About this role
We’re building the UK’s next generation engineering powerhouse, providing critical technology that strengthens national security and resilience. We specialise in turning advances in sensing, AI, and communications into operational capability for the edge, where connectivity may be degraded or denied. Our work focuses on accelerating the deployment of technology, improving decision-making for frontline teams, and protecting people and critical assets in demanding environments. Headquartered in Bristol, Rowden employs around 200 people and operates over 20,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing facilities. We have a growing international footprint and are one of Europe’s fastest-growing engineering businesses. About the role Dovetail is Rowden's edge first software platform for configuring, securing and managing frontline operator systems. It covers the situational awareness kit, radios and end user devices that dismounted troops and system integrators rely on in the field. It is built to keep working when connectivity cannot be guaranteed, using offline first Edge Nodes, encrypted local state, signed configuration profiles and a central Edge Manager that syncs as soon as a connection becomes available. We're looking for a Senior Product Owner to take ownership of the Dovetail roadmap end to end, working across Edge Manager and Edge Node capabilities and mentoring other Product Owners as the team grows. Dovetail is licensed to hardware vendors and system integrators, so the roadmap is shaped as much by integration constraints and security requirements as by internal priorities. This is a hands on, technical role. You will be reading feature specs that cover RBAC models, sync conflict handling, VPN based connectivity and artefact signing, and you need to be comfortable working at that level of detail rather than relying on engineers to translate it for you. While this role offers hybrid working options, it requires a minimum of 3 days per week on-site at our Bristol HQ, with travel to customer sites. Candidates must be eligible for SC clearance. More information about security clearance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels Make and defend prioritisation trade-offs where requirements conflict, for example offline first constraints against partner feature requests or security hardening. Maintain a backlog that holds up to technical scrutiny: clear, testable and sequenced against real dependencies rather than business value alone. Translate integration requirements from system integrators and hardware vendors into epics, features and user stories that engineering can build against. Write and review acceptance criteria for features involving device lifecycle, identity and access management, sync behaviour and data models, with enough precision that ambiguity does not surface mid sprint. Work directly with engineering leads on architectural trade-offs, such as sync conflict resolution or the API contracts between Edge Node and Edge Manager, rather than deferring technical decisions entirely to the team. Mentor other Product Owners as the Dovetail team grows, setting the standard for backlog quality, stakeholder handling and requirement clarity. Represent the product at a senior level in front of leadership, partners and customers. Act as the primary product contact for system integrators and hardware vendors evaluating or building on Dovetail. Balance the needs of internal engineering, external partners and security or compliance stakeholders, who will not always agree with each other. Run backlog refinement, sprint planning, reviews and acceptance of completed work. Ensure UX, engineering and QA are aligned on scope before commitment, not after.