Product Manager: Service Development

Job summary

Every day, NS&I looks after the savings of 25 million people across the UK. Behind every deposit, every login, every call and every claim sits a service, and we want you to make this service better.

It isn't about simply maintaining what already exists. We want you to get under the surface of real customer problems, using evidence rather than assumptions and shaping a roadmap that helps decide what gets improved next and why.

You'll bring the skills and experience of product management to a portfolio of services that genuinely matter to people's financial lives. Working alongside Service Designers, Content Designers, data specialists, customer experience, delivery and operational colleagues across NS&I and our strategic delivery partners, you'll champion our customers and drive forward the priorities we need to deliver.

We are currently working in a hybrid way with colleagues expected to work at their chosen office location for 40% of their working month.

Shape the outcomes: Help define what good looks like for your services, using insight, data and customer feedback to inform priorities and decisions.

Embrace your influence: You'll help manage backlogs, set priorities and make decisions that guide delivery teams, working within established governance rather than simply following instructions.

Have lasting impact: Improvements you help shape will make it easier for millions of our customers to save, manage and trust their money with a national institution.

Growth and development: You'll work alongside a Retail community of Service Development Owners, Service Designers, Content Designers, data specialists and other customer-centred roles, sharing practice and building your skills in a role that blends Product Ownership, CX and Service Design.

Join us at an important time of change: NS&I is transforming how we develop and deliver our services, creating opportunities to improve how millions of customers interact with us. The environment is complex, with multiple programmes, partners and changing priorities, so you'll need to be comfortable working through ambiguity, influencing across organisational boundaries and bringing clarity to complex problems.

Job description

Champion the customer: Dig into research, feedback and data to use what you find to make improvements that will move the needle for our customers.

Run discovery, research and testing that gets to the truth of a problem, validates ideas and helps define the right experience for customers.

Shape the backlog: Work with a living, breathing list of service and journey improvements, making decisions on what comes first and balancing customer value, business priorities and what is realistically deliverable.

Be a voice in the room that matters: Work closely with delivery teams as the business lead, helping steer day-to-day decisions and keeping everyone focused on the right path.

Build bridges, not silos: Connect with the customer experience, service design, technology, delivery and operational colleagues across NS&I and our strategic delivery partners. Keep customer outcomes front and centre through governance, prioritisation and change.

Person specification

Product and service thinking runs through you: you've owned a backlog, set priorities and made decisions based on customer and business value, whatever your job title has been until now.

Evidence led: you use research, data and feedback to shape decisions, not just instinct or the loudest voice in the room.

Comfortable working in iterative, multidisciplinary environments: you're used to working alongside designers, researchers, delivery colleagues and operations to get things done.

A confident communicator: you can build relationships and influence stakeholders at every level, negotiate effectively and hold your ground on customer outcomes when priorities compete.

Comfortable with complexity and ambiguity: you can bring clarity to complex problems, work across organisational boundaries and keep momentum when priorities or circumstances change.

If you want your product thinking to shape services that real people rely on every day, we'd love for you to apply.

Essential Experience

• Background in product, service or customer experience: you've worked as a Product Owner, Digital Product Manager, Customer Experience Manager, Service Designer, Service Improvement Lead or similar and have a track record of improving customer journeys, products or digital services.
• A discovery mindset: you know how to lead discovery, get to the heart of a problem and turn insight into clear, customer-focused solutions and requirements.
• Backlog and roadmap ownership: you're confident managing and prioritising a live backlog or improvement pipeline within Agile or iterative delivery environments, balancing value, capacity and impact.
• Evidence-led decision making: you have experience of using customer insight, analytics, research and feedback to shape decisions and prioritise what matters most, backed by strategic thinking rather than guesswork.
• Stakeholder engagement that gets results: you build lasting relationships and influence confidently across multidisciplinary teams, including design, technology, operations and delivery, facilitating, negotiating and communicating with clarity, in writing and in person.
• Experience working across organisational boundaries: you can collaborate effectively with internal teams and external strategic delivery partners, building alignment around customer and business outcomes.
• Comfort working through ambiguity and change: you can adapt to changing priorities, navigate complexity and bring structure and focus to problems that do not have straightforward answers.

Essential skills

• Discovery, problem definition and requirements development.
• Agile and iterative delivery methodologies.
• Data-driven decision making.
• Stakeholder engagement and facilitation.
• Strategic thinking and prioritisation.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Essential technical knowledge

• Customer-centred product and service development.
• Backlog management and prioritisation.
• Customer journey mapping and service improvement.
• Discovery, problem definition and requirements development.

Behaviours

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

• Changing and Improving
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £50,300, National Savings and Investments contributes £14,571 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Some benefits of working at NS&I include:

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible hybrid working options
• 9-day fortnight scheme
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• Generous annual leave – starting at 25 days, increasing to 30 days
• Performance-related variable pay bonus
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave

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 and Experience.

To apply, please click the link on this advert and follow the steps to complete the application form.

In your application you will be asked to provide the following:

• An outline of your career history and qualifications with your key responsibilities and achievements.
• A 500 word demonstrating how your skills, knowledge and experience meet the person specification as well as: Essential Experience, Essential Skills, Essential Experience

A 250 word statement for each selected behaviour at sift.

Please use examples from your experience and knowledge to demonstrate how you meet them addressing the essential criteria in the Person Specification. We would recommend using the STAR ‘situation, task, action, result’ method of giving examples.

We will assess applications on your career history, personal statement, and behaviour statements

In the event we receive a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted first on the Personal Statement. Only those that meet the minimum acceptable score for this criteria will qualify for the full sift and be considered for interview.

If shortlisted, you will be invited to attend a 1 hour panel interview via video call.

As part of this interview, you will be asked to make a 10 minute presentation aimed at demonstrating your previous experience within projects. More details will be supplied if invited to interview

Interviews will take place on w/c 12th October 2026 .

Following the first interview, it may be necessary to move to a 2nd stage of interviews, in order to establish a merit order, in the event that we have a strong field of candidates. If this is necessary, we will notify successful candidates from the 1st stage of interviews that a 2nd interview will be held. Once the 2nd interview dates have been determined, we will give a weeks' notice to candidates.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) 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.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 : jobs@nsandi.com
• Email : jobs@nsandi.com

Recruitment team

• Email : jobs@nsandi.com

Further information

The law requires for selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis for fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service recruitment principles. 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 jobs@nsandi.com in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission info@csc.gov.uk

Attachments

Service Development Owner role profile Opens in new window (pdf, 276kB)Benefits Leaflet - V2 updated 22-11-23 (3) Opens in new window (pdf, 413kB)Pension candidate-pack V1 (3) Opens in new window (pdf, 163kB)