RS Group is looking for a Technical Product Owner (Search Specialist) to join our team on a permanent basis. In this role, you will be the subject matter expert in search technologies, collaborating across teams to drive innovation and deliver new capabilities. You will lead solution design, data architecture, and software development while delivering rapid proof of concepts to evaluate feasibility. Additionally, you’ll play a key role in integrating new digital solutions and ensuring smooth transitions between legacy systems and future platforms.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Define and Prioritize Technical Components: Collaborate with product owners to define and prioritize key technical areas (security, data architecture, and development tools), shaping a clear product roadmap while reducing technical debt.
• Lead Search Engine Strategy: Serve as the primary expert for Search Engine requirements, improving user experience and search performance across platforms.
• Own Search ETL Process: Take full ownership of the search ETL process and search engine (ideally GroupBy), ensuring alignment with both current systems and future Adobe e-commerce transformations.
• Manage Search Backlog: Oversee and maintain the backlog for the back-end search team, effectively coordinating cross-functional priorities.
• Bridge Business and Technical Teams: Act as a technical liaison, ensuring clear communication and alignment between technical teams and business stakeholders.
• Support Data Integration: Work with Principal Engineers, Architects, and Engineering Managers to design and implement data integration tools, supporting the migration to new digital platforms.
• Optimize Search Performance: Conduct in-depth analysis of search performance and other digital solutions to identify and implement improvements.
• Drive Agile Delivery: Design and execute proof of concepts to rapidly test and deliver new digital capabilities in an agile environment.
• Vendor & Support Management: Serve as the GroupBy support owner—define SLAs, manage vendor relationships, and ensure resources are allocated efficiently to prevent recurring issues.
• Collaborate on Search Capabilities: Partner with the Engineering Manager and product owners to ensure the smooth delivery and maintenance of search functionalities.

About You;

We’re seeking a data-driven and innovative leader with deep technical knowledge of search technologies and e-commerce platforms. You should excel in problem-solving, collaboration, and mentorship, with a strong ability to optimize solutions and drive business outcomes.

What We’re Looking For:

• Expertise in Search Technologies: Deep understanding of search engines, ranking factors, and data-driven approaches to improving search performance and user experience.
• Stakeholder Management: Strong ability to build relationships and influence both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Technical Leadership: Proven experience guiding engineering teams, defining technical requirements, and delivering high-quality solutions.
• System Architecture: Ability to design complex systems, make strategic decisions, and provide technical oversight across multiple teams.
• Agility & Adaptability: Willingness to learn and adopt new technologies and approaches while working in fast-paced and dynamic environments.
• Collaboration & Communication: Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical issues for senior management and cross-functional teams.
• Technical Expertise: Strong knowledge of web technologies, APIs, and e-commerce environments, with experience supporting large-scale, multi-billion-pound operations.

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to understand existing systems without full documentation.
• Experience in Data Architecture or Solution Architecture.
• Working knowledge of JavaScript, HTML, XML Web Services, and database design.
• Expertise in data integration, APIs, and software engineering.
• Business analysis experience, with a focus on translating technical details into actionable business strategies.

The extras you’ll get:

At RS, as well as the usual employee benefits you’d expect from a FTSE listed company, including annual performance bonus, enhanced maternity and paternity leave, private healthcare, in the UK&I, we’ve just introduced a number of new Family Friendly Policies including:

Help for people to take control of ongoing Health conditions such as diabetes or asthma with £500 a year available for monitoring & consultation

Support for Neurodiverse colleagues and families with neurodiverse members with needs assessment, diagnosis and post-diagnostic support for autism spectrum, ADHD and Tourette’s syndrome

Support for Women at different life stages from streamlined fertility support through to diagnosis and monitoring of both endometriosis and menopause

Helping our LGBTQ+ community through enhanced coverage for trans colleagues, including voice coaching, facial surgery and gender confirmation surgery

Additions to Fertility coverage including IVF for lesbian couples and information/support around surrogacy and adoption for all.

We are RS

At RS we’ve been solving engineering problems for over 80 years: big ones, small ones, easy and difficult ones. We turn the ‘what ifs’ into the ‘why nots’, the impossible into the possible.

Our purpose? Making amazing happen for a better world.

We offer service and product solutions. We send out a parcel every 2 seconds, to over 130 countries. We provide over 700,000 in-stock and over 3 million unstocked products to more than 1.2 million customers.

We want people like you, as you are curious about things, you like doing things differently and also in a human way with empathy. Because that’s exactly how we partner with people – our customers, suppliers, colleagues and communities – to solve problems.

Come and join us and we’ll help you to think big, do more and unleash your brilliance, so you do amazing things too.