Remote Early Years Product Specialist

NEC Software Solutions; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical cover

25 days holiday

Life assurance 4x

Group pension plan

LinkedIn Learning access

Job summary

NEC Software Solutions is seeking an Early Years Product Specialist to shape digital products for Early Years Funding in a UK public-sector context. You will work with customers, product, design and engineering teams to translate policy into actionable product requirements and deliver user-centred, compliant solutions.

You will contribute across the product lifecycle, from discovery to delivery, with a strong emphasis on analysis, documentation and agile practices.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of Early Years Funding processes, including eligibility, applications, provider submissions, validation, payments & reporting.
• Proven experience within a Product, software, digital or product delivery environment.
• Experienced in translating complex business, policy or operational needs into clear, deliverable software requirements.
• Ability to interpret statutory guidance and operational policy, and translate these into system requirements, workflows and business rules.
• Strong process analysis and modelling skills, including documenting current and future state processes, workflows and business rules.
• Experience working in agile delivery teams, including backlog refinement, user story development and iterative delivery practices.
• Ability to write clear, concise and testable user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Experience facilitating workshops and engaging a wide range of stakeholders to identify needs, resolve ambiguity and align priorities.
• Experience producing and interpreting artefacts such as process maps, user journeys, wireframes, prototypes, decision tables and requirements documentation.
• Working understanding of how modern software solutions are designed, built, tested and released, including the flow of requirements through delivery.
• Understanding of both functional and non-functional requirements, including usability, accessibility, performance, security and audit considerations.
• Experience using tools such as Jira, Confluence, Figma, Miro, Visio or similar tools.
• Familiarity with user-centred design principles and experience working alongside design and research colleagues.

Responsibilities

• Work with customers, users and internal teams to understand current processes, pain points, policy intent and desired outcomes.
• Analyse and document business processes, service workflows, business rules, data requirements and user journeys for Early Years Funding and related services.
• Translate statutory guidance, operational policy and local authority practice into clear product requirements, acceptance criteria and solution options.
• Break down complex problems into manageable features, stories and increments that can be delivered in an agile environment.
• Support product discovery by helping define problem statements, user needs, success measures, assumptions and options.
• Collaborate closely with Product Managers/Owners, Designers, Developers, QA and Support teams to ensure shared understanding of requirements and priorities.
• Facilitate workshops, interviews and playback sessions with stakeholders to validate understanding, align expectations and build consensus.
• Own or support the production of high-quality BA artefacts, such as process maps, decision tables, requirements, business rules, user stories, acceptance criteria, wireframes and service models.
• Ensure requirements are clear, consistent, prioritised, traceable and maintained as products evolve.
• Support backlog refinement and sprint planning by ensuring items are sufficiently defined, testable and aligned to business value.
• Work with delivery teams during build and test to clarify requirements, resolve queries, support test scenario design and validate outcomes.
• Use customer insight, operational data, service feedback and performance information to identify opportunities for product and process improvement.
• Assess the impact of policy, regulatory or operational changes on product behaviour, workflows, data and reporting.
• Support solution evaluation by reviewing whether delivered changes meet user needs, regulatory intent and operational objectives.
• Act as a subject matter contributor for Early Years Funding processes and help share knowledge across the wider business.

Skills

Early Years funding knowledge

Product analysis

Agile delivery

Stakeholder management

Documentation

Tools

Jira

Confluence

Figma

Miro

Visio

Job description

NEC Software Solutions is seeking an Early Years Product Specialist to shape digital products for Early Years Funding in a UK public-sector context. You will work with customers, product, design and engineering teams to translate policy into actionable product requirements and deliver user-centred, compliant solutions.

You will contribute across the product lifecycle, from discovery to delivery, with a strong emphasis on analysis, documentation and agile practices.