Senior Product Manager

Job summary

This a key position within the CMA's Digital Products and Application Support team in which you will own the product vision, roadmap, and backlog for enterprise products, ensuring alignment to CMA priorities and user needs.

You will work alongside key stakeholders to support the delivery of a product-led operating model while understanding needs, shaping solutions and ensuring adoption and value realisation.

About the CMA

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the UK’s principal competition and consumer protection authority. We promote competition and protect consumers with a clear end goal in mind: to drive economic growth and improve household prosperity. The CMA has a range of powers, which it uses to undertake a wide variety of cutting-edge, high profile and complex work, spanning merger and market inquiries, competition and consumer law enforcement, our role in the digital markets competition regime, subsidy advice, and internal market advice.

You can read more about working at the CMA in our candidate pack

Job description

This role is key to embedding a product-led operating model within the CMA's Digital Products and Application Support team, ensuring clear ownership, effective prioritisation, and delivery of measurable value across assigned products and services. Working closely with the Head of Products and Applications, stakeholders across the CMA, and external suppliers, the Senior Product Manager will act as the accountable owner for enterprise products, balancing business needs, technical considerations, and service performance.

You will be responsible for managing the end-to-end product lifecycle, covering delivery, live service, and continuous improvement. This includes ensuring services remain reliable, secure, and aligned to user needs, while supporting the introduction of new capabilities including the adoption and enablement of AI to improve efficiency, insight, and service outcomes.

Person specification

It is essential that you can provide evidence and examples for each of the following selection criteria in your application. For tips on how to make the most your application, please have a look at our guidance document.

Essential:

• Proven experience owning or managing products/services in a complex enterprise or regulated environment, using data, insight, and user feedback to drive improvements and inform product decisions, ideally with a product-led or hybrid product/service approach (Lead criteria)
• Experience working with enterprise applications such as Unit4 (Agresso), Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, or similar platforms (Lead criteria)
• Strong experience of prioritisation and backlog management, balancing business demand, live service needs, and technical constraints
• Experience working within IT service environments, including understanding of SLAs, incident/problem management, and service performance
• Experience working in Agile / DevOps environments, collaborating effectively with multidisciplinary teams
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence, challenge and communicate effectively at different levels, including engaging with and managing external suppliers and third-party support providers, including escalation and performance oversight

Desirable

• Knowledge of ITIL practices or experience working within ITIL-based environments
• Familiarity with application architecture, configuration, and integration concepts
• Relevant Microsoft or Agile certifications (e.g. Dynamics, Azure, Scrum/Product Owner)

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

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

• Knowledge of enterprise applications such as Unit4 (Agresso), Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, or similar platforms
• Product management
• Agile and Lean practices

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,300, Competition & Markets Authority contributes £17,758 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).

You’ll also get:

• 25 days leave (increasing to 30 days over five years), plus 8 public holidays and an additional day off for the King’s birthday. In addition, you’ll be able to access a wide range of other types of leave as and when you need it, including generous maternity, paternity, shared parental leave and adoption options, as well as paid special leave for volunteering.
• Access to our benefits platform which includes retail discounts, cycle to work scheme and payroll giving. Employees can also sign up for season ticket loans.
• Access to the Civil Service Sports & Leisure, giving discounted gym membership, high street discounts, free access to UK wide attractions and a free Tastecard.
• A range of wellbeing benefits, including an employee assistance programme, flu vaccinations and eye tests. We also have flexible working options and family friendly policies.

You can read more about our benefits in our candidate pack.

Our Values

We are Ambitious and Evidence-based, and always strive for Excellence.​ We treat everyone with Respect and are Collaborative and Inclusive.​

Everything we do is underpinned by the Civil Service values: Honesty, Integrity, Impartiality and Objectivity.

You can read more about life at the CMA in our candidate pack.

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.

Application and sift stage

• As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV, personal statement and an online application form. Further details about application requirements are listed on the application form.
• The selection process will comprise of the sift (CV & application review) and an interview which will include a presentation/case study exercise. Arrangements for the interview will be enclosed in the invitation.
• Please note that it is essential that your personal statement is aligned to provide evidence that you have the knowledge and experience for each of the essential criteria (as included on the role profile attached and listed above under 'Person Specification') in your application. Your personal statement should be no more than 1250 words.
• Candidates will initially be sifted on the first two criteria points (Lead Criteria). If your application progresses to a full sift, all elements of the essential criteria listed under Person Specification will then be considered.
• We may raise the score required at sift stage to progress to interview if we receive a high number of applications and take through the highest performing candidates to the interview stage.
• Successful candidates at sift will be invited to an interview which will be conducted either in person or via Teams.

Interview stage

• At the CMA we apply a blended interview technique, allowing us to find out more about you and we use the Success Profiles framework assessing the Behaviours, Experience (essential criteria) and Technical skills listed in the advert and attached role profile.
• The interview will be a 45 minute -one hour panel interview in which you will be asked questions based on the Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills outlined in the role profile.
• As part of the interview, candidates will be required to complete a presentation/case study exercise.
• A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles.

Timeline (the dates outlined below are indicative and may be subject to change)

• The advert closing date is 8th July 2026 (23:55pm). We are not able to accept late applications.
• The sift is scheduled to take place between 13th - 17th July 2026
• Interviews will be held from the week commencing 3rd August 2026

Reasonable adjustments

Our recruitment process is fully inclusive and we can make adjustments to provide you with the opportunity and support to bring your best self to the recruitment process. This could include having an interview buddy, extra time at interviews/assessments, or receiving interview questions in advance. We will be happy to discuss any person-centred adjustments you’d like us to make to the process and you can contact us by emailing our dedicated mailbox at adjustments@cma.gov.uk

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.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 : Tom Skidmore
• Email : recruitment@cma.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@cma.gov.uk

Further information

If your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact Recruitment@cma.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk.

Attachments

Role Profile - Senior Product Manager Opens in new window (pdf, 216kB)