Head of Product Innovation

Full-Time Anywhere

We are looking for a Head of Product Innovation who can use their expertise in
service design and innovation to change the ways that funders support
charities. You will design and improve great funding products which are simple
to access, and focused on what matters most to the people and communities we
serve.  The salary will be £45,000 – £50,000, plus generous benefits, and can be based from London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Leeds or Exeter.

About us

The Big Lottery Fund is the largest community funder in the UK. We believe strong,
vibrant communities are built and renewed by the people living in them. As a funder,
we ask people what matters to them and focus on the skills and energy they bring
to strengthen their communities. We give money raised by National Lottery players
back to the communities they live in. Last year, we distributed more than £650
million to over 12,000 projects, supporting health, educational, environmental and
charitable activities.

We are making changes to how we work in England to help us serve people and
communities more effectively. We aim to work with people flexibly and on their
terms; working closer to communities; improving the ways we engage with
communities digitally; and building new partnerships with other funders, charities
and individuals. We are responding to what we have heard from people and charities
by simplifying and improving the funding and support that we offer.

About the role

The Head of Product Innovation will be leading a team responsible for developing
three funding products to enable grassroots community action across England; to
provide long term funding and support to charities; and to enable people to work
together and take joint action.

Our ambition is to ensure that these products are really responsive to the needs of
people and communities, and that we use user-centred design approaches to keep
on improving them.

As Head of Product Innovation, you will be responsible for:

Developing, inspiring and leading a team of product development managers
to lead on the development of our funding products: National Lottery Awards
for All, Reaching Communities and partnerships funding

Setting up systems and enabling an organisational culture so we can improve
these products based on service design standards, user feedback and ideas
from our frontline staff

Taking decisions about future improvements and changes to our products and
ensuring these are implemented effectively, in line with the long term vision
and key requirements for each of these products

About you

We’re looking for someone who is passionate about making a difference through
our funding, with empathy for the communities we serve. You will be excited by
the opportunity of developing our culture, systems and people so that we put our
users first in everything we do. You will have significant experience of developing
new products using a user led service design approach. You will also have
experience of building and leading teams and driving a high performance culture
through your ability to coach, inspire, and empower people.

You will have experience of making improvements to products post-launch in line
with feedback and insights from customers and frontline staff. Your ability to
build and maintain excellent relationships with a range of senior level internal and
external stakeholders will be second to none, and you will be a confident
communicator, comfortable in all environments.

We are a values-driven organisation where our staff care passionately about
making a difference to people and communities and advancing equalities. We are
looking for talented people who share these values, who want to learn and grow
and enable others to do so. Above all, we’re looking for someone who wants to be
part of changing the ways that funders support charities so that funding and
support is responsive and rooted in what matters to communities.