About the job

Job summary

DWP Digital is the digital part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). We build and maintain digital services that enable millions of people to access the help, advice and financial support they need.

We want to be reflective of the diversity of the UK and we have a plan to be fully representative by 2025.

We are proud to be in the Times Top 50 Employers for Women 2022 list and a disability confident employer.

We are looking for a lead product manager to work across a key product and service enablement area at DWP Digital. 

Our current product managers say “Working in DWP (and government) can be challenging but very rewarding. The support offered by the practice is extensive and invaluable.”

You will be part of a healthy Product Community of Practice whereby you will share what you are doing and also gain valuable input from your fellow PMs

You’ll be part of a supportive team where you will work together to design and build the right things.

The role may not be easy at times, but you’ll be well supported, and you’ll get a minimum of 5 days learning and development annually.

Job description

This role is with our Health and Disability area where we transform how we deliver our services to ensure that people with a health condition or disability get the support they need. Your area of responsibility will be technology focussed across engineering, infrastructure, security and quality assurance capabilities spanning all of Health and Disability.

You will be part of the Senior Leadership Team and work closely with the Deputy Director to push forward the enablers that allow teams across Health and Disability to deliver robust and secure services to millions of claimants. This is a challenging role where you will be expected to manage competing priorities both within your teams and also the teams that rely on the capabilities. You will help drive forward change and innovation while working with other areas of DWP to grow the maturity of the organisation from a technology perspective.

We are looking for a user driven enthusiastic Lead Product Manager to join us and work within our Health and Disability portfolio. You will be accountable for a portfolio of technical enabling products & technology services including cloud infrastructure within Health and Disability and be responsible for making evidenced based strategic and tactical product decisions and making key priority calls.

You’ll be responsible for:

• developing the product strategy
• owning the product roadmap
• making key priority calls
• making evidence-based strategic and tactical product choices
• communicating product success to stakeholders
• explaining controversial choices about your product
• coaching less experienced product managers

The role will involve line managing colleagues in the team.

Person specification

When giving details in your employment history and personal statement you should highlight your experience in line with essential criteria below.  

Apply if you have:

• Experience of creating and communicating a product vision and roadmap, getting stakeholder buy in
• Worked with user researchers to identify user needs and represented the user in all product choices
• Made effective choices based on incomplete information using a range of suitable techniques
• Prioritised backlogs based on user needs, value and effort
• Experience of working with a range of specialists in multidisciplinary teams, applying an agile methodology and mindset in a complex environment to enable incremental delivery 
• Experience in managing technology based product teams and an understanding of areas such as Continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines and cloud infrastructure.

If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact Dani.Gulam@dwp.gov.uk.

Benefits

• An employer pension contribution of up to 27% For further information please click here.
• Annual leave rising up to 30 days, (based on your working pattern).
• Family friendly flexible working arrangements, such as hybrid working, job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Learning and development tailored to your role this could include industry recognised qualifications, coaching and mentoring.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join staff networks including: Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post. 

Salary Information

Pay for this role is from £69,869 (Band Min) to £77,740 (Band Max) 

Our offer to successful candidates will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview.

Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer should maintain their current salary.

Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion may move to the bottom of the next grade pay scale or 10% increase in salary whichever would be the greater.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Stage 1: Application

Your application will consist of three parts:

1. A Personal Details application form.

2. Your employment history detailing your responsibilities, skills, accomplishments, plus your qualifications and relevant training. Please copy this information into the box field provided.

3. Personal statement up to 1000 words.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

When giving details in your employment history and personal statement you should highlight your experience in line with essential criteria listed in Person Specification.

The sift panel will use the information in your employment history and personal statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge against the essential criteria above.

For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.

Important Information

• You will be asked to complete your employment history any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form.
• Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered.
• If your employment history/personal statement contains any personal details your application will be withdrawn.

Stage 2: Interview

If you’re successful at sift stage you will be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams. There, you will be assessed against the experiences listed in the essential criteria.

You will be asked to do a short 5 minute presentation on a specific topic. Further details will be provided to candidates invited to interview.

Interviews will take place in early January, exact interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

Find out more about Working for DWP

For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action.

Reasonable Adjustment

At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via DigitalRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How We Recruit page

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.