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Job summary

This is an exciting time to join a growing Supplier Markets & Safer and Greener Buildings Commercial Team who are working to ensure that residents in high rise buildings across England feel safe in them now and in the future. 

Do you have: 

• Product management experience managing complex, high value, high profile and/or strategically important service development? 

• The ability to build strong relationships with stakeholders across government? 

• An ability to monitor, maintain and update technical system requirements to meet cost, quality, and time metrics? 

• Skills and experience in product management to drive digital excellence both internally and externally to the organisation?   

• A desire to make operational programme delivery more efficient and effective? 

• The passion to work in one of the most dynamic, forward thinking & people-focused Departments driving the Government’s key social and economic policies?  

If so… then maybe this could be your next career move! 

Building our Digital, Data and Technology capability in government is at the heart of a far-reaching programme of Civil Service reform. We need amazing digital talent in all government departments; people who can build good public and internal-facing services with users at their heart, work closely with senior cross-government stakeholders, and deliver high-profile services at pace whilst having the gravitas and depth of experience to lead colleagues through complex change. 
 

This role is for a Digital professional based in our Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) Supply Chain Management and Strategy team (part of Commercial) delivering departmental objectives that supports communities across the UK to thrive, making them great places to live and work. 

The Product Manager who will be part of a multidisciplinary team, working with commercial specialists. 

You can find more about the DLUHC and its work here 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-levelling-up-housing-and-communities  

https://www.linkedin.com/company/luhcgovuk 

We’re looking for a Senior Product Manager to develop an online Remediation Marketplace to bring together remediation partners with those who need these services, focussing on ensuring users’ needs are met. You will play an important role in scoping, embedding, implementing and continuously improving an innovative online marketplace, through alpha and beta phases. This work sits under the Safer and Greener Buildings (SGB) Portfolio within DLUHC. You will report into the Head of Supply Chain Management and Strategy and collaborate within DLUHC, across government, and with external consultants, Ministers and suppliers to deliver the service. You will work with colleagues from a range of programmes to identify and deliver solutions that help meet users’ needs and drive remediation efficiency and effectiveness. 

You will be responsible for setting a product vision and devising a roadmap to achieving it by working with DLUHC’s design, technical and data expertise, as well as with the commercial leads. You will manage a backlog of user stories, and you will be responsible for prioritising what needs to happen to achieve your goals. You will know how to measure the impact of your team’s work to demonstrate progress and report to stakeholders. You will manage the budget, write business cases, secure funding and manage contracts with external suppliers.  

Your work will make a significant contribution to the work the Department is doing within the Safer and Greener Buildings (SGB) directorate, which has three focus areas: 

• Remediation: Identify high rise residential buildings that have unsafe constructional aspects and monitor and support their remediation. 

• Building Regulatory Review: Implement the changes identified in Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations that are needed to make the building safety system fit for purpose. 

• Net Zero: Implement building standards and corresponding measures supporting delivery of the Government’s target of net zero emissions by 2050. 

Some examples of the work that our team supports are listed below:   

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1066636/April_2022_BSF_Registrations__prospectus.pdf 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/remediation-of-non-acm-buildings 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-from-dluhc-to-residential-property-developers-on-industry-negotiations 

DLUHC has built a strong product management community, which meets regularly to provide support and learning opportunities to each other. The Department is a strong advocate of agile working, and you’ll need to help mentor the stakeholders you work with as well as other digital and policy colleagues to help embed the philosophies of continuous improvement in the department. 

