skip navigation
skip mega-menu

Head of Profession for Product Management

Government Digital Services -

Full-time (Permanent)
Up to £77,900 (London)/£71,000 (National)-based on capability- The base salary of this grade is £64,500 (London)/£60,500 (National).
Published on
28 June 2022
Deadline
18 July 2022

What you'll do


GDS exists to help government deliver great public services for everyone. To achieve this we’ve refocused ourselves around our new strategy and new structure with the aim of uniting our people, products and ways of working around a common goal. This role will be central to uniting our products, platforms and services into a coherent strategy, alongside supporting a capable and happy product management community.

As GDS Head of Profession (HoP) for Product you will demonstrate a passion, enthusiasm and a deep understanding of the product management profession and therefore be a key influencer on how this discipline works across GDS. You will have a strong understanding of the professional development and capability needs of a community. 

Alongside the professional leadership of the product community, this role will also lead on the development of the GDS roadmap. Supporting the Deputy Director, Product Delivery, you will bring together teams from across the organisation to plan an ambitious and coherent vision for our products, working with others including delivery teams and the portfolio team to monitor progress against it, keeping the roadmap relevant and accurate.

As the GDS HoP for Product you’ll:

  • Support the work to define, build and develop a cohesive, engaged and high performing professional community, being the champion to advocate and influence at a strategic level for the discipline across GDS, and provide confidence of delivery to GDS leadership and beyond.
  • Develop a strategy for the profession’s work based on the needs of GDS, creating shared standards, processes, and best practice on approaches or methods for use by the product management community. As part of this, you’ll ensure standards are developed, maintained and appropriately shared.
  • Work closely with directorate product leadership and the Capability & Talent Team to build career pathways for the product profession in GDS, including succession planning, internal development opportunities and support the development of the DDaT reward proposition.
  • Work with People and Business Operations teams for workforce planning to build a rich pipeline of talent, ready to be placed as vacancies come up, working closely with individual directorates to understand their requirements, while also collaborating with Diversity & Inclusion to ensure a diverse, inclusive and capable community.
  • Together with the HoP for Agile Delivery, work with the People and Business Operations team to design and facilitate an appropriate and proportionate governance process that enables high performing agile teams and provides confidence of delivery to GDS leadership and beyond.
  • Work with the product community and leadership team to develop the GDS product roadmap, ensuring that it is communicated widely and is embedded in decision making at all levels of the organisation.


Who you'll be


We’re interested in people who:

  • have in depth practical knowledge and experience of product management with clear views on the key standards that should be recognised in its application across the business
  • have experience of leading, planning and prioritising work against the capacity and capability of a team or community, at both the strategic and operational levels
  • are self-motivated, detail-oriented and able to manage multiple priorities simultaneously
  • can manage the most efficient use of talent across a team or community, balancing with meeting business needs and priorities
  • have experience working with, and influencing senior stakeholders to reach outcomes from competing and complex priorities, ensuring smooth delivery
  • can work collaboratively to help to solve problems and act as an and escalation point, both from those within your profession/practice as well as from other professions/practices

How to apply

In order to be considered for this role please ensure that you demonstrate all of the essential skills listed in the ‘who you are’ section above, with examples from your own experience, in your cover letter.

If you do not provide these examples you will not be progressed to the next stage of the process.

The selection process as a standard for all of our roles consists of:

  • An application screening process - Simply, hit apply.  We only ask for a CV and Cover Letter up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “who you’ll be” section above.
  • An interview which will include a short presentation. Full details will be provided to candidates who are invited to interview.

Depending on the volume of applications we may also include an additional stage, which you will be invited to should you pass the application screening stage

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

Candidates that do not pass the interview, however, have demonstrated an acceptable standard will be considered for similar roles at a lower grade. 

GDS offers hybrid working for all employees. This means that everyone does some working from home/remote working and also spends some time in their local office. You will agree to your hybrid working arrangement with your line manager in line with your preferences and business needs. 

Clearance information 

This role will require BPSS security clearance. You must meet national security vetting requirements you will normally need to have been resident in the UK for at least 3 years prior to the date of application.

Additional information

The benefits of working at GDS

At GDS we support, encourage and respect our people and our teams - their individuality, their perspectives and what they have to say. Together, we are bound by the mission to achieve digital transformation, the future, accelerated.  

  • Truly flexible working and flexi time 
  • Career progression 
  • Paid volunteering leave 
  • Access to employee assistance programme 
  • Career coaching 
  • Advances on pay 
  • Death in service benefits
  • Cycle to work scheme / facilities
  • Access to children's holiday play schemes across different locations


How you'll be assessed

In the Civil Service, we use our Success Profiles. For each role we advertise we consider what you will need to demonstrate to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We will be looking at your experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the specific job role. We may assess your ability, strength, experience, technical/specialist skills and behaviours.

For this role the following behaviours are the most relevant:

leadership
working together
delivering at pace
communicating and influencing
developing self and others

Things you need to know

You can find out about the application process and practical details like our office locations on the things you need to know page.

Equal Opportunities 

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity in our organisation. You can find out more about our commitment to diversity and inclusion and read our equal opportunities statement on our Diversity and Inclusion page.

Redeployment Interview Scheme

Civil Service employees (including Senior Civil Servants and Crown Arms Length Bodies) who are at risk of redundancy and who meet the minimum selection criteria in the job specification are guaranteed to progress to the next stage of the recruitment processSelection will be on merit and at-risk candidates will be able to self-identify during the application stage,

For all guaranteed interview schemes, there may be exceptions made on reasons of time/resource for high-volume recruitment where the vacancy manager may decide to select the candidates who best meet the minimum criteria rather than all of those that meet the minimum criteria.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Sign up here