The posting
Who we are
Since 1843, The Economist Group has championed independence, excellence and openness, helping people understand and tackle the critical challenges shaping the world. Today, we are building on that legacy as a global media and information-services company powered by digital innovation, analytical rigour and evidence-based insight.
Across our three businesses -The Economist, Economist Enterprise and Economist Education - we deliver trusted analysis and insights to individuals and organisations in more than 170 countries. United by a shared purpose to drive progress, we empower decision-makers to make sense of change and chart a course through an increasingly complex world.
As a colleague, you will be part of a culture that values ideas, encourages ownership and holds itself to high standards. We invest in people who are curious, thoughtful and adaptable, whether they are launching new products, reporting on global events or harnessing emerging technologies such as AI to improve how we work. Here, fresh thinking is taken seriously, ambition is matched by integrity, and great work is recognised. Working across disciplines, geographies and perspectives, we are united by a commitment to innovation, excellence and creating meaningful impact.
Want to discover more about life at The Economist Group? Follow @EconomistCareers on Instagram to discover the people, stories and opportunities that make TEG unique.
Role Overview & Context
The Economist is consolidating Product, Engineering, Delivery, Design and Quality into a single Technology organisation built around durable, cross-functional teams aligned to coherent product and platform domains. Each team has one accountable leader who owns the full lifecycle of its area: understanding the customer and business problem, shaping and prioritising the solution, building, testing, releasing and operating it, and measuring the value it creates.
Commerce & Payments is a critical domain within The Economist's consumer subscription business. It encompasses the technology, products and experiences that enable customers around the world to purchase, manage and renew their subscriptions, and that enable The Economist to price, package and monetise its propositions effectively.
The Head of Product & Engineering, Commerce & Payments will bring together product and engineering ownership of this domain under a single accountable leader. The role will be responsible for evolving the platforms and customer journeys that underpin subscription revenue, while simplifying the underlying technology and enabling greater commercial agility.
The purpose is to create a commerce capability that is reliable, scalable and easy for customers to use, while giving the business greater flexibility to innovate around pricing, packaging, payments and subscription models.
Scope
The role owns the end-to-end commerce and payments ecosystem for The Economist's consumer business, including:
- Checkout and conversion. The customer journeys that take prospective subscribers from intent to purchase, removing friction and improving conversion across markets, devices and payment methods.
- Payments. Payment processing and orchestration, payment methods, gateways and provider integrations, authentication, fraud prevention, payment optimisation and failed-payment recovery.
- Pricing and packaging. The technology and product capabilities that enable The Economist to develop, test and deploy pricing, offers, promotions, bundles and subscription propositions across markets.
- Subscriptions and billing. The platforms and services underpinning subscription creation, recurring billing, renewals, upgrades, downgrades, cancellations, refunds and other subscription lifecycle events.
- Revenue retention. Using technology, data and experimentation to reduce involuntary churn, improve payment success and make it easier for customers to maintain and manage their subscriptions.
- Commerce platforms and integrations. The architecture and integrations connecting commerce with identity, entitlement, customer data, finance, marketing, customer service and other parts of The Economist's technology ecosystem.
- Operational resilience and compliance. Ensuring commerce and payment services are secure, reliable and compliant with relevant payment, privacy and regulatory requirements.
The role is accountable for both product judgement and engineering execution across this scope, working closely with Consumer Commercial, Marketing, Finance, Customer, Data, Security and other Product & Engineering teams.
Accountabilities
- Own Commerce & Payments end to end. Set direction and own the roadmap within agreed strategic, financial and capacity guardrails, with accountability for customer outcomes, commercial performance and technical execution.
- Shape our commerce strategy. Develop the capabilities required to support The Economist's evolving subscription model, making it easier to introduce new propositions, pricing models, payment methods and routes to market.
- Lead a multidisciplinary team. Lead Engineering Managers, Product Managers, Product Designers and senior individual contributors, setting high standards and developing capability across disciplines.
- Move the numbers. Own and influence a defined set of commercial and customer KPIs, including checkout conversion, payment acceptance, renewal success, involuntary churn, subscriber retention and revenue.
- Optimise the payment experience. Continually improve how customers pay for and manage their subscriptions, balancing conversion and convenience with security, compliance, reliability and cost.
- Modernise and simplify. Evolve the underlying commerce architecture, reducing unnecessary complexity and technical debt while improving scalability, resilience and speed of change.
- Enable commercial experimentation. Build the capabilities that allow teams to test and launch new pricing, packaging, promotional and subscription propositions quickly and safely.
