Senior Product Manager

Job Introduction

Royal Greenwich is a vibrant borough, with a rich history and diverse community. We’re proud of the work we do to serve our residents.

We have a vision of a happier, healthier, and more connected borough. To achieve this, we’re investing heavily in our digital services. We published our first ever digital strategy in 2020 and we’ll be refreshing it in 2026 to set out our renewed ambitions over the next few years.

It’s an exciting time to join us. We’re searching for people-focused digital, data and technology experts to join our team. We’re focused on improving services for our residents and enabling staff to work more efficiently. There’s plenty of opportunity for you to have your say and help shape our work.

Read our blog to find out more about who we are and what we're working on.

We’re building a team where everyone feels safe to be who they are. We value empathy, open mindedness, and a real passion for our mission.

What You’ll Do

As part of our Product team in Digital, Customer Services and Operations, you’ll lead multidisciplinary teams working on new and existing products and services for residents and staff. Our current work streams include:

• providing digital channels for accessing Adult Social Care
• building a platform to develop new transactions for residents and staff
• iterating our new LocalGov Drupal website to better meet user needs
• helping residents manage their Council Tax payments online
• designing better ways for residents to apply for certain benefits
• running experiments with AI to enable staff to work more efficiently

You’ll work closely with other council teams who want to improve their services, listening to their needs and balancing them with business and technical constraints.

You’ll speak up for our users, whether they are residents or staff, and use data and research to make sure our products and services meet their needs.

At all stages of the product lifecycle, you’ll confidently lead your team in setting a vision and fulfilling it, solving our users’ problems with products we can be proud of.

You’ll report to the Product Lead and play an active role in the development of our product management community of practice, including line managing one or more Product Managers. You’ll also work closely with other disciplines to develop product practices and codify ways of working in our growing team.

Who You Are 

You’ll have experience of delivering and iterating digital products, and will be an experienced product manager who has led multidisciplinary teams in complex domains. You’ll have an aptitude for coaching other product managers and colleagues, and will be a curious and impact-driven person, whose focus is always on the user.

You’ll be a leader who listens to and values the opinions of others. You’ll work well with people from different disciplines in your team and colleagues from across the council, to create the conditions for the best decisions to be made. You'll also be curious about technology and not afraid to try new things.

You’ll have in-depth experience of different product management techniques, frameworks and principles and know how to adapt these for the context you’re working in. You’ll be pragmatic about how you do product management and willing to change your approach depending on the needs of the people and service you’re working with.

You’ll be passionate about developing your skills and supporting others in the team.

You should be

We are looking for people who share our values and principles:

• We put people first
• We are practical optimists
• We value being a team more than being the star
• We are open
• We learn by experimenting
• We are motivated by purpose

These values were produced by the Product Team, and they are incredibly important to us, as is building an environment that promotes knowledge, empathy, equality, and skill sharing. 

Please keep reading

At Royal Greenwich we want our staff to thrive professionally. We are a business that recognises and supports transferable skills and ambition. So if you think you have what it takes, but don’t necessarily meet every single point on the job description please still get in touch. We’d love to have a chat and see if you’d be a good fit.

We are passionate about creating a diverse workforce and positively encourage applications from under-represented communities. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of disability, neurodivergence, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, gender and gender presentation, marital status, sexual orientation, culture, and religion.

As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview.

If you’d like an informal chat about the role, you can email Alex Sturtivant (alex.sturtivant@royalgreenwich.gov.uk).

What we offer

·       28 days annual leave, rising to 31 days after five years continuous local government service

·       Flexible and hybrid working arrangements, 1 day in office in per week

·       Mental health support, including an external counselling service

·       Pension scheme

·       Long service awards

·       Learning and development opportunities, including a thriving community of practice, mentoring and training

·       Staff networks for mental health, LGBTQ+ support, racial equality and more

·       Vouchers for free eye tests

·       Annual season ticket loans 

·       Childcare voucher scheme 

·        Reduced-rate gym membership 

·       Cycle to work scheme , including indoor cycle storage and showers

·       Greenwich One Card which entitles you to discounts at local businesses

Apply for this role

To apply for this role you must:

• upload a CV
• write and upload a supporting statement/ cover letter in the form of a cover letter

Things to consider when making your application. 

We want to give you the best opportunity to show off your career and skills in the best way possible. Please consider the following: 

• Your cover letter is a great way to help bring your CV to life. Think of it like a trail of breadcrumbs to lead us to want to interview you. It is unlikely that we’ll shortlist you for an interview without a cover letter. This is your first opportunity to show us why you’re right for this role, and your letter can show us how you fit the personal specification.  
• Your CV should be up to date, in a readable and accessible format and pertinent to the role.  
• Use your cover letter to talk about work that you are proud of, your values and your expectations.  
• If you are called for interview (see below), look at the presentation and interview questions within the context of what you've already shared about yourself and think about how you can build on that foundation.  

Hiring process  

Step 1 – Complete the application form and upload your CV and cover letter. 

Step 2 – If we invite you to an interview, we will: 

• Send details of the 5–10-minute presentation we’d like to you do.  
• Send your interview questions in advance 
• Check with you if you need any further accommodations for the interview.  

Step 3 – Attend the panel interview. This will usually be a 1-hour video call with up to 3 people like the hiring manager and other team members you would work with.

We’ll ask you to do your presentation at the start of the interview. We are keen to ensure that the video interview process doesn’t interfere with your ability to present your work to its best effect. Your presentation can be talking direct to camera, slides, a PDF, or similar, and could include visual examples of your work. The panel will then ask you follow up questions.  

The panel will then ask a set of questions which will also have been sent to you in advance.  

This will give you the chance to think about your answers in depth and be able to talk with confidence. The questions will give you an opportunity to show how you meet the essential criteria of the job description.  

At the end you’ll have the opportunity to ask the panel questions in return.  

Talk to us or ask any questions

For an informal discussion please contact Alex Sturtivant at alex.sturtivant@royalgreenwich.gov.uk

Diversity Statement: Royal Borough of Greenwich values the diversity of its community and aims to have a workforce that reflects this. We therefore encourage applications from all sections of the community.

Advert Close: All vacancies close at midnight unless otherwise stated. 

Early Advert Close: Royal Borough of Greenwich reserves the right to close any job advert earlier than the advertised closing date where there is reason to do so (for example high volume of applications).

How Applications are Scored: Each application is scored according to how well the supporting statements addresses each point on the Person Specification for the role. Candidates will be short-listed for interview on the extent to which they meet the specific points within the Person Specification. The Person Specification is supplied with the job advert. When completing your application, please use the supporting statements section to tell us how you meet each of the points on the Person Specification. We need to have this information in order to consider your application.

Salary: Salaries advertised are for a standard working week of 35 hours unless otherwise stated. Please use this 'Salary Calculator to help you calculate a pro rata salary.

Our Staff Values: Our Staff Values are important to us. Candidates will be continuously assessed against our staff values throughout the recruitment process. Where candidates demonstrate views and behaviours that do not meet the standards of our staff values, we reserve the right to reject their application/ registration.