Product Operations Lead (B2B SaaS)
Overview
A growing B2B SaaS organisation in the digital learning and human skills development space is undergoing a significant transformation – shifting from a sales-led model to a more product-led approach focused on activation, engagement, and retention.
To support this transition, we are hiring a Product Operations Lead to build and scale the systems that connect strategy to execution across a multi-team product organisation.
The Role
As the first Product Operations Lead, you will design and implement the operating model that enables effective planning, decision-making, and delivery across product teams. This role focuses on improving execution quality, increasing alignment, and ensuring that strategic priorities translate into measurable outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
Product Operating Model
- Design and implement frameworks that connect strategic objectives (e.g., OKRs) to team execution
- Establish planning cadences, prioritisation approaches, and team rituals
- Standardise documentation and workflows to reduce ambiguity and improve coordination
Insights & Decision Support
- Build processes to ensure product teams leverage insights from analytics, customer feedback, and research
- Improve how data and qualitative inputs inform product decisions
Metrics & Performance Management
- Define consistent KPI frameworks and metric definitions
- Partner with data teams to build dashboards and reporting tools
- Establish regular performance review cycles to track outcomes
Execution Excellence
- Identify bottlenecks in delivery and improve end-to-end execution flow
- Reduce cycle time from idea to delivery
- Proactively manage cross-team dependencies
Cross-functional Alignment
- Strengthen collaboration between Product, Engineering, Design, and commercial teams
- Improve communication, handoffs, and shared understanding of priorities
Tooling & Automation
- Drive adoption of tools and workflows that improve productivity
- Support the use of AI and automation to streamline operational processes
- Optimize usage of collaboration and delivery tools (e.g., ticketing, communication, analytics platforms)
Scope & Boundaries
- Product teams retain ownership of product decisions and outcomes
- Data teams retain ownership of data infrastructure and reporting accuracy
- This role focuses on how systems operate – ensuring data, processes, and decisions work effectively together
Success Metrics (First 6 Months)
- A clearly defined and adopted product operating model
- Improved use of data in day-to-day decision-making
- Consistent KPI definitions and regular performance tracking
- Increased visibility and proactive management of dependencies
- Measurable reduction in delivery cycle times
- Improved efficiency through tooling and automation
Candidate Profile
Experience & Skills
- Experience in Product Operations, Strategy & Operations, or similar roles within a B2B SaaS environment
- Strong systems thinking and ability to design scalable processes
- Data-literate with the ability to interpret and apply insights
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
- Comfortable working in fast-changing, ambiguous environments
Preferred Mindset
- Focused on building systems rather than managing individual projects
- Comfortable challenging assumptions and influencing senior stakeholders
- Views processes as adaptable frameworks rather than fixed rules
- Thrives in transformation and scaling environments
Darwin Recruitment is acting as an Employment Agency in relation to this vacancy.
Luchian Van Der Merwe