About the job

Job summary

This position is based Nationally

Job description

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Product Lead (Assistive Technology)

Location: National*

Closing Date: 2nd January 2024

Interviews: w/c 15th January 2024

Grade: 7

(MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain this grade on lateral transfer)

Salary: £58,847 - £66,670 which may include an allowance up to £1,578 (London);

£54,358 - £61,585 (National)

Working pattern: Full time, Part time, Job share, Flexible working

Contract Type: Permanent

Vacancy number: 82452

*We are currently offering hybrid working which includes 2 days per week in your local office. Office locations can be found HERE

The Role

We’re recruiting for a Product Lead to primarily focus on End User Compute (EUC) Assistive Technology but with potential to extend to cover other EUC products in the future.   This is an exciting opportunity for someone to make a positive impact on MoJ staff and service users here at Justice Digital within our warm and collaborative End User Compute Services (EUCS) team.

The EUCS team is part of Technology Services in Justice Digital, a modern and diverse workplace that promotes a healthy work-life balance and flexible working options.  They design, deliver and support the core infrastructure and systems that enable End User Compute Services and line of business applications for over 100,000 Ministry of Justice users across over 800 locations. 

Product Leads champion the delivery and continuous improvement of products and define, own and solve problems. They use their technical understanding, as well as knowledge of user needs and business goals to frame problems and set priorities. They are responsible for developing the overall vision for the product and engage their teams and stakeholders in the development of that vision over time and manage a product through its life cycle.  They may line manage other staff and support their professional development as well as be involved in recruitment. 

This can be an ‘entry level’ role for new product leads who have been working in other digital roles or civil servants with sufficient experience across other competencies. 

These are exciting times at Justice Digital. We have a clear vision - to develop a digitally enabled justice system that works simply for its users - and we’re looking for enthusiastic, talented people to help us achieve it.

We’re making things better by building adaptable, effective services and making systems that are simple to use for staff and citizens. It can be challenging but it’s also important and rewarding.

As well as doing interesting work, we’re creating an environment that’s great to work in. We provide the opportunity to work with the latest technologies and offer brilliant training opportunities alongside support from expert colleagues. On top of that, you’ll find flexible working, an inclusive culture, and a place where your opinion is valued.

To help picture your life at MoJ Justice Digital please take a look at our blog and our Digital and Technology strategy 2025

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and develop a multi-disciplined team, instilling best practice, setting performance targets and ensuring KPIs are consistently achieved.
• Manage the development and delivery of the product strategy and roadmap, acting as SME with a deep technical understanding of Assistive Technology products and services.
• Ensure services are in compliance with all relevant Assistive Technology guidelines and policies.
• Prioritise future requirements to create modern and efficient, enterprise-level EUC solutions and services that deliver value for money and enable the Ministry of Justice to meet its operational objectives across the UK.
• Delivering high quality results and decisions, within tight timescales whilst working under pressure and dealing with ambiguity.
• Develop and deliver continuous service improvements and work as part of a multi-functional team to create, refine and prioritise a product backlog of changes and enhancements.
• Discuss requirements with technical and non-technical audiences
• Own, maintain and publish all product documentation to a good quality and standard, including business requirements and user stories.
• Building and managing effective relationships with stakeholders and third party suppliers and share specialist knowledge to support the adoption of the service.
• Review operational ways of working and keep up-to-date progress records on activities.
• Working with internal teams and suppliers to identify resolutions to incidents and problem tickets and utilise this data to improve the product.
• Demonstrate strong understanding of the most modern standards and practices for Assistive Technology and share with the wider team and Justice Digital community.
• Work collaboratively with other areas of EUCS and Justice Digital.

The Product Lead will work collaboratively with:

• All Service Owners
• Technical Architecture, Engineering and Service Operations teams
• 3rd party Service Managers, Project and Technical leads
• Senior Operations Managers within the EUC team
• Key MOJ stakeholders

If this feels like an exciting challenge, something you are enthusiastic about, and want to join our team please read on and apply!

