Product Manager

Job summary

As a Product Manager, you’ll be the day-to-day owner of multiple technology and infrastructure products that underpin critical organisational services. Working with customers, stakeholders and delivery teams, you’ll guide products through their full lifecycle, from early planning and development through to implementation, improvement and eventual retirement.

Job description

Working closely with people across the organisation, you’ll build relationships, understand different perspectives and work towards shared goals. Sometimes that might mean helping customers understand why one piece of work needs to take priority over another. It could also involve negotiating dependencies between teams or using data and evidence to support difficult decisions. Whatever the situation, you’ll help ensure resources are focused where they can deliver the greatest value.

Product performance data will form an important part of your decision-making, alongside maintaining roadmaps, refining backlogs and contributing to planning cycles. Whether you’re speaking to customers about their priorities or coordinating work across multiple teams, you’ll help ensure critical products continue to meet user needs and evolve over time.

This role sits within an established and expanding Product Management function, where new ideas and different perspectives are welcomed. As part of a growing community of Product Managers, you’ll be encouraged to share ideas, challenge assumptions and contribute to the ongoing evolution of product practices and ways of working.

Person specification

Experience working in a Product Management role, or a related position that has provided significant product management expertise, is essential. You could be an established Product Manager or Product Owner, or perhaps a Business Analyst or Project Manager with experience working in a product environment. A technology or infrastructure background may be beneficial, but what matters most is experience of shaping priorities, influencing product direction and delivering outcomes.

A solid understanding of core product management principles, including roadmaps, backlogs and product lifecycles is essential, along with the ability to work confidently in Agile and Lean environments. Just as importantly, you’ll know how to use data, user insight and evidence to make informed decisions and prioritise effectively.

Strong relationship-building skills will help you work effectively with a wide range of stakeholders. You’ll be comfortable balancing competing priorities and having constructive conversations where expectations, resources and timescales aren’t aligned. You’ll also bring curiosity and a desire to improve the way things are done, alongside an openness to new approaches that could lead to better outcomes.

Benefits

You’ll receive a starting salary of £55,758 (Cheltenham) or £62,008 (London), plus a range of benefits, including:

• 25 days’ annual leave rising automatically to 30 days after five years' service, plus an additional 10.5 days of public and privilege holidays

• opportunities to be recognised through our employee performance scheme

• an interest-free season ticket loan

• an excellent pension scheme

• a cycle to work scheme

• facilities such as a subsidised gym, restaurant and on-site coffee bars (at some locations)

• paid parental and adoption leave

Training and development

From day one, you’ll receive a structured induction to help you get to know the products, teams, stakeholders and ways of working relevant to your role. An assigned buddy will help you settle in, make connections and ensure you understand our processes.

You'll join an established product management community with plenty of opportunities to learn from experienced colleagues, share ideas and build your professional network. Through regular community events, Product Managers from across the organisation come together to share experiences, discuss challenges and explore different approaches.

As your career develops, you'll have access to product management development pathways, Agile and Lean training, professional certifications and wider leadership development opportunities. Whether you're looking to deepen your product management expertise, broaden your skills or prepare for your next role, we’ll encourage you to pursue learning opportunities that align with your goals and interests.

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

Our recruitment process is fair, transparent, and based on merit. Here is a brief overview of each stage, in order:

1. An initial online application form including pre-screening questions to ensure you meet our eligibility criteria

2. Online Situational Judgement Test (SJT) in which you rate the appropriateness of responses to a series of short scenarios.

3. Full online application form.

4. An application sift looking at your motivational fit for the role and experience

5. A face-to-face interview

6. If successful, you will receive a conditional offer of employment

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process to progress to the next. Your application may take around 6 to 9 months to complete, including vetting, so we advise you remain in your current employment until you have received your final job offer.

Equal opportunities

At GCHQ, 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, encompassing different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, ways of thinking, and people with disabilities or neurodivergent conditions.

We therefore welcome and encourage applications from everyone, particularly those from groups that are under-represented in our workforce including women, people from ethnic minority backgrounds, people with disabilities, and those from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Find out more about our culture, working environment and approach to diversity and inclusion on our website.

We’re Disability Confident

GCHQ is proud to have achieved Leader status within the Department for Work and Pensions’ Disability Confident scheme. The scheme is designed to encourage employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people.

As a Disability Confident employer, we aim to offer a fair and proportionate number of person-to-person interviews to any candidates who self-identify as disabled and meet the essential criteria for the role. This is known as our ‘Offer of Interview’ (OOI).

To secure an interview for this vacancy, the essential criteria (in order of application process):

1. You'll be required to reach the minimum pass mark for the online Situational Judgement Test (SJT), which assesses criteria important for all roles in our organisation.

2. Able to demonstrate management of, or contributions to, the delivery of a product, service, or capability, including identifying priorities and supporting the delivery of outcomes.

3. Able to demonstrate effective engagement with users, customers, or stakeholders to understand their needs, gather feedback and inform decisions.

4. Able to analyse information and evidence to make recommendations and support decision-making.

5. Able to adapt to changing priorities and manage competing demands while maintaining a focus on agreed outcomes.

There is a wide range of extra support available throughout the recruitment process to enable you to do your best, see our website for information on reasonable adjustments we can offer.

Before you apply

To work at GCHQ, you need to be a British citizen or hold dual British nationality. Read more about our eligibility criteria.

This role requires the highest level of security clearance, known as Developed Vetting (DV). It’s something everyone in the UK Intelligence Community undertakes. Find out more about the vetting process.

Please note we have a strict drugs policy. Once you start your application, you must not take any recreational drugs, and you’ll be required to declare any previous drug use at the relevant stage of the process.

Before you apply, we advise you to consider setting up a separate email address for your contact with us to ensure your personal and application correspondence remain separate. Try to avoid including identifying information in your email address, such as your first name, surname and/or date of birth. This is good practice and will help you manage your application more securely.

The role is based in London or Cheltenham, so you’ll need to live within a commutable distance of either location. Please consider any financial implications and practicalities before submitting an application, as we do not offer relocation costs.

We offer reasonable reimbursement of travel costs for candidates attending in‑person appointments during the recruitment and vetting process. Full details will be provided with your interview or assessment invitation.

Reimbursement is discretionary and will only be made in line with the Candidate Expenses Policy, as amended from time to time. Candidates must book their own travel using the most economical option and provide original hard copy receipts to claim reimbursement.

Please note, you should only submit your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you are in the UK before applying. Applications submitted from outside the UK may affect our ability to progress your application. You should not discuss your application with anyone other than your partner or a close family member.

Right to close applications early

Please be aware that we reserve the right to close applications once a certain number of applications have been received. Please submit your application as soon as possible to avoid missing out. If you have a disability (as defined under the Equality Act 2010) and need additional time to complete your application, please submit your initial application. Then, contact us via the email provided as soon as possible, using the subject line “Reasonable Adjustments Extension” and briefly outline the support you require.

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

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (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

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.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

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 : careers@recruitmentoffice.org.uk
• Email : careers@recruitmentoffice.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : careers@recruitmentoffice.org.uk

Further information

www.gchq-careers.co.uk