Product Development Team – SkilledUp Life

A global engine of Volunteer talent, working alongside ambitious tech founders.

0

Volunteers

0

Countries

0

Tech startups

0+ yrs

In operation

Inside your Product team

One team. Nine roles that ship the product.

Whether you go top down or bottom up, you can assemble every role you need from our Volunteer talent pool. Here is who you can bring on, and what each of them owns.

Product Leader

Whether you go top down or bottom up, the sooner you appoint a Product Manager to lead development, the smoother things run, while you remain the Product Owner. They own the road map, create and approve the product documents, set the sprint timeline, assemble the team, keep performance high and deadlines met, take corrective action on challenges, coordinate across the organisation, approve the designs and make sure code reviews and testing happen.

Solution Architect

Designs the overall architecture of the product and guides technical decisions so it stays scalable, maintainable and aligned with business goals. Owns the technology stack, performance planning, security, integration and technical mentorship.

Business Analysts

Once the concept is validated, they turn it into a product brief and specification the team can build from. They interview users, capture requirements, run competitor analysis, design features for a competitive advantage and prepare the user stories and specification.

UI/UX Designers

Once the specification is written, design starts. The UX Designer develops robust UX outcomes from the data captured by the Business Analyst, and the UI Designers turn those outcomes into usable, polished designs.

Software Engineers

Widely known as Product Developers, they turn the documented vision into a live usable product. Your team ought to include both front end and back end developers covering UI, server side logic, databases, APIs, authentication, performance, deployment and testing.

Quality Assurance

QA user testers make sure the product meets user and customer requirements. They plan the testing strategy, run functional, compatibility and regression testing, identify bugs and clear them before they become complaints that drive churn.

DevOps

DevOps Volunteers make sure the product is deployed, maintained and scaled reliably, improving speed, stability, security and operational efficiency through infrastructure setup, CI and CD automation, monitoring, backups and incident response.

Security and Pen Testing

These Volunteers find vulnerabilities before malicious actors can exploit them. They run application, network and access control testing, detect misconfigurations, report risk with remediation advice and retest once fixes are in place.

Product Marketer

Product Marketers take the product to market while capturing early case studies. They handle market research, the value proposition, go to market strategy, content, lead generation and sales enablement, working closely with the Marketing and Sales teams.

A combination that unlock everything else.

Before you build the Product Development team fully, take the smart approach. We recommend kicking off your SkilledUp Life journey with these two roles.

HR Volunteer

Lists and manages your Opportunities, finds the best teammates and runs recruitment from your Dashboard, while an HR professional gains hands on experience. A genuine win win.

Founder's Assistant

Gen AI is great for personal productivity, but a human Executive Assistant or Founder's Assistant picks up the ad hoc tasks AI cannot, freeing you to focus on what only a founder can do.

Tip: get these two in place first, then appoint your Product Leader and Business Analysts.

From sign up to first hire, fast.

A short, repeatable loop. List, screen, headhunt and agree, then start building together.

  1. Sign up and subscribe Register as a company, create your profile, pick the Product plan, share your recruitment plans and land on your Dashboard.

  2. List an Opportunity Choose an Opportunity Template and attach the relevant Prequalification Questionnaire (PQQ).

  3. Apply and headhunt SkilledUp Lifers answer your PQQ. Search the 66,000+ list and invite the best to apply through direct messaging.

  4. Interview and agree Progress applicants: review, interview (reject with a clear reason where needed), sign the Volunteer Agreement and build.

Not sure where to start? Build your team in three moves.

A no fuss order we recommend for most founders. Get the foundations in first and the rest of the build runs smoothly.

  1. Set your foundation Recruit HR and an EA Start with an HR Recruiter Volunteer to run your dashboard and recruitment, and an Executive Assistant (EA) Volunteer or Founder's Assistant to absorb ad hoc tasks. Both free you up to focus on the product.

  2. Shape the build Appoint your product leadership Going top down, bring on a Product Leader, then Business Analysts, then a Solution Architect. Going bottom up, start with a UI/UX Designer and a few engineers.

  3. Build and ship Add engineering and launch support Layer in front end and back end engineers, then QA, DevOps and Security to keep things stable, and a Product Marketer to promote your product features.

Top down or bottom up? If you plan well, can execute and have deep domain knowledge of the Problem you solve, we suggest a top down approach. If you are more experimental and unclear about the Problem and Solution, we suggest a bottom up approach.

One plan. Flat fee. No surprises.

The Product plan opens up the design and engineering side of SkilledUp Life, with the listings, templates and team size you need to turn a validated idea into a shipped product.

Budget is not an issue? We recommend the GTM plan even at the Product stage. You unlock more flexibility, more support and Volunteer intelligence, and you can upgrade any time from your dashboard.

Product plan

£99/ month

or £990/year — save £198 vs. monthly

Frequently asked questions.

Can I start on Product and upgrade to GTM later? +

Yes, of course. The higher plans provide more flexibility and support, and you can upgrade any time. Your volunteers and listings carry over.

Budget is not an issue. Can I build a Product team on the GTM plan? +

Yes, of course. If budget is not a constraint, GTM is our recommendation even at the Product stage. We can provide significant help under GTM, including Volunteer intelligence.

Why am I unable to list an 11th Opportunity? +

The Product plan allows a maximum of 10 live Opportunity listings at any time. Close or fill one to make room, or upgrade to the GTM plan.

Why am I unable to add a 26th Volunteer team member? +

The Product plan caps your team at 25 Volunteer team members. Consider upgrading to the GTM plan, which allows up to 100.

What are the steps in recruitment? +

Once applications arrive, review and progress them. If an applicant is not a fit, reject with a clear reason. Otherwise progress from Review to Interview, and use Direct Messaging to communicate as much as possible.

Why do you recommend an HR Volunteer first? +

Your time is precious as a founder. An HR Volunteer is ideally suited to list and manage Opportunities, find the best talent and run recruitment, while an HR professional gains valuable practical experience. A win win for both parties.

Why do you recommend an Executive Assistant Volunteer? +

While Gen AI is great for personal productivity, a human assistant who is good at ad hoc tasks can help you improve your own productivity even further.

Do you recommend a top down or bottom up approach? +

A top down approach starts by recruiting the Product Leader and Business Analyst, followed by a Solution Architect. A bottom up approach starts with a UI/UX Designer and a few software engineers. If you usually plan well, can execute and have deep domain knowledge of the Problem you solve, go top down. If you are more experimental and unclear about the Problem and Solution, go bottom up.