Product Owner - Finance (Aderant)

The Department

Our Technology team continues to go from strength to strength, playing a vital role in firm-wide innovation and strategy. Far from being a support function, Technology is integral to the firm's growth agenda, backed by strong leadership engagement and sustained investment.

The Role

Reporting to the relevant Product Manager, the Product Owner for Finance (Aderant) owns the how and when of delivery across the Aderant practice-management ecosystem, including core back-office finance, Expert Time, billing, collections, WIP, enquiries, records, BillBlast and associated integrations. The role translates product strategy and business priorities into a clear, prioritised backlog and shippable outcomes.

This is a senior, hands-on role and the primary interface between business stakeholders, delivery teams, technical specialists and suppliers. It is accountable for delivery quality, release readiness, operational sustainability and measurable value, and may deputise for the Product Manager within the product area where required.

Duties and Responsibilities

Backlog and requirements management

• Define, prioritise and maintain the Jira backlog and delivery roadmap in line with product strategy and business outcomes.
• Translate product objectives into well-formed epics, user stories, requirements and testable acceptance criteria.
• Keep work refined, documented and ready for delivery, making dependencies, risks and trade-offs visible.

Delivery and technical partnering

• Lead or actively participate in planning, refinement, reviews and retrospectives, using Agile or hybrid methods pragmatically.
• Work with engineers, solution engineers, QA, Architecture, Data and Security to assess feasibility, sequence work and manage dependencies.
• Understand relevant architecture, integrations, data flows, configuration and non-functional requirements, and ensure technical debt and service health are represented in priorities.

Stakeholder, supplier and adoption leadership

• Act as the day-to-day product contact for users, business owners, operational teams and suppliers.
• Manage supplier relationships, releases, licensing, support performance and product changes where applicable.
• Coordinate pilots, UAT, release readiness, communications, training and adoption activity, with clear progress and risk reporting.

Quality, value and compliance

• Validate outcomes against acceptance criteria and approve readiness for release.
• Build meaningful adoption, service-quality and value measures into initiatives from the outset.
• Ensure delivery meets the firm's security, data, risk, compliance and operational-readiness requirements.

Product area accountabilities

• Own delivery and operational priorities for the Aderant estate, including configuration, upgrades, modules, integrations and release readiness.
• Develop detailed understanding of time capture, billing, collections, WIP, finance reporting, matter lifecycle and records workflows.
• Coordinate closely with Finance, Legal Operations, Data and technical teams where Aderant data and services underpin downstream reporting and products.
• Protect revenue-critical operation through rigorous testing, change control, service readiness, technical-health management and supplier escalation.

Skills/Experience

Essential

• Substantial experience as a Product Owner, Senior Product Owner or equivalent in a technology delivery environment.
• Proven experience managing complex backlogs and translating strategic objectives into deliverable increments of value.
• Strong stakeholder leadership, requirements analysis and written communication skills.
• Strong technical literacy across enterprise SaaS, integrations, data flows and third-party supplier ecosystems.
• Hands-on experience with Jira or comparable product and delivery tooling.
• A pragmatic, accountable approach focused on outcomes, quality and continuous improvement.
• Strong experience with Aderant Expert or a comparable complex finance, ERP or practice-management platform.
• Practical knowledge of legal finance processes such as time recording, billing, WIP and collections.

Desirable

• Experience in legal, professional services, financial services or another regulated environment.
• Experience operating in a product-led model and supporting OKRs, product goals or value measurement.
• Experience with workflow automation, AI-enabled products or process redesign.
• Experience with Aderant modules, reporting, integrations or major upgrades.

Please note that this job profile is not an exhaustive list of duties but merely an outline of the key components of the role. You may be required by your line manager to take on additional responsibilities when requested.

About Mishcon de Reya Group

The Mishcon de Reya Group is an independent, international professional services business with law at its heart, employing over 1400 people with over 650 lawyers. It includes the law firm Mishcon de Reya LLP and a collection of leading consultancy businesses that complement the firm's legal services.

Mishcon de Reya LLP is based in London, Oxford, Cambridge, Singapore, Hong Kong and UAE. The firm services an international community of clients and provides advice in situations where the constraints of geography often do not apply.The work the firm undertakes is cross-border, multi-jurisdictional and complex, centred around three increasingly entwined and connected sectors: the Innovation Economy, Private Wealth and Capital, and Real Estate. The firm is known as a disputes powerhouse with a formidable capacity firmwide for dispute resolution.

The Mishcon de Reya Group includes consultancy businesses MDR Discover,MDR Mayfair(in London, Singapore and Dubai), MDR ONE, and MDRi(in Hong Kong). The Group also includesMDR Lab, which invests in the most promising early stage legaltech companies as well as the Mishcon Academy, its in-house place of learning and platform for thought leadership.

In 2024, the Group announced its first strategic acquisition in the alternative legal services market, flexible legal resourcing business Flex Legal. It also acquired a majority stake in Somos, a global group actions management business.

We strive to create a fully diverse and inclusive workplace where all our people are empowered to fulfil their potential. We are proud of our agile working culture and are always happy to talk flexible working.

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