Lead Product Manager

Job summary

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has a clear mission - to grow the economy. Our role is to help businesses invest, grow and export to create jobs and opportunities right across the country. We do this in three ways.

Firstly, we help to build a strong, competitive business environment, where consumers are protected and companies rewarded for treating their employees properly.

Secondly, we open international markets and ensure resilient supply chains. This can be through Free Trade Agreements, trade facilitation and multilateral agreements.

Finally, we work in partnership with businesses every day, providing advice, finance and deal-making support to those looking to start up, invest, export and grow.

The Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) directorate develops and operates tools and services to support us in this mission. The team won Best Public Sector Employer at the Women in Tech Employer Awards in 2025!

Job description

Are you passionate about shaping impactful digital services that make a real difference? At DBT, we’re looking for a Lead Product Manager (Grade 6) who thrives on collaboration, curiosity and purpose-driven leadership.

Working in the Business Growth portfolio, you will be a part of the portfolio’s senior leadership team, operating in a matrix environment.

In this role, and together with your senior leadership team colleagues, you will provide cross-profession leadership on all matters relating to the portfolio which designs, builds and runs DBT’s national scale digital services that underpin how we support businesses to start, grow and succeed both domestically and internationally.

You will lead, develop and empower a team of product managers across multidisciplinary squads, delivering transformation and running live services in an environment with high levels of uncertainty, change and pace. In addition, you will be responsible for one of the sub-portfolios, where you will own the delivery, advice and hands on support for several multidisciplinary squads.

You’ll bring people together, such as Product Managers, Service Owners, stakeholders and delivery teams to identify and solve complex challenges and co-create meaningful solutions.

You’ll lead with empathy and clarity, helping the team to develop a shared product vision and roadmap. You’ll support them in choosing the right approaches to discovery, prototyping and delivery ensuring our products are viable, sustainable and grounded in user needs to enable value.

This is a stretching role for an experienced and ambitious colleague who enjoys a challenge and is driven to have an impact, delivering through others. You’ll be supported by our Head of Product and Chief Digital Officer for Product, who are committed to your growth and development. You’ll also line manage and mentor junior colleagues, helping them build confidence and capability in their roles.

As part of the wider Product, Business Analyst, and Delivery Leadership Team, you’ll play a key role in shaping how we work across DBT, bringing significant experience of developing, shipping and evolving high usage digital products at pace. You’ll work closely with Service Owners to understand the organisation’s future needs and help teams validate and deliver against them. You’ll also lead on communicating your team’s work to senior leaders bringing clarity, insight and impact to the conversation.

Key Responsibilities

A Lead Product Manager is the lead for the product team and product capabilities in their portfolio. At this level, you will:

• Own and evolve the portfolio vision and roadmap, ensuring alignment with departmental priorities and the delivery of joined-up, end-to-end services.

• Lead and inspire agile, multidisciplinary teams, creating an environment where collaboration and continuous learning thrive.

• Champion agile ways of working, helping teams adopt and adapt practices that support iterative delivery, user-centred design and measurable outcomes.

• Coach and mentor product managers at all levels, supporting their development and helping them grow in confidence and capability.

• Partner with the portfolio leadership team to provide strategic direction across the portfolio.

• Collaborate with Service Owners and Delivery Leads, contributing to portfolio planning, prioritisation and product assurance.

• Lead on product recruitment and onboarding, helping to build diverse, high-performing teams by hiring associate, mid-level and senior product managers, as well as contractors.

• Ensure decisions are grounded in evidence, working closely with researchers, analysts and designers to understand user needs and validate assumptions.

• Communicate with clarity and purpose, representing your team’s work to senior leaders and stakeholders across DBT and government.

• Support delivery excellence, helping teams navigate complexity, unblock challenges and deliver value early and often.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Product management: Significant experience of setting a product vision and strategy, leading teams to deliver against a clear, prioritised roadmap across multiple products or services. You can support multiple teams in delivering quality outcomes in the right way and coach and mentor others in product management. (LEAD)
• Stakeholder relationship management: Proven ability to build and manage effective relationships with stakeholders, directly and with your teams; influencing and negotiating with senior stakeholders to align priorities, resolve issues and enable progress.
• Managing product outcomes: Experience of leading teams to define, measure and improve meaningful product outcomes, using data and insight to support prioritisation, continuous improvement and better user experiences.
• Creating value for money: Evidence of creating value for money by balancing user needs with organisational cost and benefit, including defining product value and contributing to business cases and value‑based decisions.
• Agile and Lean practices: Experience of leading and supporting multidisciplinary teams in Agile and Lean good practices, fostering a collaborative environment, developing capability, and enabling teams to deliver high‑quality outcomes.
• Applying user-centred insights: Coach others in making decisions that meet user needs across a range of channels. Advocate for continuous use of user insights in teams. Use user insights to make strategic decisions to provide the best user experience.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of leading and coaching teams through different phases of the life cycle.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Managing product outcomes
• Agile and Lean practices
• Product leadership
• Product management
• Strategic ownership
• Creating value for money

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £69,284, Department for Business and Trade contributes £20,071 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• learning and development tailored to your role

• a flexible, hybrid working environment with options like condensed hours

• a culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

• a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%

• annual leave starting at 25 days rising to 30 days with service

• three paid volunteering days a year

• an employee benefits programme including cycle to work

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

How to apply

As part of the application process you will be asked to upload a two-page CV and complete a 750 personal statement outlining how you meet the essential skills and experience listed above. You can use bullet points and subheadings if you prefer.

Sift will be from week commencing 1st June 2026

Interviews will be from week commencing 10th June 2026

Please note these dates are indicative and may be subject to change.

If there is a high volume of applications, we will sift looking at your Lead Criteria only. You may then be progressed to full sift or straight to interview.

How we interview

At the interview stage for this role, you will be asked to demonstrate relevant Technical Skills and Behaviours from the Success Profiles framework, which are listed above. These are role specific and in line with the DDaT Capability Framework

As part of the interview process you will be expected to do a presentation.

How we offer

Offers will be made in merit order based on location preferences. If you pass the bar at interview but are not the highest scoring you will be held on a 12-month reserve list in case a role becomes available. If you are judged a near miss at interview, you may be offered a post at the grade below the one you applied for.

This role requires SC clearance. DBT’s requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Failure to meet this requirement will result in your application being rejected and your offer will be withdrawn.

Checks will also be made against:

• departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)

• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records

• your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency

• security services record

• location details

More about us

This role can only be worked from within the UK, not overseas. If you are based in London, you will receive London weighting. DBT employees are contracted to work in a hybrid pattern, spending 2-3 days a week (pro rata) in the office. Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DBT, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

You can find out more about our office locations, how we calculate salaries, our diversity statement and reasonable adjustments, the Recruitment Principles, the Civil Service code and our complaints procedure on our website.

Find out more about life at DBT, our benefits and meet the team by watching our video or reading our blog!

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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.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.

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 : DDaT Recruitment Team
• Email : ddat.recruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : ddat.recruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact DBT by email at Resourcing@trade.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Civil Service Commission Complaints

Attachments

DDaT Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 506kB)