Product Owner Design System

About bol

Bol is the largest online retailer in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Position

How do you make our customers happy?

Bol.com aims to make every customer experience inspiring and user-friendly. To a large extent, these experiences are shaped by the design and performance of our store. So naturally, we want to preserve the store’s great look & feel, cohesion, scalability, and adaptability while ensuring we can also handle potential growth. This calls for a solid Design System that enables designers and front-end developers to create these high-quality customer experiences. A system based on broadly supported design principles. And all without forcing creativity into a straitjacket. Are you ready to lead the team that develops and promotes this Design System?

What you’ll do as Product Owner Design System

Speed, efficiency, and ease of use for all designers and developers – this is our ambition! Thanks to the Design System and our development standards, our designers and developers have access to reusable, well-documented components (visuals and code). And by helping the teams in our domain develop solutions faster, we can create more opportunities for innovation. As Product Owner Design System, you ensure that this ambition is realized. In effect, you’ll work with your colleagues in Team Universe (web engineers, app developers, and designers) to build and improve a Design System with universal appeal: for internal users and external visitors alike!

You are responsible for developing a vision and focus for the product so that innovation teams and other stakeholders know what we stand for and how we set our priories. You manage the backlog and determine how we complete sprint objectives with your team. This role requires an ability to communicate with and lead team members and an outside-in perspective. For example, you enjoy discussing issues with Design System customers: making the right impact involves gathering feedback, processing information, and validating developments. We also expect you to advocate a standardized company-wide front-end architecture. Including for future modifications. Major topics include extending the Design System to apps (multi-platform) and improving our cooperation with innovation teams by developing smart and robust processes.

• You develop and promote a strong vision for the Design System Universe, including strategies, KPIs, and initiatives that you devise and prioritize with your team
• You develop and realize a clear vision for front-end development
• You actively communicate with web/app teams and business stakeholders – gathering requirements, getting people on board, and aligning plans
• You adapt your style on the fly to maximize collaboration with all teams
• You help your team to realize ambitions and support team members in their way of working by giving them confidence and autonomy, monitoring progress, and correcting the course when necessary
• You ensure the ongoing high quality of the Design System – challenging because the system is used by a rapidly growing number of designers and developers
• You devise ways to quantify and communicate the performance of the Design System and its impact

Why you can make the difference?

You think in terms of systems and, with your team, know how to translate a high-level vision into concrete processes. You embrace the idea that a solid Design System accelerates innovation, for example, by obviating the impulse to constantly reinvent the wheel. This role calls for a facilitator. Both for our internal users and the 13 million customers who only see the Design System’s ‘output.’ You keep your cool in (sometimes) mildly chaotic settings and prioritize like a boss. You combine an understanding of tech with powers of persuasion and contagious enthusiasm. You enjoy sharing your vision for the product with the entire organization, inspiring developers and designers, and connecting stakeholders. Previous experience as a Product Owner is a must, as are a talent for formulating strategies and a drive to promote autonomy and boost innovation speed. Knowing how to coordinate (complex) dependencies and an eagerness to work with engineers also rank high on the list of success factors.

3 reasons why this is (not) for you

• Yes, if you want to replace chaos with order and structure. You accomplish this by developing smart processes and organizing systems cohesively 
• Yes, if you are an experienced Product Owner and a proactive and crystal-clear communicator vis-à-vis innovation teams and other stakeholders, including counterparts in other departments
• Yes, if you have an evident affinity for (component-based) Product Design and understand how designers and front-end developers work. Creating value for these colleagues? Hell yes!
• No, if developing processes and imposing order don’t excite you 
• No, if you can’t see the forest for the trees. Or vice versa
• No, if stakeholder management and working with other teams sounds unpleasant: you’d rather wander the halls talking to yourself

This is where you’ll work

As Product Owner Design System, you work in Shop Foundation as a member of Team Universe. Your team makes it easier for colleagues to design and build fantastic apps quickly and consistently. We take a multi-disciplinary approach and focus on enabling teams. We also value roles over job titles, bestow trust and responsibility, and are genuinely eager to help our colleagues grow. Including you.