Digital Product Manager – 12M FTC

This role will own the digital product roadmap for RDG’s Accessible Journey Planner (AJP), leading and championing the end‑to‑end digital customer experience and user interface design from supplier procurement and selection through design, development, testing and go‑live. This is a fixed‑term contract, funded by the AJP project, to provide dedicated product leadership through delivery and early live operation. Following go‑live, there may be potential to extend the contract to support the ongoing AJP roadmap and continuous improvement, subject to funding and business need.

Role Overview

• End-to-end product ownership (AJP): support the vision and drive outcomes for Accessible Journey Planning, translate user needs into a prioritised backlog, and drive delivery from discovery through into live service.
• Supplier procurement, selection and management: lead product input to procurement and supplier selection, define requirements and success measures, and work with the chosen supplier and internal teams to deliver against agreed scope, quality and timelines.
• Journey planning complexity and accessibility compliance: navigate the complexity of rules‑based journey planning for an important customer group, ensuring the service is accessible and inclusive by design and remains compliant with relevant standards, policies and regulations as it evolves.
• Roadmap alignment and stakeholder leadership: own and communicate the AJP strategic roadmap, ensuring alignment to the DfT’s Accessibility roadmap and RDG priorities, and providing clear decisions, trade‑offs and updates to stakeholders.
• Live service, continuous improvement and OKRs: define and track success measures for AJP, monitor performance and feedback, and prioritise enhancements, defect fixes and optimisation to improve outcomes over time.

What can I expect to do in this job?

• Own the product roadmap and priorities for the Accessible Journey Planner (AJP), aligning delivery to RDG/NRE objectives, customer needs and measurable outcomes.
• Lead discovery and define requirements by working with users, stakeholders and delivery teams to shape problems, validate assumptions, and translate insights into clear epics, user stories and acceptance criteria.
• Drive end-to-end delivery from concept through build, test and release planning iterations, managing dependencies and supporting the team to deliver at pace without compromising quality.
• Champion accessibility and inclusive design, ensuring the product meets agreed accessibility standards, is informed by user research (including disabled users), and remains compliant as features evolve.
• Manage stakeholders and communications across RDG, suppliers/partners and industry bodies, building alignment, handling trade‑offs and providing clear updates on progress, risks and decisions.
• Use data to optimise performance by defining success metrics/OKRs, monitoring live performance and customer feedback, and continuously improving journeys based on evidence.
• Support go‑live and BAU operations including launch readiness, incident and defect triage, backlog refinement, and prioritisation of enhancements once the service is live.
• Embed strong product ways of working including governance, documentation, decision logs, supplier management, and alignment with security, privacy and service management expectations.

Who will my key contacts be?

• Digital leadership and peers within the Digital team.
• Design and research (e.g., UX, content, user research) to shape and test customer journeys.
• Technology and delivery teams (internal and suppliers), including project manager, BA, development, QA and release/support.
• Accessibility and inclusion specialists and representative user groups (internal and external), to ensure inclusive outcomes.
• Business and operational stakeholders across RDG and industry partners, to align priorities and manage change.
• Data and insight colleagues to define measures of success and support continuous improvement.

What experience, skills and knowledge do I need?

• Proven digital product management experience and a strong user‑centred mindset, with the ability to lead delivery in a complex, multi‑stakeholder environment.
• Experience working in transport, public sector or other regulated environments, with multiple external stakeholders.
• Experience as a Digital Product Manager/Owner delivering customer‑facing digital products (web and/or app) end‑to‑end.
• Experience leading discovery, defining problems and outcomes, and converting insight into prioritised backlogs (epics/stories/acceptance criteria).
• Experience working in agile delivery teams with designers, researchers and engineers (including suppliers/partners).
• Experience working on accessible digital products or delivering accessibility‑focused features, in collaboration with design/research and accessibility specialists.
• Experience supporting product launches and live service (BAU), including continuous improvement and incident/defect prioritisation.

Skills and knowledge

• Strong stakeholder management, with the ability to communicate clearly, influence decisions and manage trade‑offs.
• Ability to define outcomes, measures of success and OKRs, and to use qualitative and quantitative data to guide prioritisation.
• Working knowledge of accessibility and inclusive design principles (preferably WCAG AA), and confidence collaborating with specialists to meet accessibility standards.
• Comfortable working with technical teams to understand constraints, risks, dependencies and delivery sequencing.
• Organised and pragmatic, able to manage competing priorities and maintain momentum in a fast‑moving environment.

Desirable

• Experience delivering products with complex journey planning, real‑time information, fares/ticketing, or other rules‑based domains.

Benefits

• 75% off rail travel for personal and family use, plus international rail discounts.
• 30 Days annual leave (plus buy/sell options and additional leave for key life events).
• Season ticket loan for commuting costs.
• Enhanced family leave – 30 weeks full pay for maternity, adoption, surrogacy, and shared parental leave.
• Pension scheme – up to 11.58% employer contribution.
• Private medical insurance (Vitality PPP) including mental health and specialist care.
• Discounted gym membership and access to wellbeing programmes.

Career Development & Progression

You’ll be part of a team driving innovation at a national scale, with the opportunity to influence long‑term ticketing strategy. This role provides real ownership, the chance to work with leading‑edge technologies and partners, and visibility at senior levels across the rail industry. You’ll also gain wide exposure to transport and government stakeholders, opening up exciting development and progression opportunities within RDG.

Please note that we are unable to consider applications from candidates who require visa sponsorship to work in the UK.