Job description

As a Senior Product Manager, you'll: 

• develop an expert understanding of our users’ needs and champion these in the delivery of a high-profile remediation service

• be an expert in Agile methodologies, and where necessary will coach colleagues and stakeholders 

• lead the development and running of the Remediation Marketplace by managing the contract with an external provider, including running procurement if needed 

• develop strong and supportive relationships with stakeholders, keeping them appropriately informed during development and gathering and analysing their feedback 

• develop and prioritise a product backlog, writing good user stories and making decisions based on data to improve the user experience

• be tasked with engaging our end user community through a range of channels to encourage feedback and open dialogue

• define and then set measurable KPIs for your service, which can be reported against to demonstrate progress against stated benefits

• work with a multidisciplinary delivery team to ensure the right things are delivered and that the department knows when to expect them

• manage the budget for your service, including writing business cases and securing funding for continuous improvement

• maintain project documentation throughout implementation and ongoing management of the Remediation Marketplace 

• liaise with other DLUHC teams, including the Digital Front Door, as well as services on our shared platform to share ideas about platform improvements and prioritise activities that maximise return on investment

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

• be an active member of the team, supporting rollout and policy work as appropriate

Person specification

As a Senior Product Manager, you'll have:

• a successful track record as a Product Management professional and demonstrate an understanding of design, technology, and data principles

• used an iterative and flexible approach to deliver solutions and outcomes that meet user needs across a variety of channels

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

• extensive experience of establishing relationships and working collaboratively with third parties, stakeholders and outsourced providers to achieve jointly agreed operational and project goals

• experience coaching DDaT colleagues and others in Agile and Lean practices, and building problem-solving capability 

• a good understanding of industry best practice, know the benefits of a product and can persuade others that it’s the right one to use, and can prepare business cases based on user needs

• acted as a recognised expert, worked and led teams in an agile way, and advocated and championed you and your team’s approaches, as well as challenging your team where necessary

• motivated a team to collectively own an ambitious vision and set of bold deliverables through leadership and communication, using impact and influence rather than direct line management

• experience working in complex and/or challenging circumstances, and acting as the escalation point for major operational issues 

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture

• Changing and Improving

• Making Effective Decisions

• Communicating and Influencing

• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £51,934, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £14,022 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role

• An environment with flexible working options

• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

We are for everyone 

At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation. 

We would strongly recommend that applicants get in touch with the vacancy manager to find out more information about this role. 

We are for everyone 

CV and Cover Letter Declaration 

We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment. 

Please remove references to your: 

• name/title

• educational institutions

• age

• gender

• email address

• postal address

• phone number

• nationality/immigration status

You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter. 

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors. 

At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing: 

. Experience 

. Technical Ability 

Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page referencing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description. 

Please submit a CV and a cover letter that explains why you want this position and how your skills correspond to the description.

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of experience, behaviour and strength based questions as listed in the advert.

In full the campaign will test the below Success Profile Elements: 

Experience: Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description 

Technical: Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description. 

Strength: The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.  

Behaviours: Seeing the big picture, Changing and Improving, Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Managing a Quality

We do not consider direct CV applications – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs: 

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign 

Grade 7 salary 

• The salary for this role is £57,091 (London) or £51,934 (National). 

• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges. 

 
Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.   

Benefits 

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018: 

Any move to DLUHC from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk. 

For further information about the benefits available to DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack. 

Location 

• Leeds 

• Wolverhampton 

• Darlington* 

• Manchester

• Bristol

• Birmingham

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role. 

*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service.  This role is based at DLUHC and we will be joined on the campus by: 

• HM Treasury  

• Department for International Trade 

• Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy  

• Office for National Statistics  

• Department for Education 

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack. 

Sift and Interview dates 

Sifting is envisaged to take place from Monday 22/01/2024 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall. 

Reserve List 

In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Due to the length of time CTC checks can take, our HR Shared Services team will contact reserve list candidates for London based roles to commence CTC checks. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list. 

Fixed Term Details

For external candidates – you will be offered a 23 Month fixed term appointment with a possibility of permanency.  

For existing civil servants – you will be offered a 23 Month loan opportunity. Before applying for the role, you will need to seek approval from your parent department to take up a loan appointment should you be successful. 

For DLUHC employees – you will retain your existing contract 

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the DLUHC candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules 

Candidate Pack Information 

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 

Internal Fraud Database 

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.  

For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals

• nationals of the Republic of Ireland

• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)

• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020

• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.