Product Owner - Shipping/Maritime

Product Owner - Maritime/Shipping

6-Month Contract | £420 per day | Inside IR35 | London

IMPORTANT - ESSENTIAL SHIPPING/MARITIME EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT

Previous experience within the shipping or maritime industry is absolutely essential for this position. Candidates without demonstrable shipping or maritime industry experience will NOT be considered.

This is a specialist role working directly with offshore brokers, shipowners, charterers and operators. You must understand the industry and be comfortable engaging with these stakeholders from day one. Offshore experience would be particularly advantageous.

The Opportunity

We are looking for an experienced Product Owner to join the digital team of a leading international maritime organisation on an initial 6-month contract.

You will take ownership of an established portfolio of digital products supporting the organisation's offshore broking division. These platforms are used by internal broking teams as well as external clients, including shipowners, charterers and operators.

This is a hands-on position combining Product Ownership and Business Analysis. You will be responsible for managing the product roadmap, gathering and translating business requirements, writing user stories and working closely with engineering teams to ensure the successful delivery of new features and improvements.

A key part of the role will involve building relationships with commercial stakeholders and external clients, understanding their requirements and ensuring the technology continues to support their day-to-day operations.

The successful candidate will need to hit the ground running, maintain delivery momentum and manage stakeholder relationships with minimal handover.

Key Responsibilities

Product Ownership & Delivery

• Take ownership of the day-to-day management of the Offshore product portfolio, maintaining and prioritising the product roadmap.

• Work closely with offshore broking teams and engineering colleagues to identify product improvements and new functionality.

• Gather, analyse and translate business requirements into clear, actionable user stories and acceptance criteria.

• Lead backlog refinement sessions and ensure development teams have the detail and clarity required to deliver.

• Produce supporting documentation, including user stories, acceptance criteria, change requests and screen mock-ups.

• Contribute to prioritisation discussions, balancing business requirements, technical considerations and commercial value.

• Monitor product performance and delivery against agreed objectives.

• Manage multiple products and workstreams simultaneously, providing clear progress updates to stakeholders.

Stakeholder Management & Business Analysis

• Act as a key point of contact for offshore brokers and external clients globally.

• Build strong relationships with commercial stakeholders, understanding their operational challenges and identifying opportunities for improvement.

• Manage incoming feature requests, investigate requirements and assess the scope and cost of proposed changes.

• Work directly with external clients, including shipowners and charterers, to demonstrate platform functionality, gather feedback and resolve issues.

• Support the adoption of digital products across the broking community.

• Manage stakeholder expectations and handle queries or escalations effectively.

Data & Product Integration

• Work alongside internal data and research teams to understand the information feeding into the offshore platforms.

• Develop a strong understanding of vessel data, identification and associated maritime datasets.

• Act as the subject matter expert for the products within your portfolio.

• Identify opportunities to improve functionality and integration across the wider product ecosystem.

Testing & User Support

• Plan and participate in system testing and user acceptance testing.

• Support user training and product demonstrations where required.

• Contribute to user guides, support documentation and internal product materials.

• Help ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities at the end of the contract.

Essential Experience & Skills

• Shipping or maritime industry experience is essential. Candidates without this background will not be considered.

• Previous experience working within a shipping, maritime, shipbroking or offshore environment. Direct offshore broking experience would be a significant advantage.

• Proven experience operating as a Product Owner, Product Manager or in a similar product-focused role.

• Strong Business Analysis experience, including requirements gathering, documentation and working across the full delivery life cycle.

• Demonstrable experience writing user stories, defining acceptance criteria and leading backlog refinement.

• Experience working closely with software engineering and development teams in an Agile environment.

• Confident engaging with senior commercial stakeholders and external clients.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to understand business challenges and translate them into practical product solutions.

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

• Comfortable managing multiple priorities and working independently with minimal handover.

Contract Details

• Day Rate: £420 per day

• IR35 Status: Inside IR35

• Duration: Initial 6-month contract

• Location: London

• Start: November 2026 (ideally)

Interested?

If you have a background in both Product Ownership and the shipping or maritime industry, I'd be keen to speak with you.

Please note that maritime/shipping experience is a strict requirement for this position. Applications without this experience will not be considered.