Lead Product Manager - Platform - T&S & One Login

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

1. joining up public sector services
2. harnessing the power of AI for the public good
3. strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
4. elevating leadership and investing in talent
5. funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
6. committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need

Job description

We are hiring Platform Product Leads across two Directorates:

• GDS’s central Technology & Security team: enabling developers across GDS
• One Login’s platform teams: enabling teams within a flagship programme

Products you’ll be managing will span Infrastructure and Data, including:

1. cloud Platform, CI/CD, Observability, FinOps, Governance and Access Management
2. data analytics, event streaming, shared signals, audit, data quality and back-ups

As a Lead Product Manager you’ll:

• be responsible for a product portfolio and will oversee multiple Platform Product Managers and their teams
• reporting to a Head of Product or a Deputy Director, you will guide prioritisation across products and ensure alignment with the organisation’s goals and strategy 
• own and develop a product vision, strategy and roadmap for your Platform products and product teams
• own your teams’ “front door”, shaping incoming requests from stakeholders, and ensuring effective prioritisation decisions
• lead your teams to set clear, measurable, outcome-oriented goals (OKRs), balancing user-facing benefits with reliability, security and other service level considerations
• guide your teams to identify risky assumptions and carry out continuous internal discovery (quantitative and qualitative) to de-risk product decisions efficiently and ensure that teams release value to users early and often
• champion your products with internal teams, developing trusted relationships and securing adoption, to drive measurable benefits to productivity, reliability, security and costs
• help your products move through the product lifecycle (Discovery, Alpha, Beta), setting appropriate goals for user experience, reliability and security (e.g. via SLOs), managing stakeholder expectations, and maturing your products over time
• partner with Directors and Heads-of to evolve the overall platform strategy, bringing expert insights from users, thoughtful application of technology (including AI) and industry best practices in order to solve users’ problems
• coach, line manage and mentor your Product Managers, as well as others in the wider organisation
• champion our work across government and in the wider industry, providing thought leadership in both Platform product management and the best practices of your users

Learn more about what Lead Product Managers do in government.

Person specification

You'll be keen to work on internal, technical platforms and to apply your product management skills to a platform-as-product approach. Prior experience of Platform Product Management is desirable but not essential.

We’re interested in people who have experience of:

• product managing digital products in a fast-paced environment, working with multidisciplinary, agile teams, – from discovery to delivery, and continuous, data-led improvement
• developing and improving a product’s operational maturity as well as ensuring a consistent approach to user and technical operational support - anticipating and mitigating problems before they arise and helping others think similarly
• engaging with stakeholders, senior leaders and internal teams through a range of channels to identify a common set of needs and priorities, or to explain what you are doing and how you are doing it in clear and compelling ways.  Using these skills to develop and agree tactical and long term plans, supporting necessary decisions
• modern technologies used in delivery of cloud-based software products (especially AI) - and an ability to explain the purpose and constraints of these technologies to non-technical people
• developing and selling a product and commercial strategy to secure funding and support for the product.  Ideally you will have been involved in budget planning, forecasting and procurement processes, as well as understanding granular financial costs per sprint to delivered value
• hands-on delivery and iteration of products, working with multiple teams in an agile delivery setting – from discovery to continuous, data-led improvement in a live setting.  You should be comfortable using user insights to make strategic decisions to provide the best user experience.  Ideally, you will also have experience recruiting, coaching and line management of product managers, identifying learning and development opportunities for individuals and teams

Benefits

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for the King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

Any move to Government Digital Service 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 

Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• a 60 minute video interview

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.  Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is:

• product managing digital products in a fast-paced environment, working with multidisciplinary, agile teams, – from discovery to delivery, and continuous, data-led improvement

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• making effective decisions
• leadership
• seeing the bigger picture
• delivering at pace

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework for the Lead Product Manager role:

• agile and lean practices
• applying user-centred insights
• creating value for money
• life cycle management
• managing product outcomes
• product leadership
• product management
• stakeholder relationship management
• strategic ownership

Want to know more about who Government Digital and Data are? Click Here

Recruitment Timeline

Sift completion: Week commencing Monday 12th January 2026

Panel interviews: Week commencing Monday 26th January 2026

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

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

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers.

Sponsorship

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

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