Product Manager Newcastle upon Tyne, England
Job description
Details
Reference number
Salary
Job grade
Contract type
Business area
Type of role
Working pattern
Number of jobs available
Contents
Location
About the job
Benefits
Things you need to know
Apply and further information
Location
About the job
Job summary
At HMRC, we are already one of the most digital advanced tax authorities in the world and have one of the largest IT infrastructures and data sources in the UK. With 50 million customers to serve, over 60 thousand colleagues to support, and £600 billion to collect to fund UK Plc, our IT operation is huge! For those who are up to the challenge, we offer unique and unparalleled opportunities to work with some of the newest technologies and make a real, lasting difference.
This role is based in HMRC’s Chief Digital Information Office (CDIO), which is made up of Customer Groups that help areas of HMRC and VOA to build their digital services. One of these is the Valuation Office Agency Customer Group (VOA CG), who provide digital services and IT support to the Valuation Office Agency (VOA):
There are some important attributes that we are looking for in anyone joining VOA CG. You must have a collaborative approach and a passion to communicate effectively. You will take accountability and ownership and have the ability to coach, mentor, reflect and to give and receive feedback. You will be flexible and adaptable, working with a sense of urgency and be passionate about having ‘The User’ at the heart of what you do.
See what it’s like to work at HMRC: find out more about us or ask our colleagues a question. Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.
Job description
A Product manager is responsible for facilitating a product team to build and release digital products or features. Product managers understand the business goals, the user needs for the service, and the different options for how to build and scope the digital product according to those needs. Product managers at HMRC can make use of multiple learning and development opportunities to develop their product management skills. HMRC follow the government Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) capability framework and career paths.
You will lead a product through discovery, alpha, beta and live states. You may support Lead Product Managers and line manage Associate Product Managers and other professions within a Service Delivery Team and support their professional development.
Person specification
- Deliver product features for the new products that will be formed as of the BST Programme this could include leading the discovery/alpha/beta delivery phases
- Define the scope of the service and the key features, and adapt this as new information is learnt (e.g. as business objectives evolve or user research offers new insights)
- Engage stakeholders to get buy in for the product vision and roadmap
- Work with a multidisciplinary product delivery team (civil servants or suppliers) with skills such as user research, service design, business analysis, or software engineering to shape the product and build it
- Work with team members, such as performance analyst and user researchers, to gather user insights and feedback on live products so that they can be iterated and improved
- Own and maintain a backlog of ‘user stories’ (which describe features and functions a user should be able to do on the product) and prioritise the order in which they will be built and released to users. These should be in line with the goals of the product set by the organisation
- Work with the Leads in your area to understand different options for how a product or digital service might be developed, and the high-level financial case for the options
- Work with designers and researchers in your area to ensure the products and services are suitably adapted to meet accessibility standards
- Work with user researchers to shape research activities to test the concepts behind new products, features, or prototypes, and/or test their usability
- Participate in, and contribute to the Product management community of practice, whether through taking part in community initiatives, running sessions or talks, or other activities which support other product managers
- Facilitate meaning full discussions with stakeholders across all grades to get buy-in to your plans and roadmaps being able to influence both these stakeholders and your team to gain consensus
- Champion the user of the service, understanding the user journey and their needs so that your product succeeds in meeting the users expectants and ensures greater take-up
Essential Criteria
- Experience of working within the context of strategic and transformational change
- Experience of building and maintaining positive relationships with stakeholders, including strong verbal and written skills and negotiating on difficult issues
- Experience of understanding problems from a user perspective within a service, product or process, and finding a positive solution to resolve the issue
- Experience of being able to prioritise work based on what is valuable to do first, and getting buy in from stakeholders for any associated product roadmaps/ programme and project plans/ rollout plans
- Ability to collaborate with other design, development and content professions with specialist skills to solve a problem
Desirable Criteria
- Experience of using a variety of product management tools and techniques in an agile environment
- An understanding of new and emerging digital technologies and the opportunities they provide to improve the delivery of public services in the UK
- Experience of working with third party software developers or within the third party software industry
- Practical experience interpreting user data and feedback to design and implement channel shift strategies to move users from traditional to digital delivery channels
- Experience of line management in multi-disciplined teams
- Awareness of approaches to digital delivery, such as user needs analysis, prototyping and continuous improvement
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Lifecycle perspective
- Product ownership
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Find more about HMRC benefits in 'Your little extras and big benefits handbook' for further information or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a name blind CV and 1000-word Personal Statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Your Personal Statement should be used to describe how your skills and experience would be suitable for the advertised role. We recommend linking any examples to the job description and essential criteria, using the STAR (situation, task, action, result) framework to describe your skills and experiences. Your CV should set out your career history detailing your responsibilities within each role.
Candidates will need to input their career history into a text box in the application marked ‘Job/Employment History’ . Candidates will also need to complete a 1000 word Personal Statement detailing how your knowledge and experience meet the ‘responsibilities’ and ‘essential criteria’ in the job description.
Candidates will be sifted with a combined score against the job description, especially the essential criteria based on their knowledge & experience from their CV extract and Personal Statement.
We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process in order to manage nu
Sifting will take place once the advert has closed. Successful sift applicants will be invited to a video interview.
Interviews:
There will be a panel interview, where we will explore your experience and suitability for the role, using questions to find out about your experience and technical skills. The technical skills will be:
Lifecycle perspective- Product ownership
There may be an exercise/presentation on the above technical skills, if this is the case, it will be included in the interview invite.
Interview dates to be confirmed.
A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.
Eligibility
To check that you are eligible to apply, review this eligibility information
Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers:
This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need, so please review the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you are able to travel to.
HMRC expects staff members to attend the office x2 days a week.
Reasonable Adjustments
We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process because of a disability, condition, or impairment. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.
If you need a reasonable adjustment or a change to be made so that you can make your application, review this information on reasonable adjustments, and contact [email protected] as soon as possible.
Equality and Diversity
We’re committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues here at HMRC. We want everyone to feel valued, supported and comfortable being their true self at work.
We’re proud to be a diverse and inclusive employer, supporting social mobility by giving opportunities to people from all walks of life. We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us and offer a range of flexible working patterns and support. Our aim is to make a fulfilling career at HMRC accessible to you.
For more information on how we make this happen, review this information on our culture and values.
Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.
We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible after considering operational and customer service needs. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly, as agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate, and any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.
Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.
The Civil Service runs a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Locations
HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.
Security Update
For more information on the level of security checks we will carry out, review this information on security checks
Further Information
The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.
Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application/s will be withdrawn from the process.
Duplicate applications for the same vacancy will also be withdrawn.
Transferring into HMRC from Civil Service If you are currently working for an ‘Other Government Department’ (OGD) and would like to consider the impact on your pay when joining HMRC, please see the attached document "Combined T&C and OGD Pay English”, found at the bottom of this advert. Further information on staff transfers can be found on gov.uk
Problems during the application process
If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
If you think you’ve made a mistake on a submitted application (e.g. you’ve ticked the incorrect eligibility box), please contact [email protected] at least two working days before the vacancy closes. After this, we won’t be able to reopen your application.
Please use the subject line to insert appropriate wording e.g. Please re-open my application - 288829 & vacancy closing date 08/06/2023.
For reasonable adjustments queries or requests, please see details within reasonable adjustments section above.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
- certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
Recruitment team
Further information
