Head of Product, Elections Digital

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A government agency in the UK is seeking a Head of Product for the Elections Directorate. This pivotal role involves leading a dedicated product team to develop user-centered digital products that meet the needs of the public. The successful candidate will need strong product management experience, excellent people management skills, and the ability to lead teams through uncertainty. This position offers a unique opportunity to influence electoral policy and improve public services through digital innovation.

Qualifications

• Strong product management experience with a track record of shipping digital products.
• Experience in leading product teams and mentoring individuals.
• Understanding of digital delivery disciplines including engineering and user research.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design of user-centered products and advocate for user needs.
• Own and develop a product strategy with measurable goals.
• Manage a portfolio-level roadmap and prioritize product development.

Skills

Product management experience

Agile delivery

People management

Interpersonal skills

Mentoring skills

Stakeholder management

Job description

Job summary

The Elections Directorate is responsible for a challenging and dynamic policy landscape, always in the public eye, covering electoral policy and law. This includes how elections are run, who can participate and how elections and campaigning are regulated. This is an exciting Head of Product role, joining the leadership team of the Elections Digital Division. This is a team of enthusiastic and highly skilled digital specialists, geographically dispersed across the UK. Our multidisciplinary in‑house digital team is the driving force behind the development and delivery of excellent elections services for users, as well as the day‑to‑day operational running of those services. We are looking to build our in‑house development capability in the coming years.

Job description

As the Head of Product, you’ll :

• Be a visible leader in the Elections Directorate advocating for the importance of designing user‑centred products and continually improving them to meet user needs, and represent your products and team across the wider Directorate and Department
• Own and be responsible for developing and articulating a clear vision, product strategy, achievable goals and measurable objectives for your products
• In partnership with the Head of Delivery, own and maintain a portfolio‑level roadmap and manage the prioritisation of product development in the portfolio, ensuring a balance of support work so that the products remain reliable, robust and secure, whilst also continuously improving
• Lead teams in assessing new information about the needs of potential users of the solution, and make decisions about which to meet
• Support the product community within the Division, helping members feel involved and supported in their profession, help them to identify improvements in their ways of working and use their insights to influence strategy and policy
• Lead and develop the product team to ensure that we have the right capacity and capability to deliver. The post‑holder will be expected to be an excellent people manager who can develop and empower a high‑performing team
• Play a leadership role in the Elections Digital Team and the wider Elections Directorate, contributing to ongoing work on the overall digital team structure and roles, strategic planning and scenario planning, support models, options exploration, governance and continuous improvement of products, services and practices

Person specification

As a Head of Product, you’ll have :

• Strong product management experience with a track‑record of shipping and evolving great digital products by working with multiple teams in an agile delivery setting
• Experience of leading the process of designing and improving a portfolio of products throughout their entire life‑cycle, including understanding user needs, user story writing, MVP definition, development of measurable objectives and backlog prioritisation
• Experience in growing and mentoring a high‑performing product team, identifying talent and potential, and developing and coaching individuals in a team
• Strong interpersonal skills, used to managing senior stakeholders, building effective relationships and working closely with policy stakeholders to product thinking at the very earliest stages of policy and design thinking
• Experience of successfully developing and delivering product and portfolio visions, strategies and roadmaps in complex, large, uncertain, and highly visible problem spaces
• A thorough understanding of a variety of disciplines involved in digital delivery, including engineering, service design, performance analysis and user research developed through working in multidisciplinary teams
• Experience in leading teams through ambiguity, uncertainty, challenge, or change; setting expectations to meet evolving needs, and excellent people management and team leadership skills
• An understanding of new and emerging digital technologies and the opportunities they provide to improve the delivery of public services in the UK