Head of Product

Job summary

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

1. joining up public sector services
2. harnessing the power of AI for the public good
3. strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
4. elevating leadership and investing in talent
5. funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
6. committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need

The Products & Services Directorate (P&S) within GDS is responsible for the GOV.UK app, as well as common capabilities, products and tools for others to use and create great public services that are accessible, inclusive and easy to use:

• GOV.UK app: building a personalised and proactive relationship with users, making it easier to interact with government
• GOV.UK AI: maximising opportunities of current technological advances to develop citizen facing AI experiences
• GOV.UK Mailbox, GOV.UK Pay, GOV.UK Notify, GOV.UK Forms and Emergency Alerts: building services once, to be used across government, local authorities and police forces

Job description

The vision for the GOV.UK app is that it will become the primary way citizens interact with the government through a trusted and personalised experience. It will provide utility to get things done, as well as enabling proactive interactions. To achieve this it will be a scalable reusable channel for all of the government.

As Head of Product for the GOV.UK app, you will play a leading role in setting the vision, direction and roadmap for the app in its own right and as part of a complex range of product streams and capabilities that are surfaced within the app. This portfolio includes the GOV.UK account, AI, communications and payments.

We seek a passionate Head of Product who thrives in complex environments, and in driving outcomes at a national scale. You will have the skills and experience to use data and insights to prioritise across agendas and set and drive the product roadmap. You will be particularly adept at building relationships across a wide range of stakeholder groups and will be confident in influencing stakeholders at every level of government.

You’ll be joining the Senior Management Team in GDS Products and Services, leading the build and running of a suite of high performing cross-government platform products. These platform products operate at significant scale, supporting both high and low capability DDaT users across every government department and across the public sector. Their success is a recognition that GDS, at the centre of government, has a critical role in building and running platforms to address common problems and enable service transformation across government.

A head of product provides support to all product managers in the organisation and to the product community across government. They lead on product strategy, working closely with lead product managers and their business units. They are responsible for setting and raising standards for product management in their organisation.

As a Head of Product for GDS, you’ll:

• own and be accountable for developing and articulating a clear vision, achievable goals and measurable objectives for your products
• develop, own and evolve the product strategy and multi-year roadmap to meet the needs of citizens and government at a national scale
• set direction and leadership across your multidisciplinary product teams in running, supporting and continuously improving products so that they meet user needs

• manage the prioritisation of product development across your portfolio, ensuring a balance of support work so that the products remain reliable, robust and secure, whilst also continuously improving

• lead engagement with key stakeholders, users and partner organisations, representing GDS externally through a wide range of opportunities

• Deliver GDS and government strategy by effectively coordinating product development with other products, programmes, and disciplines across government

• be a thought leader for product management both within and beyond government

• maintain strategic awareness of the changing digital and technology landscape and the opportunities they provide to improve the delivery of public services in the UK

• build capability across the product community at every level, coaching and mentoring other members of the product community, identifying learning and development opportunities for individuals and tea

• support the Deputy Director in shaping and delivering the strategy and operational delivery

Person specification

The Head of Product role will be assessed against our GDaD Capability Framework. In addition to below, please review the skills that will be assessed here.

We’re interested in people who:

• have significant product leadership experience with a strong track-record for shipping, scaling and evolving nation scale digital products by leading multiple teams in an agile delivery setting
• Set and evolve product strategy at a portfolio level, securing senior support for your products and directing the work of teams across all phases of delivery - from discovery to continuous improvement in a live setting
• assess products and services to define priorities and trade offs, and deliver measurable outcomes and improvements
• build and sustain effective relationships with all disciplines including engineering, design, architecture, security, policy, performance analysis and delivery management
• engage and influence senior stakeholders, including suppliers, coordinating activity across multiple organisations towards shared outcomes
• set, monitor and report on measurable performance targets for teams and products, using data to drive strategic decisions
• communicate clearly and persuasively with a wide range of audiences, articulating vision, strategy and progress through multiple channels
• have experience building and growing exceptional product teams through recruiting, coaching and line‑managing product managers, and building capability across a product community
• have experience of working with suppliers, including through end‑to‑end procurement processes
• have led teams or services with a strong focus on operational maturity, resilience and sustainable live service management

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £67,126, Government Digital Service contributes £19,446 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for the King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

Any move to Government Digital Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 500 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• a 20 minute phone screen
• a 75 minute interview based on the behaviours and competencies listed and your experience. The interview will include the following elements:
  • a presentation based on a topic provided in advance
  • a series of interview questions

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is:

• have significant product leadership experience with a strong track-record for shipping, scaling and evolving nation scale digital products by leading multiple teams in an agile delivery setting

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• leadership
• seeing the bigger picture
• changing and improving
• making effective decisions
• delivering at pace
• communicating and influencing

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework for the Head of Product role:

• Agile and lean practices
• Applying user-centred insights
• Creating value for money
• Lifecycle management
• Managing product outcomes
• Product leadership
• Product management
• Stakeholder relationship management
• Strategic ownership

Want to know more about who Government Digital and Data are? Click Here

Recruitment Timeline

Sift completion: 28/04/26

Phone screens: 6th May onwards

Panel interviews: w/c 18/05/26

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

Sponsorship

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

Location:

Whilst this role's location is London/Manchester, if you are a current Civil servant working in DSIT and based in Bristol you are also able to apply for this role. If you are successful, you will retain your current location and pay.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

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).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk
• Email : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact gds-complaints@dsit.gov.uk in the first instance.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission by email: info@csc.gov.uk Or in writing: Civil Service Commission, Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ.