEAA operational and financial goals.
- Translate operational needs into a clear, prioritised development backlog for IT to implement.
- Write user stories, functional requirements, and acceptance criteria.
- Establish governance for maintenance, upgrades, data standards and compliance.
2. Programme Delivery & Technology Roadmap
- Lead end-to-end management of development milestones, risks, release cycles, and dependencies.
- Oversee UAT execution and deployment
- Ensure on-time delivery of fixes and new features
- Maintain product roadmap in line with business strategy
3. Operational & User Product Validation
- Validate usability, accuracy, and functionality with SMEs and local Power Users
- Draft user needs and translate into technical requirements across multi-country operations.
- Gather structured feedback from stations to continuously refine product performance.
4. Cross-Functional and Vendor Coordination
- Work with developers, ML engineers, data teams, solution architects, and external vendors.
- Manage cross-functional dependencies spanning Finance, HR, Service Delivery, Commercial and Operations.
Required qualifications / skills / training / experience:
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree (Economics, Computer Science, Analytics, Financial systems or a related field)
- Agile Product Owner or Scrum certification beneficial
- And/or equivalent professional experience
Experience
- 2+ years in product ownership, digital transformation, workforce optimisation, predictive modelling, or large-scale operational systems.
- Strong technical capability; ability to understand code, APIs and data pipelines.
- Prior experience deploying enterprise tools across multi-country networks.
- Proven success in AI/ML-enabled platforms.
Technical Expertise:
- Technical proficiency (programming/scripting advantageous).
- Strong product ownership and roadmap management.
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
- Ability to translate complex operational issues into structured technical requirements.
Soft Skills:
- Strong analytical capability
- Ability to train and coach teams.
- Strong storyteller with ability to influence at senior levels.
Must exhibit the following aptitudes:
- Diligence, discipline and self-motivation
- Precise, organised and systematic work capability
- Emotionally mature
- Ability to work under pressure
- Ability to take instructions
- Work well with other people
- Ability to multi-task and to prioritise workload
- Ability to meet deadlines
- Possess effective and efficient time management skills
- Problem solving acumen
- Analytical Curiosity: Inquisitive, data-driven, and eager to explore new ways of working.
- Commercial Mindset: Links data to customer service excellence and financial results.
- Customer Orientation: Passionate about enabling SLA delivery and operational readiness.
- Collaborative Partner: Able to influence and engage across Operations, HR, Finance, and Commercial teams.
- Resilience & Agility: Thrives in fast-moving, high-volume settings with changing priorities.
- Change Champion: Embraces digital transformation and drives adoption of new practices.
- Clear Communicator: Turns complex analysis into actionable insights for leadership.
- Accountability: Owns outcomes, not just tasks, with a strong sense of responsibility.
