Lead Product Manager

Full-Time Manchester, Bristol, London Salary: Up to £73,900 (London) / £71,000 (National) based on capability Closes: 2021-07-19

Who we are

At the Government Digital Service (GDS), our mission is to build a simple, joined-up and personalised experience of government for everyone. Using our unique position at the centre of government, we develop services that work for the user, however complex the underlying systems may be. We believe that ensuring things work for end users is the only way to realise the efficiencies that come with digital transformation.

Our focus is on delivering five missions in the following areas:

  • GOV.UK as the single and trusted online destination for government information and services
  • Joined-up services that solve whole problems and span multiple departments
  • A simple digital identity solution that works for everyone
  • Common tools and expert services
  • Joined-up data across departments

You can read more about these missions and our vision for the transformation of government in our 2021-2024 strategy

What you’ll do

We are looking for a Lead Product Manager for GOV.UK Notify – our high profile messaging platform and one of the products in our Government as a Platform programme.

GOV.UK Notify lets service teams across the public sector send text messages, emails and letters to their users cheaply and easily, improving the user’s experience.

Since its launch nearly 5 years ago, use of GOV.UK Notify has grown exponentially. Today, over 1,000 organisations use it in more than 4,200 public services. In total, that’s over 1.8 billion updates, alerts, receipts and reminders sent a year. It is on track to save taxpayers an average of £35 million a year over the next 5 years.

Organisations that use GOV.UK Notify range from government departments to local councils, NHS trusts to GP surgeries, and fire services to ambulance trusts. It is used in a huge variety of ways, including to alert people to flood warnings, remind soldiers of their medical appointments, update people on their passport applications and inform prison wardens of their rotas.

To learn more about what Lead Product Managers do in government, please review the DDaT Capability Framework.

As a lead product manager you’ll:

  • provide direction and leadership for multidisciplinary product teams in running, supporting and continuously improving products so that they meet user needs
  • own and be responsible for developing and articulating a clear vision, achievable goals and measurable objectives for your products
  • develop the product strategy and roadmap, regularly iterating these to meet the changing needs
  • manage the prioritisation of product development in your area of the portfolio, ensuring a balance of support work so that the products remain reliable, robust and secure, whilst also continuously improving
  • lead engagement with stakeholders, users and partner organisations, by running demos, blogging, speaking at conferences and facilitating workshops
  • maintain knowledge of the changing digital and technology landscape and the opportunities they provide to improve the delivery of public services in the UK
  • coach and mentor other members of the product community, identifying learning and development opportunities for individuals and teams

Who you are

We’re interested in people who have experience in a number of the following areas:

  • extensive senior-level experience of product managing high-volume digital products in a fast-paced environment
  • working with multidisciplinary, agile teams, – from discovery to delivery, and continuous, data-led improvement and iteration of a live product
  • engaging directly with users, including senior stakeholders and coordinating this engagement across a number of organisations to identify a common set of needs and priorities
  • managing a mature product and ensuring a consistent approach to user and technical operational support
  • high-level understanding of modern technologies used in delivery of cloud-based software products – and able to explain the purpose and constraints of these technologies to non-technical people
  • developing and selling a product strategy to secure funding and support for your products
  • building and iterating economic and commercial models for products, that cover costs, benefits and pricing
  • working in or with public sector organisations, including cross-organisational working and navigating spend control processes and high-value procurement
  • strong communication skills that enable you to engage with people through a range of channels and explain what you are doing and how you are doing it in clear and compelling ways
  • recruiting, coaching and line management of product managers, identifying learning and development opportunities for individuals and teams

For further information, please click the link to apply.

Tagged as: Flexible hours