About the job

Job summary

Here at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives. 

Whether it's through the homes we live in, the work of our local councils, or the communities we’re all part of, our work is at the top of the political agenda. We have ambitious and far-reaching outcomes to achieve this year and, if you’re thinking of joining us, there’s never been a more exciting time. 

We have over 3,500 staff who are based in 20 offices across the UK. 

The Local Digital team sits within the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). The team supports councils across England to deliver more user-centred, cost-effective local public services through open, collaborative and reusable work.

As a Senior Product Manager in the team, you'll lead one of our major workstreams. You’ll work with a delivery team, composed of a mix of civil servants and specialists from innovative 3rd party suppliers. You’ll own your own backlog and will be empowered to make your own decisions. It's likely you won't be working on software, but you'll be applying your knowledge of agile, prioritisation, user needs and what makes a good digital service to the work.

We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work. 

Find out more about what it's like to work in a digital, data and technology role at DLUHC including our culture, ways of working, career progression and staff benefits. You can also read the DLUHC Digital blog to learn about the work we're doing. 

Job description

As a Senior Product Manager you'll:

• develop an expert understanding of our users’ needs, including our technical users, and champion these in the delivery of a high profile, complex workstream within Local Digital
• define, explain and iterate a product vision that is compelling to your users, team and stakeholders, prioritising a backlog of work based on data and user needs
• lead a multidisciplinary delivery team to ensure the right things are delivered and that the sector and the department knows when to expect them;
• engage our end user community and stakeholders 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;

You may also line manage or mentor a Product Manager and will be part of the Local Digital and DLUHC product communities.

Person specification

We will use the essential criteria below to evaluate you during the recruitment process. Make sure your CV and cover letter explain how you meet the criteria.

As a Senior Product Manager:

• you’ll have a successful track record as a Product Management professional;
• you can demonstrate where you have used an iterative and flexible approach to deliver solutions and outcomes that meet user needs;
• you have experience of managing and delivering solutions to meet issues and problems that arise from day-to-day operations and through project delivery;
• you have extensive experience of establishing relationships and working collaboratively with 3rd parties and outsourced providers to achieve jointly agreed operational and project goals;
• you can illustrate how and where you have motivated a team to collectively own an ambitious vision and set of bold deliverables through leadership and communication;
• you will have experience with local government or cyber security is desirable

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.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

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

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

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

You will be assessed against the following behaviours at interview: Making Effective Decisions, Working Together, Managing a Quality Service

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

Experience: Experience will be tested at the sift stage 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 

Behaviours: Making Effective Decisions, Working Together, Managing a Quality Service, Leadership

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 £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 

• Wolverhampton
• Darlington*
• Leeds
• 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 08/04/2024 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.