Job Description & Details
This is a heavy-hitting 24-month contract for a product-minded R&D Project Manager who knows how to herd cats without killing innovation. If your background is purely in IT services or systems integration, you'll struggle here; they specifically want someone who has shipped software inside true product-led companies.
What You'll Actually Be Doing
You'll be living in the trenches between Product, Engineering, Design, and QA. Your day-to-day will involve wrangling complex dependencies, running Agile ceremonies that actually provide value rather than wasting time, and aggressively tracking risks before they derail a release. You aren't just taking meeting notes—you are actively unblocking engineers, managing capacity, and driving go-live readiness across distributed teams.
The Core Tech Stack
You need to be fluent in the modern product management ecosystem. Mastery of JIRA, Confluence, and roadmap tools like Aha! or Productboard is non-negotiable. More importantly, your core 'tech stack' is Agile and Scrum methodologies, capacity planning models, and cross-functional dependency mapping. They need someone who understands the software development lifecycle from scoping to post-release tracking without needing their hand held.
Interview Expectations
Expect them to grill you on a time when a critical release went sideways due to a cross-functional dependency and how you handled the fallout. They want to see that you can manage executive stakeholders while keeping engineering morale intact under pressure. Another favorite line of questioning will revolve around managing scope creep in a fast-paced R&D environment—be prepared to explain how you say 'no' to product leads without stalling momentum.
Application Advice
Your resume needs to scream 'product company,' not 'IT consultancy.' Strip out any language that makes you sound like an outsourced project coordinator. Weave in heavy-hitting keywords like Agile/Scrum delivery, cross-functional program management, risk mitigation, release management, and capacity planning. Show metrics and tangible outcomes from past software product launches to clear the ATS and catch the hiring manager's eye.