Product Manager London, England
Job description
Flexible Working: We support full-time, part-time, compressed, and flexible hours, we are highly committed to offering remote working across the organisations, however, our ability to provide this is dependent on role requirement and business need.
About Us
MI5 and MI6 are part of the UK’s Intelligence Services. We work together to safeguard Britain’s people, interests, and businesses from various threats at home, overseas and online, including cyber-attacks, espionage, terrorism, and organised crime. Working across our vital missions, you’ll deliver impact at the heart of national security, all within a supportive and inclusive environment that allows everyone to thrive.
The Role
Are you interested in creating technology that helps source critical intelligence for our missions? Are you adaptable and positive when faced with change and uncertainty?
Working closely with customers and engineering colleagues as a Product Manager, you’ll be part of developing and delivering valuable products for the organisations and responsible for deciding what products we should build to help keep the country safe. It’s a unique job that’s full and varied. You’ll focus on your customers and their most pressing problems, translating challenges into compelling product visions and strategies for our engineers to solve.
Using product management techniques, such as discovery, hypothesis testing, and prototyping, you’ll manage products from idea to product retirement. Making extensive use of evidence and insights from data, acting on feedback whilst balancing the needs of the whole organisation, you’ll create unique products and contribute to keeping the country safe.
Excited by innovation and eager to discover new techniques, you’ll bring fresh ideas to the team, influencing leaders and working diligently to build close relationships with customers, our partners, and the wider product management team. You’ll thrive building professional relationships as you work with international partners, academics, and commercial groups, communicating key business problems and products that support national security.
About You
Adaptable, motivated, and collaborative, you’re the type of person that relishes solving problems and are willing to experiment to find a solution. A skilled communicator, you’ll influence a range of customers and stakeholders. You’ll demonstrate a high level of experience working in Product Management, including managing complex products, taking a strategic approach, and delivering value to customers and stakeholders. You’ll have experience of Product Management in a fluid, changing workplace defining and explaining problems for a product team to solve.
You understand how to communicate complex messages clearly and tactfully, and work collaboratively; representing the customer’s needs at every point in the process. You’ll be confident in challenging our culture to foster progression, able to redesign operational processes, and create new ones, showing an understanding of design, technology, and data principles.
Above all, you’ll ensure the customer is always at the forefront of what we do, you’ll love solving problems, learning, and experimenting, as you work with colleagues to create a fully inclusive and supportive environment.
Training and Development
When you join us, you’ll have a full induction to the organisation, which will help you get to grips with how we operate. You’ll then have a team induction to give you a rounded understanding; on what it’s like working as part of the MI5 and MI6 Product Management teams followed by on-the-job training to help you settle in.
A training pathway is offered to all Product Managers, with the option to take specialist training in line with your own personal development plan.
We’re committed to developing our staff and recognise this will look different for everyone. We have an exceptional skills community, dedicated to supporting you. There’ll be lots of tailored training, coaching, and mentoring, alongside opportunities to pursue career pathways which cover specialism tracks. Whatever your professional goals, we’ll work with you to build the skills you need to excel at your role and throughout your career.
Rewards and Benefits
You’ll receive a starting salary of between £48,070 - £56,874, depending on skills and experience, with an opportunity to qualify for additional allowances and a skills-related payment of £3,099, plus other benefits including:
- 25 days Annual Leave automatically rising to 30 days after 5 years' service, and an additional 10.5 days public and privilege holidays
- Opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme
- Interest-free season ticket loan (parking and travel)
- Excellent pension scheme
- Cycle to work scheme
- Facilities such as a gym and restaurant, and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)
- Paid parental and adoption leave
Equal Opportunities
At MI5 and MI6 diversity and inclusion are critical to our mission. To protect the UK, we need a truly diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve. This includes diversity in every sense of the word: those with different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking and those with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions. We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including those from groups that are under-represented in our workforce such as women, those from an ethnic minority background, people with disabilities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Find out more about our culture, working environment and diversity on our websites:
https://www.mi5.gov.uk/careers/working-at-mi5
https://www.sis.gov.uk/explore-careers.html
We’re Disability Confident
MI5 and MI6 are proud to have achieved Leader status within the DWP’s Disability Confident scheme. This is aimed at encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain, and develop disabled people. Being Disability Confident, we aim to offer a person-to-person interview to any candidate who self-identifies as disabled and meets the essential criteria for the role. This is our ‘Offer of Interview’ (OOI). To secure an interview for this vacancy, the essential criteria (in order of application process) are:
- Demonstrate ability to work on managing complex products and developing a strategic vision of products - assessed at application sift.
- Working knowledge of Product Management - assessed at application sift.
What to Expect
Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:
- Paper sift – you are advised to make full use of the word allowance for each question
- Interview
- Drugs Test
- Vetting Interview
Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 - 9 months to process including vetting, so we advise you continue any current employment until you have received your final job offer.
Before You Apply
To work at MI5 and MI6, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. You can read our full eligibility criteria here.
This role requires the highest security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. You can find out more about the vetting process here.
Please note we have a strict drugs policy, so once you start your application, you can’t take any recreational drugs and you’ll need to declare your previous drug usage at the relevant stage.
The role is based in London, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application. An interest-free loan via our benevolent fund is available to assist with relocating into privately rented accommodation to take up the offer of employment.
Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member.
Right to Withdraw Statement:
Please be aware that we reserve the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.
