Overview

Specialist role Product manager

Summary of the work 

 The SFA require a product owner to lead a multi-disciplinary team to deliver a digital service in a fast-paced agile environment. The right candidate will be led by user needs, experienced in agile methodologies and able to deliver to the Government digital service standard.

Latest start date 29/07/2016

Region West Midlands - Coventry

Organisation the work is for Skills Funding Agency (SFA) on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS)

About the work

Who the specialist will work with The Product Owner will work as part of a SCRUM team composed of team members from multiple suppliers and civil servants.

What the specialist will work on 

1. You will be a product owner responsible for the creation, prioritisation, and updating of a product backlog for a digital payments service. 
2. You will undertake knowledge transfer, coaching and mentoring a civil servant assigned to shadow you as a product owner.
   

Work setup

Address where the work will take place Skills Funding Agency, Coventry with occasional travel to other locations nationwide.

Working arrangements 

Full-time with the majority of the time working co-located with the rest of the team at the SFA offices in Coventry. Occasional travel to other BIS or SFA (or partner organisation) offices may be required, subject to SFA travel and subsistence policy. This programme is being delivered using agile methodologies. Successful application of agile principles and techniques requires that the teams are co-located and able to work directly with colleagues representing digital delivery, operational and policy requirements.

Security clearance 

The successful supplier must be able to demonstrate that he/she has been subject to Baseline Personnel Security Standards checks as set out in the SFA Baseline Security Policy 2014.

Additional information

Additional terms and conditions 

Standard DOS framework and call-off terms and conditions. Expenses as per the SFA travel and subsistence policy.

Skills and experience

Essential skills and experience 

• Have substantial experience of product ownership, with proven ability to understand user and government needs and convert them into a product vision, goals, and backlog
• Provide a clear vision and set the direction for an agile team
• Have substantial experience of working in a multidisciplinary team in an agile development environment, and therefore at ease with rapidly changing deadlines, workloads and goals
• Encourage a culture of innovation focused on adding value – give people space to think creatively
• Spot warning signs of things going wrong and provide a decisive response to significant delivery challenges
• Bring together views and perspectives of stakeholders to gain a wider picture of the landscape surrounding activities and policies
• Confidently engage with stakeholders and colleagues at all levels to generate commitment to goals
• Actively involve partners to deliver a business outcome through collaboration that achieves better results for users
• Clarifiy business priorities, roles and responsibilities and secure individual and team ownership
• Has been responsible for delivery and ongoing product management of high quality, digital products
• Demonstrable knowledge and passion for user centred design practices for public facing and internal services and applications
• Able to understand user needs by analysing user research findings and analytics data. Confident in writing user stories to meet those needs
• Understand how a digital service should address the needs of all possible users so that no one is excluded, with particular reference to accessibility and assisted digital
• Exceptional skills in convincing people that user needs should guide how the product backlog is shaped. Pragmatic approach to balancing user needs with government needs
• Ensure that individual and organisational learning and talent development opportunities are fully exploited in order to enhance organisational capability

Nice-to-have skills and experience 

• Experience of working on UK central government services
• Strong understanding of the Government Digital Service Standard and Service Manual
• Experience with legacy systems integration
• Experience building digital services for banking or financial sector
  

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.