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Ministry of Justice; Cardiff; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

The Ministry of Justice is seeking a senior product leader to steer the AI portfolio across the Justice AI Unit. You will define the vision, align investment with user needs, and drive outcomes that advance justice through trustworthy AI products.

You will lead cross-functional teams, shape development standards, and champion evidence-driven decisions to scale AI solutions across the justice system. You will deputise for the Director as needed and influence senior stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Experience leading product strategy for AI products.
• Ability to build and lead cross-functional teams.
• Experience delivering AI-native products at scale.
• Strong stakeholder engagement with senior leaders.
• Commitment to responsible AI and public trust.

Responsibilities

• Set the product vision and strategy for AI across the Justice AI Unit, ensuring investment is focused on genuine user needs and measurable justice outcomes.
• Lead the Justice AI Unit’s portfolio of AI products, making clear choices about priorities, investment and where teams should focus.
• Define and embed high standards for AI product development, ensuring products are outcome-driven, user-obsessed, evidence-led and developed responsibly.
• Shape how AI products are built and adopted across the justice system, moving from ideas and pilots to products that can deliver impact at scale.
• Lead the development of AI-native products, working across product, engineering, design, research and operational teams to turn emerging AI capabilities into valuable products.
• Ensure teams deeply understand the problems they are solving, test assumptions early and use evidence and user insight to guide product decisions.
• Create empowered multidisciplinary teams that can move quickly, make good decisions and take responsibility for outcomes.
• Challenge established ways of working where they constrain effective product development, and establish better ways to build, test, learn and scale AI products.
• Build and lead a high-performing product management function, providing clear direction, coaching and development to product leaders and teams.
• Create a strong product culture focused on curiosity, collaboration, experimentation, evidence and measurable outcomes.
• Build product capability across the Justice AI Unit, helping teams and senior stakeholders develop a shared understanding of what good AI product development looks like.
• Embed responsible AI throughout the product lifecycle, ensuring products are developed and adopted safely, ethically and with appropriate consideration of fairness and public trust.
• Ensure AI products have clear measures of success and plans for adoption, evaluation and continuous improvement.
• Work across organisational boundaries to ensure AI products can be adopted effectively across MoJ services and deliver sustainable value at scale.
• Act as a trusted product adviser to senior leaders across the Ministry of Justice and wider government, communicating complex product choices and trade-offs clearly.
• Work as part of the Justice AI Unit senior leadership team, ensuring product strategy and delivery are aligned with the Unit’s wider priorities.
• Represent the Justice AI Unit in senior forums and, where required, deputise for the Director.
• Represent the Director in strategic forums, including cross-government AI working groups, high-level stakeholder engagements, and external conferences.
• Significant experience leading product strategy and a portfolio of products, making clear prioritisation and investment decisions based on user needs, evidence and measurable outcomes.
• Excellent leadership skills, with a proven ability to provide clear direction and coaching to high-performing product teams.
• Proven experience building new products people want from 0 to 1, and taking successful products through adoption and scale.
• Exceptional stakeholder skills, with an ability to act as a trusted adviser to senior stakeholders, influence strategic decisions and build strong relationships across organisational boundaries.
• Experience building and delivering AI-native products, with strong product judgement and an understanding of the opportunities, limitations and responsible use of AI.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Product portfolio management

Stakeholder management

AI product development

Evidence-based decision making

Cross-functional collaboration

Responsible AI

Job description

Reporting into the Director of the Justice AI Unit you will:

Strategic Product Leadership

Set the product vision and strategy for AI across the Justice AI Unit, ensuring investment is focused on genuine user needs and measurable justice outcomes.

Lead the Justice AI Unit’s portfolio of AI products, making clear choices about priorities, investment and where teams should focus.

Define and embed high standards for AI product development, ensuring products are outcome-driven, user-obsessed, evidence-led and developed responsibly.

Shape how AI products are built and adopted across the justice system, moving from ideas and pilots to products that can deliver impact at scale.

Product Development and Delivery

Lead the development of AI-native products, working across product, engineering, design, research and operational teams to turn emerging AI capabilities into valuable products.

Ensure teams deeply understand the problems they are solving, test assumptions early and use evidence and user insight to guide product decisions.

Create empowered multidisciplinary teams that can move quickly, make good decisions and take responsibility for outcomes.

Challenge established ways of working where they constrain effective product development, and establish better ways to build, test, learn and scale AI products.

Team Leadership and Capability

Build and lead a high-performing product management function, providing clear direction, coaching and development to product leaders and teams.

Create a strong product culture focused on curiosity, collaboration, experimentation, evidence and measurable outcomes.

Build product capability across the Justice AI Unit, helping teams and senior stakeholders develop a shared understanding of what good AI product development looks like.

Responsible AI and Adoption

Embed responsible AI throughout the product lifecycle, ensuring products are developed and adopted safely, ethically and with appropriate consideration of fairness and public trust.

Ensure AI products have clear measures of success and plans for adoption, evaluation and continuous improvement.

Work across organisational boundaries to ensure AI products can be adopted effectively across MoJ services and deliver sustainable value at scale.

Senior Leadership and Influence

Act as a trusted product adviser to senior leaders across the Ministry of Justice and wider government, communicating complex product choices and trade-offs clearly.

Work as part of the Justice AI Unit senior leadership team, ensuring product strategy and delivery are aligned with the Unit’s wider priorities.

Represent the Justice AI Unit in senior forums and, where required, deputise for the Director.

Deputising for the Director of AI

Represent the Director in strategic forums, including cross-government AI working groups, high-level stakeholder engagements, and external conferences.

Lead Criteria - Significant experience leading product strategy and a portfolio of products, making clear prioritisation and investment decisions based on user needs, evidence and measurable outcomes.

Excellent leadership skills, with a proven ability to provide clear direction and coaching to high-performing product teams.

Proven experience building new products people want from 0 to 1, and taking successful products through adoption and scale.

Exceptional stakeholder skills, with an ability to act as a trusted adviser to senior stakeholders, influence strategic decisions and build strong relationships across organisational boundaries.

Experience building and delivering AI-native products, with strong product judgement and an understanding of the opportunities, limitations and responsible use of AI.