As an Armed Forces Veterans Services AFVS Senior Product Manager you will be responsible for the quality of your assigned products as part of the end-to-end Service provided by AFVS. In this role, you will be expected to use your knowledge of user needs and business goals to frame problems and set priorities for your delivery teams
Manage multiple products or a single product that is especially complex, high risk or sensitive. You will:
define, own and solve problems.
form the vision for your product(s) and engage your teams and stakeholders in the development of that vision over time.
keep people informed about the development of your products and promote their uptake.
represent users throughout the delivery process and use their feedback to inform continuous improvement.
manage a product through its lifecycle of discovery, alpha, beta and live states.
liaise with MOD policy staff to interpret direction, intent, policy, regulations, or legislation into deliverable product outcomes.
support Service Owners and lead product managers.
recruit and line manage associate product managers and support their professional development.
have or are developing expert skills in and knowledge of product management techniques.
contribute to elements of live service, programme, contract and change management activity.
You will be the DBS lead for assigned products and any associated system Change Requests (CR), incidents and be responsible for cultivating and managing solutions that meet the customer (MOD / single Service) requirement from inception through to delivery.
AFVS Senior Product Managers work with delivery teams to:
make sure their product or service fits in with our organisation’s priorities.
define the future goal of the product (often called the ‘product vision’).
make sure your product will meet user needs.
make sure your product is accessible to everyone.
prioritise user stories for each work period.
comment on technical, content and design solutions.
accept user stories when complete.
All development and delivery are to be conducted in the most appropriate, timely and cost-effective manner. You will have strong organisational and communication skills as you will work on multiple products with key stakeholders across the MOD, DBS, the Single Services, and the contracted delivery partner.
Senior Product Managers are expected to undertake include:
Providing advice on Product, Service and system capabilities and assisting in the shaping and drafting of CRs and subsequent Business Cases that outline Product requirement.
Co-ordinate and chair working groups with military and civilian colleagues to present the proposed solution and agree a forward programme of work for the required Product or CR.
Engage with Commercial Staff assigned to DBS to ensure that the requirement is captured within our Service Delivery Contract (SDC) requirements and drive progress of the Product through the contracted partner ensuring time and resource applied are in accordance with the project expectations, raising issues for review, investigation and resolution where required.
Ensure financial accountability through the review of Contractor billing to confirm that the estimated costs produced by the contractor are reasonable and that spend is consistent with estimated costs.
Participate in Release, Test, Validation (RTV) processes; preparing for, participating in and reviewing results from Witness Testing of system changes to ensure quality assurance is applied by the Contractor; and facilitating user and stakeholder system testing and feedback through the creation of manual or automated User Acceptance test scripts and scenarios to ensure that all products are fit for purpose prior to delivery.
Collaborate with the contractor to ensure any defects are recorded and satisfactorily rectified and ensure availability to complete Factory Acceptance Testing prior to ‘go live’ culminating in successful delivery of product roll-out, ensuring full benefit realisation.
Update Process and User Guides to reflect new or updated products or CR implementation and communicate changes to the broader user cohort.
Maintain an accurate record of change documentation to ensure auditable evidence is captured for future use and review.
Attend and Lead Agile ceremonies for Delivery Teams associated with the assigned Products; where required and not included within Agile ceremonies, provide regular progress updates and briefs to the associated Service Owner on Product Development and projects in-flight, emphasising risks, opportunities, and elevating particularly complex or far-reaching issues.
In addition, Senior Product Managers are expected to:
Represent DBS at wider cross Defence meetings, workshops, and other working groups, to understand and feedback any anticipated impact to AFVS or its Services and Products from wider Defence activity.
Engage with the Operations Teams associated with the assigned Product and Service to track and swiftly resolve emerging system issues to ensure shared business outputs continue to be met. Subsequently, co-ordinate with the Contractor, Single Service and MOD staff to ensure system defects, rectifications and resultant CRs changes are fit for purpose and operating effectively.
Support publication of Service Bulletins and Communications to Stakeholders, Users and DBS staff to ensure performance issues and/or Service/Product/System changes (and any resultant impact on process) are communicated to the user community in a timely and appropriate manner.
Further information can be found using the link to apply.