About the job

Job summary

Do you have experience developing Product Strategy?

Do you have experience developing Product roadmaps?

If so, this is a great opportunity to work as a Product Strategist within our Payments team.

Payments are core to DWP. We are the biggest payer in the UK, serving 20m citizens which is 34% of the total UK population and make circa £177bn in payments annually generating 1/3 of the UK’s BACS traffic.

Our payment modernisation will see Digital Payments Services continue to develop a common payment service which will become the single source of truth for all citizen payment and bank account information, to be consumed by other business areas to unlock value and mitigate risk across the department.  ​

Job description

As a Product Strategist, you will manage the strategy for your part of the product. You will be responsible for strategic and tactical product decisions, using your knowledge of how the service currently works and its future intentions and business goals to frame problems and set priorities for the portfolio team. You will also be actively involved in developing the portfolio direction and managing the product roadmap.

As a Product Strategist you will also have experience of stakeholder management techniques and may work as part of a larger portfolio or product team, managing Associate Product Strategists to develop components or features forming part of the product. You can expect to work independently or as part of a more complex project with a more senior Product Strategy Colleague.

Through commitment to bridging between Payments Teams, Industry experts and Departmental Stakeholders, Strategy team seeks to ensure that DPS looks ahead of the near term to consider emerging standards and future areas of work to provide to Payments Teams, to factor into portfolio roadmaps.​

The strategic work considers how services can be evolved in the future incorporating service modernisation principles and emerging industry technological standards to fulfil payments to customers through efficient methods, creating Value for Money in departmental delivery of payments processing. ​

Roles & Responsibilities

• Alongside Product Managers, develop the vision for the product, working with stakeholders to ensure strategic fit and engaging the delivery and theme teams to maintain alignment and buy in.
• Develop the product strategy for your service and support the product roadmap.
• Manage, influence and negotiate stakeholder relationships and communicate progress and achievements, championing the product within the department.
• Support the professional development of Product Strategy in your area.
• Become a subject matter expert for your portfolio area or product so you can understand how current delivery and proposed changes impact of the strategy for the service.
• Managing queries and requests to your product, understanding where these fit into the long-term vision for your product. Representing your portfolio at forums with internal stakeholders.
• Collaborate with wider product team members such as User Research and design to conduct research and analysis into problem statements and policy requests to prepare evidence for pre-prioritisation.
• Prepare papers to support Senior Product Strategists and Product Managers for Governance boards.
• Working with theme teams on improvement requests and design tactical short-term solutions for problems whilst working on the development of problem statements for issues affecting your service and facilitate solutions with wide range of stakeholders, including operational colleagues and policy experts

Person specification

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

• Experience of developing product strategy by understanding risks and future drivers.
• Ability to influence stakeholders and build long term strategic relationships which are managed effectively.
• Ability to make effective decisions based on incomplete information using a range of techniques.
• Demonstrable experience of having conducted analysis of complex issues and presenting findings to colleagues.
• Ability to support the development of a product roadmap, receiving and acting upon challenge from stakeholders.

If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact felicity.smith@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 £52,412 to £63,517.

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. 

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

You will receive one combined score for both your Employment History/CV and Personal Statement, which will be provided in your Personal Statement score.

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 Essential Criteria listed in the Person Specification.

You will be asked to do a 5-minute verbal presentation. Further details on what is required will be provided to candidates invited to interview. 

Interviews will take place from Late-June/Early-July onwards.

To help you prepare and settle into the interview you will be sent the interview questions in advance of the interview, at least 5 days prior to your interview. These questions should be treated as confidential and should not be shared. The interview panel may ask you other questions which will not be shared in advance, including follow-up questions, and those about your experience and abilities.  Candidates should be asked further probing questions if their response is deemed to require further information to determine suitability for the role.

Further information:

Find out more about Working for DWP

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. 

Reserve list candidates will be posted in merit order by location. 

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. 

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.

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.