A Day in the Life of Richie Foley, Head of Product at Ryanair

What do you do and how did you get there?

I manage a team of 15 product owners and business analysts who are responsible for working on Ryanair.com and the iOS and Android apps. I work on planning out our digital strategy for building out our platforms, making sure we are dealing with the ever evolving needs of both the business and the customer.

I studied Business Information Systems in UCC and then worked for Paddy Power for over 3 years where I got really good experience in customer facing products across different platforms. I joined Ryanair three years ago as App Product Owner and for the last two years I have been working in my current role as Head of Product.

What’s the best part of your role?

Seeing features go live and making a big impact for the business. I also really enjoy dealing with various stakeholders from all over the business and building good relationships with them.

What’s the biggest challenge?

Maintaining the quality of work with the pace we move at. Everything is extremely fast paced so it can be a challenge to get stuff live quickly while delivering high quality for the business and customer.

Fancy joining the team at Ryanair? Check out their live roles now.

What qualities are needed to excel in your role?

You need to be able to build relationships and be assertive. You also need to be able to roll up the sleeves when work has to get done, know the detail and roll with the punches.

Any advice for someone applying for a role like yours?

Adapt to the ways of working of the company you join but also bring your own views to make positive change. Have loose guidelines but don’t get caught up in documentation. Prefer conversation and be agile.

Why should someone be excited about working in product at Ryanair?

You get to influence the digital direction for a company whose platform will be used by millions of customers.

What’s your ultimate career goal?

Ultimately I would love to run my own company, what that may be i have no idea!

What’s the one thing you wish people knew about your job?

I don’t and can’t write lines of code.


Fancy joining the team at Ryanair? Check out their live roles now.


Author Aoife Geary

Aoife Geary is the Content Editor at Jobbio specialising in the areas of Workplace Culture, Diversity, Startups and Digital Trends. She's partial to a burrito, a bad pun and living way beyond her means.

More posts by Aoife Geary

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