Product Owner x2

This is an exciting opportunity to join Bristol City Council at a time of significant transformation. We're investing in our digital services to make life easier for residents, employees and service teams, and we're looking for 2x Product Owners to help us deliver that ambition.

As a Product Owner within our Digital Services team, you'll play a key role in improving the systems, processes and services that support either:

• Citizen Experience - helping residents access council services more easily and effectively, OR
• Employee Experience - helping our workforce work more efficiently through better tools, systems and processes.

You’ll work closely with council service areas like HR, Council Tax, Adult Social Care and others to understand user needs, identify opportunities for improvement, and drive continuous enhancement of digital services.

What you’ll be doing

As a Product Owner, you’ll be responsible for developing and managing roadmaps, balancing user needs with organisational priorities, and ensuring any improvements deliver measurable value. You’ll:

• Work closely with service areas to understand their challenges, goals and opportunities.
• Develop a clear vision and roadmap for your process and services improvements.
• Prioritise work based on user needs, business value and strategic objectives.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams including User Researchers, Service Designers, UI Designers, Content Designers and Software Engineers.
• Use evidence, insights and data to make informed decisions.
• Champion user-centred design and continuous improvement.
• Help deliver the Council's transformation programme ambitions through modern, effective digital services.

About you

We’re looking for someone who is passionate about creating better experiences for users and has experience managing digital products or services in a complex environment. You’ll be able to:

• Build strong relationships with stakeholders at all levels.
• Translate user needs and organisational objectives into clear priorities.
• Write clear, actionable user stories and acceptance criteria that help delivery teams understand user needs and deliver value.
• Make informed decisions using evidence, data and user insight.
• Work confidently in multidisciplinary teams.
• Balance competing demands while maintaining focus on outcomes and value.
• Communicate clearly and influence others to achieve positive results.

You’ll become part of a supportive and collaborative Digital Services team, working alongside talented researchers, service designers and engineering specialists who are passionate about delivering better outcomes for Bristol. This is a unique opportunity to help shape the future of local government services and make a real difference to the people who live and work in Bristol.

Additional Information

You must have the legal right to work in the UK. The role requires attendance at our central Bristol office at least two days per week, with flexibility around hybrid working arrangements.

Why Bristol City Council?

At Bristol City Council, we go that extra mile for our people; we offer a work environment which is fast moving and supportive, giving you the chance to use your skills and develop new ones within a high-profile organisation. For the majority of our roles hybrid working arrangements are available, giving teams the opportunity to work in a way that suits them, balancing service need and individual choice - mixing both home and office working. Join us and you’ll receive an excellent rewards package including flexible working and flexitime, membership of the Local Government Pension scheme, and a generous annual leave allowance. In addition, you’ll be working in a supportive environment where you’ll have the chance to make Bristol a better place and contribute to its future.

If you share our values and are ready to be part of our exciting journey, to be shortlisted for interview you’ll need to demonstrate how you meet each of the essential criteria in the Person Specification within the Further Information section of your application. On occasion we will receive high numbers of applications, we may then shortlist against the desirable criteria along with the essential criteria, so if you can, please demonstrate how you meet this in your application.

For permanent Bristol City Council employees, this post will be a secondment. For employees who are currently on a fixed term contract with Bristol City Council, the secondment must not extend beyond the end of the fixed term period to ensure there is a substantive post to return to. If you are currently a casual worker or a member of an employment agency (currently working with Bristol City Council) this post will be a fixed term contract.

We’re a Disability Confident employer which means we value recruiting and retaining disabled people. Any job applicants who consider themselves to be disabled and meet the essential criteria in the Person Specification are guaranteed an interview. We'll make reasonable adjustments throughout the interview process and provide continued workplace support throughout your career.

Bristol City Council strives to have a workforce that reflects the communities it serves, we are therefore committed to ensuring diversity in our hiring process. We welcome, develop and promote people from all sections of the community. Appointments will be made on merit.

The personal information section (including your name) you’ll complete as part of the application form will not be visible to hiring managers, but is used confidentially to make sure that everyone is treated fairly.