Product Manager, Ember Labs (Freelance, 6-Month Contract)

Help build and run Ember Labs – our new experimental home for AI-built energy data tools.

Ember Labs is a new initiative of global energy think tank Ember, where we will publish data tools co-created with AI to provide live intelligence for energy decision-makers. 

Ember is seeking an experienced product management contractor for an initial six-month engagement to establish and stabilise Ember Labs - our new experimental platform for AI-built energy data tools. The engagement has two workstreams: (1) setting up reliable platform operations, and (2) designing and embedding a repeatable process through which Ember's analyst teams build, test and graduate AI-assisted data tools. You will determine how best to deliver these outcomes, coordinating with Ember's data engineers, visualisation specialists and web agency as needed.

You will need some technical expertise – not to the level of building a full-stack application, but of understanding and deploying simple front-end tools.

The role will lead training and support for energy analysts to help them use AI to build no-code data tools that deliver real-world value for policymakers and investors. 

Ember is a non-profit organisation that works to accelerate the clean energy transition with data and policy. With a globally distributed team and a pioneering and collaborative work culture, it has established itself as a go-to source of energy intelligence for decision-makers worldwide.

6-month contract (possibility to extend), fractional role possible (70% to 100%).

Key Deliverables

• Establish stable operations for the Ember Labs platform includinginfrastructure, site performance, deployment workflow (via Webflow and GitHub), and incident response with well documented processes that Ember staff can operate beyond the engagement
• Establish and oversee a rapid Labs-to-Production product journey, from scoping and approval, to AI-assisted build, deployment on Labs, evaluation and improvements, and either retirement or full build for Ember’s main website. 
• Enable and empower non-technical teams to build AI-assisted data tools to be published as experiments on Ember Labs.
• Establishing an internal Labs cohort model to ensure continued momentum, and project managing the Labs tool development process 
• Providing training to teams on AI-assisted tool-building (e.g. using Claude Artifacts, Claude Code, etc.)
• Helping improving the quality of AI-assisted products, including with guidelines and training data, establishing governance frameworks for data quality and brand alignment, creating a culture of learning and improvement, and rapid resolution process if quality thresholds are not met  
• Measure the performance of experiments among target users, and provide feedback to the teams for iterative improvements and to shape the future product pipeline. 
• Work with the Policy, Comms and Data Teams of Ember to develop processes for graduating tools from Ember Labs to Ember’s main WordPress site, with support from our web agency as needed. 
• Ensure cost-effective delivery of the Labs project and monitor budget. 
• Provide recommendations on a long-term vision for Ember Labs to help speed up how live intelligence is provided for energy decision-makers.

Must have

• Minimum 3 years of product management experience, including measuring product performance, collecting external persona-specific feedback, facilitating and capturing internal learning and reflections, user and journey-mapping, articulating product impact, improving product impact and performance, etc.
• Familiarity with devops and CI/CD workflows with Github Actions, or similar.
• Experience in deploying and embedding static and server-backed web tools using tools such as Github Pages and Google Cloud Run.
• Basic understanding of Javascript, HTML, and CSS, as well as modern front-end frameworks (e.g. Svelte, React, Vue).
• Experience with AI-assisted development and an understanding of its strengths and pitfalls.
• Experience with web security when managing web development projects.
• Experience with writing and providing internal training sessions.
• Fluent with project management tools such as ClickUp, Monday, Asana.
• Comfortable working with technical and non-technical colleagues, and able to explain deployment and product decisions clearly.
• Fluent in spoken and written English.

Nice to have

• Experience of running product labs.
• Experience in working with design systems and component libraries (e.g. Storybook), and interest in seeing how they can improve AI-generated outputs.
• Experience building / maintaining a WordPress site.
• Experience in coordinating between a team and contracted agencies.

Contract details

Fee: Expected contract value of £30,000–£32,500 for 6 months, equivalent to a daily rate of £230–£250.

Duration: 6-month contract, with the possibility to extend. Fractional working available from 70%–100%.

Location: Fully remote. Ember is a remote-first organisation; some overlap with UK/European working hours is expected.