Senior Product Manager – HR & Finance applications – SEO

Job summary

Welsh Government

The Welsh Government delivers digital services to people and business across Wales. Led by our Chief Digital Officer, the Welsh Government is increasingly delivering more services online and has a vision (outlined in the Digital Strategy for Wales) of improving the lives of everyone through collaboration, innovation and better public services.

To achieve this vision, the Welsh Government needs specialist digital, data and technology skills across all departments in the organisation to improve the services and policies we develop for Welsh citizens.

For more information about the benefits of making a difference with us, please see the Employee Benefits Pack.

Team/Division Overview

The successful candidate will report to the Lead Product Manager in IT Services. You will be responsible for the ongoing management, support and delivery of core corporate applications including HR and Finance, leading a team of Application Operation Engineers.

Job Role:

This post is mapped to Senior Product Managerin the DDaT Profession Capability Framework. Follow the link to understand the role and the required skills.

The Senior Product Manager for HR and Finance systems, will support the Welsh Government in driving out tangible business benefits across the organisation by embracing the ERP principles of standardisation, simplification, integration, and automation. You will lead a team of Application Operations Engineers providing support while setting priorities for delivery.

Job description

Your main day to day responsibilities will include:

• To lead a team of Application Operation Engineers ensuring resources are directed to support corporate priorities and delivery
• To deputise in the absence of the Lead Product Manager taking the lead for service delivery and support provision
• Contribute to the product roadmap, ensuring alignment with Welsh Government priorities and user needs
• To review, agree and prioritise all submitted change requests in accordance with Business Owner direction ensuring both HR and Finance systems are optimised to support end to end processes
• To actively liaise and engage with Business Process Owners, advising on and promoting ERP best practice and standard processes
• To gather and analyse WG’s business requirements via workshops, interviews, process mapping and prototype demonstrations.
• To document business requirements, produce functional specifications and provide user guides for new system enhancements
• To undertake configurational changes to core applications, supporting the resolution of complex system issues and the delivery of system enhancements
• To lead on business analysts testing activities for Finance applications during system upgrades and patching cycles
• Responsible for setting up and supporting a Community of Practice (CoP), made up of selected super users from across the WG departments
• To liaise with our external support provider to resolve incidents and to promote fixes into production
• Collaborate with the Service Manager to monitor product performance using analytics, feedback, and Key performance indicators (KPIs).
• Any other tasks as requested by management commensurate with the grade and role.

Person specification

We are looking for people who are:

• Enthusiastic and pro-active about solving problems.
• Work collaboratively with others and contributes to group objectives.
• Passionate about supporting users and taking ownership to find solutions that meet their needs.
• Organised and have good planning skills to ensure the timely delivery of high-quality outputs.
• Experienced in communicating with a wide range of people using different communication methods.

Behaviours

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

• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• Product Management – Work with your team to investigate and validate what adds value now and what could add value in future.
• Agile and Lean Processes - Visualise and make visible the work of the team.

Benefits

• opportunities

  As a member of the Digital, Data and Technology profession in Welsh Government you will have access to a range of learning and development opportunities.

  You will have the opportunity to work on various projects and engage with colleagues at all levels from within the profession and business areas across the organisation.

  Welsh Government is supportive of your learning and development and has a range of training and opportunities available including a suite of online training, coaching and mentoring and short-term experience placements which you will be able to take advantage of depending on your learning and development needs and discussions with your line manager.

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.

• This advertisement confirms the overall criteria being assessed throughout this recruitment exercise. For further details on the criteria and evidence required at the application stage, you will need to press apply and review the application form.
• When presenting your evidence, you may find it useful to consider the expectations of the grade as set out in the Grade Description as well as the main responsibilities that are essential for the role.
• A reserve list may be held for this opportunity. Any candidate who is successful in being offered a reserve status, will remain on the reserve list for 12 months
• In the event of a large number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted against the lead assessment criterion: Experience: Managing and implementing changes following correct processes and ensuring governance structures are followed. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

• In the case of more than one candidate scoring the same, the panel has agreed the following criteria will determine merit order:

  1. Experience of managing and implementing changes following correct processes and ensuring governance structures are followed.
  2. Delivering at Pace - Act promptly to reassess workloads and priorities when there are conflicting demands to maintain performance.
  3. Agile and Lean Processes - visualise and make visible the work of the team

• Candidates who successfully demonstrate that they meet the minimum Experience Criteria will be invited to interview. Interviews will be scheduled for week commencing 16th March 2026. You will receive a technical scenario for you to prepare a response to ready for your interview. The technical scenario and instructions will be emailed to you 5 days before your interview.

• This is a hybrid role where the post holder will be expected to attend their local Welsh Government office in line with organisation expectations and to meet business needs.

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 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.

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 : ictservicecontrol@gov.wales
• Email : ictservicecontrol@gov.wales

Recruitment team

• Email : ResourcingHub@gov.wales