- Own technical quality and resilience. Set and maintain high architectural, engineering, security and operational standards for systems that sit directly in the revenue path.
- Build strong strategic partnerships. Work closely with Finance, Consumer Commercial, Marketing, Customer, Data and Technology colleagues, as well as payment providers and other strategic partners.
- Operate with a hands-on posture. Stay sufficiently close to the architecture, technology, data and customer experience to make credible trade-offs and maintain the confidence of senior engineers and commercial leaders.
Selection criteria
Essential
- Commerce engineering leadership at scale. Substantial experience leading product and engineering teams responsible for high-volume, customer-facing commerce or payments platforms. Consumer subscription, e-commerce, marketplace, media or other recurring-revenue environments are particularly relevant.
- Payments expertise. Strong understanding of modern payment ecosystems, including payment service providers, gateways, card and alternative payment methods, recurring payments, authentication, payment optimisation and failed-payment recovery.
- Subscription platform experience. Experience with the systems and customer journeys underpinning recurring subscription businesses, including billing, renewals, cancellations and subscription lifecycle management.
- Commercial product leadership. A track record of translating commercial opportunities into product and technology priorities, with demonstrable impact on conversion, retention, revenue or customer lifetime value.
- Engineering credibility. Sufficient technical depth to engage meaningfully in architecture and engineering decisions across distributed systems, APIs, integrations, data flows and high-availability transactional platforms.
- Direct leadership of multidisciplinary teams. Experience leading Engineering Managers and senior engineers alongside Product Managers and other product disciplines within a product-led organisation.
- Complex ecosystem integration. Experience operating across interconnected platforms spanning areas such as commerce, identity, entitlement, CRM, customer data, finance and customer service.
- Data and experimentation. Strong analytical judgement and experience using customer and transaction data, experimentation and performance metrics to prioritise investment and improve commercial outcomes.
- Business case construction. Proven ability to build and defend investment cases that combine technical understanding, customer insight and commercial value.
- Team building. A strong record of hiring and developing senior product and engineering talent and raising the capability of existing teams.
Desirable
- Global payments. Experience supporting international consumer businesses across multiple currencies, payment methods, markets and regulatory environments.
- Payment optimisation. Experience improving authorisation rates, reducing failed payments and involuntary churn, and managing payment-provider performance.
- Pricing technology. Experience building capabilities that enable sophisticated pricing, promotions, bundling and offer management.
- Commerce platforms. Experience with subscription management, billing or payment platforms and their integration into a broader consumer technology ecosystem.
- Risk and compliance. Working knowledge of areas such as PCI DSS, Strong Customer Authentication, fraud prevention, privacy and the regulatory considerations associated with payments.
- Digital subscriptions. Experience within news media, publishing, streaming, SaaS or another scaled recurring-revenue consumer business.
- AI-enabled ways of working. Experience introducing AI tooling into engineering and product workflows and using emerging technology to improve team effectiveness.
Attributes
- Commercially minded. Understands that commerce technology exists to enable customer and business outcomes, not simply to process transactions.
- Customer obsessed. Relentless about removing unnecessary friction from the purchase and subscription experience.
- Technically credible. Comfortable moving from a conversation about conversion and revenue to one about architecture, resilience and payment integrations.
- Data-led. Uses evidence to identify opportunities, make trade-offs and measure whether changes have worked.
- Pragmatic. Knows where complexity is necessary and where it should be removed.
- Influential. Able to align Product, Engineering, Finance, Marketing, Customer and Commercial stakeholders around shared outcomes.
- High ownership. Treats the reliability and performance of The Economist's commerce ecosystem as a direct responsibility.
- Builds strong teams. Raises standards, develops talent and creates an environment in which excellent product and engineering people want to work.
#LI-Hybrid
Working Arrangements
The majority of our roles operate on a hybrid working pattern, with 3+ days office attendance required.
AI usage for your application
We are an innovative organisation that encourages the use of technology. We recognise that candidates may utilise AI tools to support with their job application process. However, it is essential that all information you provide truthfully and accurately reflects your own experience, skills, and qualifications.
What we offer
Our benefits package is designed to support your wellbeing, growth, and work-life balance. It includes a highly competitive pension or 401(k) plan, private health insurance, and 24/7 access to counselling and wellbeing resources through our Employee Assistance Program.
We also offer a range of lifestyle benefits, including our Work From Anywhere program, which allows you to work from any location where you have the legal right to do so for up to 25 days per year. In addition, we provide generous annual and parental leave, as well as dedicated days off for volunteering and even for moving home.
You will also be given free access to all The Economist content, including an online subscription, our range of apps, podcasts and more.
