King’s College London: King’s launches first Career Accelerator in Product Management

As the digital economy continues to evolve, many companies are experiencing a step-change in the skills they need to thrive and grow. One key area where skills are in highest demand is in product management roles.

King’s Product Management Career Accelerator programme, developed by the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s in partnership with FourthRev, will equip students with the technical and real world skills required for a sustainable career as a product manager with 1:1 career coaching throughout the six-month programme.

This new course has been developed for career starters or changers taking their first step into product management, as well as for those already working in product management wanting to formalise their existing experience.

The programme, will see collaboration with leaders from organisations such as Atlassian, Dropbox, Mr Yum, Linktree, and industry expert, Janna Bastow, CEO of ProdPad. With a curriculum co-designed by global technology companies and leading employers, the programme will provide an immersive, project-based experience for learners seeking a career as a product manage, and will allow students the opportunity to work with an employer partner on real-world industry problems.

Product managers often oversee multiple departments, manage relationships between different teams and liaise with customers and external stakeholders, all of which require a diverse skill set. A key part of the King’s programme will be its emphasis on developing in-demand skills and experience expected of product managers in today’s digital economy. The Product Management Career Accelerator will expose learners to both the technical knowledge and human skills specifically related to product management, as well as cultivating interpersonal skills within a professional environment.

“The King’s Product Management Career Accelerator connects university and industry in a genuine partnership”, said Professor Smithies, Programme Coordinator on the Career Accelerator and Professor of Digital Humanities at King’s College London, that will “equip students with the confidence and skills they need to succeed in complex digital environments, ensuring they can design products that realise the needs of business, government and society and drawing on the expertise and strengths of King’s Department of Digital Humanities.”

King’s is delighted to be developing shorter courses through this partnership (to supplement our more traditional degree-length offerings) because it enables us to share our expertise more broadly. We are really proud of the incredible talent we have in this important area, placing us at the forefront of digital developments, and we want as many people as possible to be able to benefit from that talent. The skills and knowledge we offer are essential to tackling the major challenges of the twenty-first century. It is King’s mission to make the world a better place, and supporting the progression of people who are already in the workplace (as well as the more typical degree student) must be part of that. It’s also great to have this route to working more with industry experts and we look forward to developing further those relationships to the benefit of all parties.
– Professor Marion Thain, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, King’s College London
Mark Lester, Chief Partnerships Officer for FouthRev, said: “We are thrilled to be launching the Product Management Career Accelerator with King’s. Whether you’re looking to break into a product management career or deepening your expertise in product management, the Career Accelerator brings together the rich practical insights from veteran product managers, the experience of doing authentically-designed business projects from employers, and the academic rigour and analytical skill development from a world leading research university, so learners can acquire the job-relevant and critical abilities to achieve their career goals.”