MHCLG is seeking exceptional product people to help us transform into an agile, user-centred, digital organisation. We’re already doing amazing things. We’re moving away from our large, legacy IT contracts, bringing more capability in house and delivering modern IT and collaboration tools. The Local Digital Declaration, delivered by our Local Digital Collaboration Unit and written in association with Local Authorities and the Government Digital Service (GDS), will be the catalyst for change across the country.

Our ambition is to deliver digital services for our government users that are as good as the government’s best services for citizens. The work that you do will transform the lives of users in Local Authorities, in our internal policy teams, and those in Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) who apply for grants worth billions of pounds to support the creation of jobs and housing.

As a Senior Product Manager, you’ll help us to deliver iterative, user-centered improvements to one of our highest priority and most complex services. You’ll take the role of an intelligent customer, ensuring we get the best out of our relationships. You’ll also have the opportunity to work with diverse stakeholders in our policy areas such as the Department of Work and Pensions and our partners in the European Union.

Product management is new to the organisation, so you’ll also need to be a strong advocate for this way of working. You’ll need to help mentor the stakeholders you work with as well as other digital colleagues, and help embed the philosophies of continuous improvement in the department.

The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate professionalism, flexibility, leadership, commitment to delivery of outcomes and be user centered. Within this context, you’ll lead one or more multidisciplinary teams and develop other product managers, ensuring that all teams’ outputs support the purpose of the policy in ways that meet user needs. This will require you to:

• Develop an expert understanding of our users’ needs and champion these in the delivery of a high profile, complex MHCLG service;

• Work with a Service Owner from the policy area, develop and prioritise a product backlog, writing good user stories and making decisions based on data to improve the user experience;

• Own the development of processes that can move user stories quickly and smoothly between user research or business need and production;

• Engage with users and stakeholders through a range of channels to encourage take-up and ensure they are clear on the benefits of the product and that their feedback is being used to inform ongoing improvements;

• Define and set measurable KPIs;

• Lead and direct a 3rd party delivery team;

• Take ownership of problems and work with your delivery team to proactively resolve technical problems, ensuring that technical solutions continue to meet our business requirements;

• Collaborate with all other MHCLG services on our platform to share ideas about platform improvements;

• Develop an agile change control system that allows for rapid deployment of software releases but gives the business confidence;

• Define, explain and iterate a product vision that is compelling to your users, team and stakeholders;

• Help the Head of Digital Delivery build a product mindset within the department, helping define how we will continue to deliver and operate services; and

• Assess and deliver new functionality required by the business while protecting the integrity of existing services.

The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:

• A successful track record as a Product Management professional;

• An expert understanding of the product delivery lifecycle coupled with the experience of managing the operational process of designing and running a product or service throughout its entire life-cycle;

• Experience of creating, maintaining and prioritising product backlogs to direct the work of a support and delivery team;

• Experience of leading agile, multidisciplinary teams in the successful delivery of products and iteratively improving products through multiple delivery cycles;

• Experience of managing and delivering solutions to meet issues and problems that arise from day-to-day operations and through project delivery;

• Experience of writing stories and acceptance criteria that translate user needs into actionable deliverables;

• Extensive experience of establishing relationships and working collaboratively with 3rd parties and outsourced providers to achieve jointly agreed operational and project goals;

• An understanding of users and an ability to identify who they are and what their needs are based on evidence. Able to translate user stories and propose design approaches or services to meet these needs and engage in meaningful interactions and relationships with users. Puts users first and can manage competing priorities; and

• Experience of building and managing relationships with senior stakeholders and diverse groups to share knowledge, skills and deliver shared goals.

Please submit your CV and statement of suitability outlining how your skills are suited to the role. Please follow the link to Be Applied to submit your CV and to answer the suitability question. Your CV and suitability question should outline how your skills are suited to the role thinking about the key criteria as listed in the job description.

Your CV and statement of suitability will be assessed on: Agile working, Product Ownership, User Focus, Stakeholder Management.

At interview you will be asked about:

• Problem ownership

• Communications

• Empathy with stakeholders/stakeholder management

• Supplier Management

An initial sift of your CV will be conducted against the key criteria. Longlisted candidates may then be invited to an assessment/preliminary interview. This will typically involve a commitment of up to 2 hours.

Final interviews may also include an additional assessment exercise or presentation exercise. Please note that your CV must demonstrate evidence of the key criteria for you to be progressed to the next stage.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

For further information about the role, please contact:

Rebekah Ramsay Rebekah.Ramsay@twentysevenconsulting.co.uk

Sally-Anne Barber Sallyanne.barber@twentysevenconsulting.co.uk