 Benefits

• 37 hours per week and flexible working options including working from home, working part-time, job sharing, or working compressed hours.
• We are committed to nurturing our staff and provide lots of training and development opportunities with learning platforms such as: Linux Academy, O’Reilly, Pluralsight, Microsoft Learning, Civil Service Learning, GDS Academy, etc.
• 10% dedicated time to learning and development with a budget of £1000 a year per person
• Generous civil service pension based on defined benefit scheme, with employer contributions of 26-30% depending on salary.
• 25 days leave (plus bank holidays) and 1 privilege day usually taken around the Kings’ birthday. 5 additional days of leave once you have reached 5 years of service.
• Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too!
• Wellbeing support including access to the Calm app.
• Nurturing professional and interpersonal networks including those for Careers & Childcare, Gender Equality, PROUD and SPIRIT
• Bike loans up to £2500 and secure bike parking (subject to availability and location)
• Season ticket loans, childcare vouchers and eye-care vouchers.
• 5 days volunteering paid leave.
• Free membership to BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.
• Some offices may have a subsidised onsite Gym.

 Person Specification

Essential

• Detailed technical knowledge of Microsoft and other environments and the underpinning products and technologies including M365, MS Teams, SharePoint Online, Active Directory and Azure Active Directory.
• Able to act as the subject matter expert for End User Device Assistive Technology solutions and be fully conversant with other complementary technologies and related products.
• Skilled in leading and managing multi-disciplined teams, championing agile working practices and continuous learning and development.
• You can identify, communicate, challenge and work within constraints.
• You can apply tools, terms and concepts in a variety of ways and be flexible, considering new ways of working and adapt to change.  
• You can use data and user research to underpin and evidence your strategic decisions.
• Excellent collaboration and partnership skills, with a proven ability to work as part of a wider technical leadership team.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills at all levels.
• Clear understanding of the Equalities Act 2010 and legislation relating to Assistive Technology and the requirements for public sector bodies.

Willingness to be assessed against  the requirements for SC clearance

We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring and do not discriminate on the basis of culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor.

Our values are Purpose, Humanity Openness and Together. Find out more here about how we celebrate diversity and an inclusive culture in our workplace.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £54,358, Ministry of Justice contributes £15,165 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

 How to Apply

Candidates must submit a CV and a Personal Statement.  Your Personal Statement should be no more than 750 words and should describe how you meet the following four requirements from the Person Specification:

• Detailed technical knowledge of Microsoft and other environments and the underpinning products and technologies including M365, MS Teams, SharePoint Online, Active Directory and Azure Active Directory.
• Able to act as the subject matter expert for End User Device Assistive Technology solutions and be fully conversant with other complementary technologies and related products.
• You can apply tools, terms and concepts in a variety of ways and be flexible, considering new ways of working and adapt to change.
• Clear understanding of the Equalities Act 2010 and legislation relating to Assistive Technology and the requirements for public sector bodies.

Please note that applications submitted without a Personal Statement will not be considered.

In Justice Digital, we recruit using a combination of the Digital, Data and Technology Capability and Success Profiles Frameworks. We will assess your Experience, Technical Skills and the following Behaviours during the assessment process:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Changing and Improving

Your application will be reviewed against the Person Specification above by a diverse panel.

Successful candidates who meet the required standard will then be invited to a 1-hour panel interview held via video conference.

Should we receive a high volume of applications, a pre-sift based on evidence of the following will be conducted prior to the sift:

• Clear understanding of the Equalities Act 2010 and legislation relating to Assistive Technology and the requirements for public sector bodies

Should you be unsuccessful in the role that you have applied for, but demonstrated the capability for a role at a lower level, we reserve the right to discuss this opportunity with you and potentially offer you the position without the need for a further application.

A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.

Terms & Conditions

Please review our Terms & Conditions which set out the way we recruit and provide further information related to the role and salary arrangements.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact recruitment@digital.justice.gov.uk

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). 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.