Description
Role Profile: Product Manager, Digital Delivery Centre
This is a PRODUCT MANAGER ROLE NOT PROJECT!
Our Product Managers perform a critical role in agile teams at this Government department. They provide day-to-day leadership for multi-disciplinary teams to create and run outstanding digital services that our customers prefer to use, even when non-digital options are available. Product Managers are responsible for evaluating end-user requirements and ensuring the product being developed is aligned with their needs whilst delivering business value. Product Managers here work closely with Service Managers responsible for one or more large-scale digital services.
My Client is one of the biggest of any organisation in the UK and we run the biggest digital operation in Government. Our digital business runs the IT behind tax and benefits services for 45 million individual and 4.9 million business customers. We are undergoing a major transformation programme, which includes a £200 million investment in digitisation, so customers can do more for themselves online and in Real Time, on computers, tablets and smartphones, bringing them bang up to date, in line with banks and other large customer operations.
They are building a team of outstanding people who will create and run these new and improved digital services. They will be using modern technology and agile development methods, and release as much of our work as possible as open source software.
As a Product Manager you will:
- Work with the team to create and run one or more outstanding digital services that meet well-defined user needs, in line with the Digital by Default Service Standard
- Work with the Digital Service Manager to develop and communicate the overall vision of the product being developed
- Work with business analysts, user researchers and designers to turn usage data, user research outputs and user feedback into actionable insights that drive service design and prioritisation of service improvements for digital and assisted digital channels
- Use agile methodologies to identify near-term and long-term priorities, work with your Agile Delivery Manager/Scrum Master to maximise visibility of those plans, and enable your team to release frequent service improvements that deliver real value for users
- Direct the development of user-driven prototypes to test potential new features with users in order to explore potential improvements to existing products
- Prioritise and maintain the Product backlog, collaborating with Business Analysts and Developers to create and refine user stories that deliver service improvements for users
- Ensure that you maximise take-up of your digital service, identifying and meeting assisted digital requirements to support take-up
- Participate in the wider community of Service and Product Managers (inside and outside of government), building relationships, sharing agile best practice and learning
- Build resilience and responsiveness in the organisation by being open and honest about risks and challenges and the actions required to address unexpected developments
- Keep continually abreast of changes to user habits, preferences and behaviours across various digital platforms, and their implications for successful delivery of digital services
Skills and Experience:
- Proven leadership in the design, delivery and operational management of high quality, user-focused digital services (whether in the private, public or third sector)
- Experience of management - setting direction, coaching/managing staff and being an enabler of change.
- Practical experience of user centred design and user needs analysis
- Proven ability to challenge and remove any unnecessary barriers to service delivery
- A demonstrable understanding of the digital landscape and the opportunities for service improvement and innovation offered by digital technology
- Proven ability to manage stakeholders, prioritising and managing business expectations and requirements
- Highly articulate and credible at a senior level, consistently delivering inspiring, engaging and meaningful messages about the future direction of your service(s)
- Strong negotiation skills and the proven ability to influence external partners, stakeholders and customers to secure mutually beneficial outcomes
- Demonstrable experience of current agile project management practices
- Practical experience interpreting user data and feedback to design and implement channel shift strategies to move users from traditional to digital delivery channels
- Proven ability to analyse user research and performance data and use this to design and continually improve digital services that meet user needs in a convenient and straightforward way
- Experience of open source and cloud platforms
- Experience of working in fixed time variable scope projects