As the living, growing home of our national story, The National Archives is already a special place to work. We’re an institution nearly 200 years old with a collection spanning 1,000 years of history. But it’s where we go next that makes things really interesting. In our strategic vision: Archives for Everyone, we set ourselves the challenge of becoming the 21st Century national archive - a different kind of cultural and heritage institution: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial, Disruptive. We won’t become this overnight. It will take time, focus, effort and daring. That’s where you come in. Because we can’t do this without you. Job Overview Salary: £47,000 per annum Contract type: Permanent Band: F / Senior Executive Officer Closing date: Sunday 16th February 2025 at midnight The Legislation Services team at The National Archives is responsible for legislation.gov.uk, a vital resource that has transformed public access to enacted and revised legislation in the UK. It has put the statute book, once the preserve of lawyers and other specialists, into the hands of millions of people, who need to reference, quote or cite the law. The legislation.gov.uk Platform (comprising the legislation.gov.uk website, a system for publishing all new UK legislation, and an editorial system for the production of revised versions of legislation documents) is business critical. It is used on a daily basis by a stakeholders across government and Parliaments to deliver their statutory responsibilities to publish and revise legislation. It is also how the King’s Printer (CEO of The National Archives) delivers his statutory and prerogative responsibilities for publishing legislation. As Platform Product Manager, you will play a critical role in ensuring that the legislation.gov.uk Platform remains available, usable and performant to all stakeholders. You will lead on ensuring that Platform development work is managed in an effective and timely manner. The current legislation Platform is aging and ongoing development will include work to upgrade and modernise the Platform. You will work in an Agile way with experienced multidisciplinary product teams (both internal, and with external suppliers) formed of delivery, design, development, UX, metrics and data specialists. You will develop an in-depth knowledge of user needs and business goals, using your considerable domain expertise to frame problems, set priorities and deliver continuous improvement across the Platform. You will work closely with senior stakeholders and team members to identify user needs to shape the development of the legislation.gov.uk Platform and create clear roadmaps. Clear and timely communication to users is essential. You will be a champion for best practice and quality and represent the voice of the user throughout the product lifecycle. You will work closely with Product Owners across the Legislation Services team to coordinate and align your roadmaps and priorities. You will require excellent persuasion and influencing skills to negotiate and agree development priorities with other Product Owners, and with the Head of Legislation Services. This is a busy, high-impact role, that requires a high level of specialist domain knowledge coupled with clear communication and negotiation skills, sound judgement and decision making, initiative and attention to detail. This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department. A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time. How to apply: To submit your application please click the 'Apply' button on this page. You will be asked to provide details of your work experience and write a personal statement, not exceeding 1200 words. In your statement please explain, using examples, how you meet the essential criteria below. You may draw on knowledge, skills, abilities, experience gained from paid work, domestic responsibilities, education, leisure interests and voluntary activities. Please note selection for interview will largely be based on the information you provide in this section. We understand that you might use artificial intelligence (AI) and other resources to assist with your application; however, please ensure all information you provide is factually accurate, truthful, and original and doesn’t include ideas or work that isn’t your own. We encourage you to showcase your unique knowledge and skills using your own voice. Job Description Role and Responsibilities Continuous improvement of the legislation.gov.uk Platform: Lead on delivering value to users through iteration, and continuous improvement of the legislation.gov.uk Platform to ensure that it remains available, usable, secure and performant, working closely with our supplier’s multidisciplinary team, the Head of Legislation Services and other Product Owners. The Platform is business critical and if any aspect of the Platform (website, editorial or publishing) is down for any time it has a significant impact on senior stakeholders across governments and Parliaments. User focus: Use your specialist domain knowledge, together with an understanding of business goals and users’ needs, to help set priorities for the service, employing the excellent strategic judgement required to balance necessary maintenance work against identifying and implementing opportunities for improvements and driving continuous improvement to ensure the best possible service for users. Agile working: Develop, prioritise and maintain a clear product vision, roadmap and backlog with the Head of Legislation Services and other Product Owners. Write and maintain clear user stories and acceptance criteria. The legislation.gov.uk Platform is very complex and you will need to be able to quickly understand technical challenges, form options and plans for moving forward and be able to convey complex information in order to work effectively with external developers and gain the support of internal team members. Manage delivery: Set clear and achievable goals for internal and external teams, and measurable objectives, iterating to meet changing needs, making key decisions based on data and analysis, whilst ensuring the supplier adheres to budget caps. For example, you will allocate corrections work across the editorial team and ensure that this work is completed to schedule and to a high standard and you will work closely with external suppliers to ensure they are delivering as required. Prioritisation: Negotiate and agree prioritisation, ensuring the right balance between business as usual Platform development and the demands of new projects and initiatives required to ensure that the Platform continues to be fit for purpose as technology changes over time and be a key part of the team, planning and prioritising cross-platform work. Stakeholder engagement and communication: Advocate for your product to senior stakeholders and gain buy in to the vision and roadmap. As an example, you will act as the main point of contact for all editorial system issues raised by the editorial team, leading on internal communications and actively managing user expectations and engagement. Testing: Lead on testing for Platform development work, working closely with internal and external stakeholders to ensure that all testing is thorough and complete, gathering feedback and liaising with external suppliers to oversee releases. Testing is critical in ensuring the availability and usability of the Platform. Service standard: Champion accessibility and best practice in service design and service standards. Team work: Create and maintain an inclusive, supportive team culture that stimulates innovation and encourages collaboration with other product teams on a joined-up team culture, vision, roadmap and agile working practices. Working Conditions Normal office environment Display Screen Equipment user Person Specification Essential criteria: User Focus : Experience of engaging with and of identifying user needs based on evidence and available data and of turning this into product deliverables. Expert domain knowledge and product ownership: Proven ability to quickly get to grips with complex technologies and complex structured documents such as legislation, with a demonstrable understanding of how legislation processes work. This is a highly specialised role, requiring you to quickly acquire an in-depth understanding of how the legislation.gov.uk Platform operates, how legislation works, and how legislation is drafted, amended and published. Problem solving and business analysis: Skilled in using a wide range of Product Management principles and able to apply specialist domain knowledge in order to understand, interpret and identify problems and to use analysis to determine the appropriate solution. Demonstrable judgement and evidence of decision-making skills. Agile working: Experience of leading agile multidisciplinary teams and promoting a collaborative culture to successfully deliver digital products. Experience of setting clear product goals and roadmaps, managing user acceptance, and making on-going iterative improvements that are impactful and have value. Testing and release management Experience of testing and release management working with external suppliers. Highly organised and disciplined, with great attention to detail. Skilled at scheduling work, tracking progress and ensuring deadlines are met and of ensuring that work has been completed to the high standards required, with no, or minimal, disruption for end users. Communications: Persuasive and collaborative, with demonstrable experience of communicating complex technical information, and progress to internal stakeholders, to ensure that they are able to work as effectively as possible, as well as sharing best practice more widely with other practitioners. Stakeholder management and influencing skills: Experienced at working with a range of internal and external stakeholders, often with competing priorities, able to explain decisions and priorities and effectively manage user expectations. Able to explain the ‘bigger picture’ of cross-cutting business activities and policies to a wide range of users to gain their commitment and understanding. Desirable criteria: A law degree or legal professional qualification would be an advantage, but not essential provided substantial relevant experience can be demonstrated. Experience of working with relevant technologies, including mark-up languages (XML, AKN or HTML), databases or content management systems. The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy. Benefits Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development. Annual leave entitlement of 22 days per calendar year (rising to 25 after the first year, and incrementally to 30 days after six years) and 10½ days public and privilege holidays per annum. Any move to The National Archives from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ ( opens in new window) Reasonable adjustments If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact The National Archives via careersnationalarchives.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs Complete the ‘Reasonable Adjustments’ section of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check. People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks (opens in new window) 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 new window) Working for the Civil Service The Civil Service Code (opens in 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 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. This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative. (opens in new window) Contact point for applicants: Name: The National Archives Recruitment Team Email: careersnationalarchives.gov.uk Further information If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact The National Archives via email: careersnationalarchives.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-complaints/ (opens in new window)