At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead product teams to create innovative digital services that make a real difference.
- Company: Join HMRC, a leading digital tax authority with a collaborative culture.
- Benefits: Enjoy a competitive salary, generous leave, and flexible working options.
- Other info: Be part of a dynamic team with excellent career growth opportunities.
- Why this job: Shape the future of tax services while developing your leadership skills.
- Qualifications: Experience in product management and strong stakeholder engagement skills required.
The predicted salary is between 49500 - 60500 £ per year.
About the job
Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you're seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it's really like to work at HMRC. At HMRC, we are already one of the most digital advanced tax authorities in the world and have one of the largest IT infrastructures and data sources in the UK. With 50 million customers to serve, over 60 thousand colleagues to support, and 600 billion to collect to fund UK Plc, our IT operation is huge! For those who are up to the challenge, we offer unique and unparalleled opportunities to work with some of the newest technologies and make a real, lasting difference.
We're recruiting for a Lead Product Manager at HMRC Business Tax team (Process Mining) to be part of our highly creative and collaborative teams supporting His Majesty's Revenue and Customs. We are ambitious, and we need a strong product leader to help us achieve the ambitions we have set out in our 2026/27 vision, delivering great outcomes through digital products. This role needs a strong leader who can challenge, create, and own the product strategy. Your goal is to optimise the overall value of an area of the business tax system by contributing to solving complex and often challenging problems through the creation of great digital products.
A Product Lead is responsible for leading a number of product teams within a business area to build and release digital products or services. Product Leads understand the business goals and the high-level user needs for different user groups across the services. Product Leads also understand the organisational and business area strategies, and work with senior leaders and stakeholders to ensure the right types of products and services are being delivered to support the strategies. Product Leads also manage product managers, coach, or mentor them, and support the Head of Profession to build the capability amongst the product management profession.
Responsibilities
- Create the vision, strategy, roadmap and value proposition for a programme or portfolio of digital services, creating achievable and measurable objectives for a portfolio digital service based on transformation programme goals.
- Set product priorities, strategic direction and leadership for a programme or portfolio of products in a transformation programme.
- Create and iterate programme-level roadmaps, reporting and set the agile governance framework for product teams in a programme.
- Lead engagement with Senior Directors, Senior Civil Servants, and stakeholders to shape and influence delivery activity and governance in transformation programmes, in line with the organisation's strategy and objectives.
- Work with other professions leads and teams across HMRC to promote user-centred and agile ways of working, and to ensure the resourcing model for multidisciplinary teams works effectively.
- Lead creation of strategic roadmaps, business cases, funding forecasts and delivery plans to define pipeline of future work in CDIO.
- Accountable for product outcomes within a transformation programme, setting KPIs and performance measures for success.
- Line manages, coach and mentor Grade 7 Product Managers and SO Associate Product Managers, responsible for increasing capability and ensuring product management standards are met.
- Work with Head of Product around recruitment, retention, and upskilling of product managers in HMRC, to define standards and best practice for Product Managers.
- Be a leader within local product management communities and other communities of interest across HMRC, managing and organising cross-government conferences and events.
- Coordinate product development across HMRC Lines of Business to identify reuse of components and patterns in services.
- Oversee live services and continuous improvement work for the product/service and management of vendor contracts as and when needed.
- Lead and support multidisciplinary product teams through discovery, alpha, beta, and live phases of development, turning vision into reality and continuously improving.
Essential Criteria:
- Experience of using lean, agile or user centred design methods (ideally all).
- Experience of building and maintaining positive relationships with senior stakeholders, including negotiating with stakeholders on difficult issues, acting as an escalation point when needed, and being able to influence stakeholders on a portfolio or service strategy.
- Demonstration of the ability to look across a number of products/services in a portfolio, and the wider marketplace, to understand how different products can work together to deliver a wider outcome.
- Experience of successfully prioritising work based on what is valuable to do first across a portfolio/service/programme, managing dependencies between different products, digital and non-digital channels, etc.
- Demonstration of the ability to use qualitative or quantitative research (e.g., customer feedback, market research, service metrics, etc.) to gain insights on a problem, or potential solutions.
- Experience of coaching, mentoring and line managing others across a digital team in product management roles or other GDaD roles.
- Experience of working with digital teams and other professions to improve ways of working at scale across a number of teams.
- Experience of building capability in others and facilitating learning and development at scale, including of product management frameworks and tools.
- Demonstration of the ability to understand how to measure and track success of a programme and recalibrate areas of the programme to optimise outcomes- including demonstration of understanding the product lifecycle and knowing when to keep going on products and when to stop or pivot.
- Experience of successfully communicating with others to explain problems, present options, setting a direction for moving forward, and getting buy in for recommendations.
Desirable Criteria:
- Significant knowledge of user research, or service, content or interaction design, or software engineering practices, and how product managers can successfully work with these professions to create better products.
- Experience of managing large teams.
- Working knowledge of ITIL v4.
Benefits
- Alongside your salary of 71,725, HM Revenue and Customs contributes 20,778 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.
- HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments.
- We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.
- Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues' Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
- Family friendly policies. Personal support. Coaching and development.
Lead Product Manager - Edinburgh employer: HMRC
HMRC is an exceptional employer that prioritises employee growth and well-being, offering a supportive work culture where innovation and collaboration thrive. With flexible and hybrid working policies, generous leave allowances, and a commitment to continuous improvement, employees can achieve a healthy work-life balance while contributing to meaningful public service. Located in Birmingham's vibrant Arena Central, this role as an Operating Model Manager provides the opportunity to lead impactful change within a large organisation, making a real difference in how technology services are delivered.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Lead Product Manager - Edinburgh
✨Join Product Management Meetups
Get involved in local product management meetups or workshops. These events are perfect for meeting industry folks, sharing ideas, and staying updated on trends. Plus, you never know who might be hiring—it's a fantastic way to make connections that could lead to a job at places like HMRC!
✨Show Off Your Product Sense
Create case studies or mini-projects showcasing your product management skills, and share them on platforms like Medium or LinkedIn. This not only puts your skills on display but also boosts your visibility in the product community. Imagine how impressed the hiring team at HMRC would be by your initiative!
✨Utilise Online Communities
Dive into online product management communities like Product Coalition or Mind the Product. Engage in discussions, ask questions, and share your insights. These platforms are goldmines for networking and finding hidden job opportunities—many companies often scout talent from within these circles.
✨Leverage Your University Network
If you’ve recently graduated or are still in uni, tap into your alumni network for connections in product management. Many universities have their own job boards and affinity resources to help graduates land roles. Don't forget to keep an eye out for job openings at HMRC through your school's career services!
We think you need these skills to ace Lead Product Manager - Edinburgh
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Off Your Product Passion:When applying for a product management role like Lead Product Manager - Edinburgh, let your passion for developing products shine through in your cover letter. Share specific examples of products you've managed, how you solved user needs, and any successful outcomes you've achieved. This is your chance to showcase your understanding of the product lifecycle!
Highlight Your Cross-Functional Skills:Product management isn't just about understanding the product; it’s about collaborating with different teams! Make sure to emphasise your experience working with developers, designers, and marketers. Use your CV to showcase your ability to bridge gaps between these areas, and include relevant experiences that demonstrate your communication and leadership skills!
Include Your Metrics and Achievements:In a full-time product management application, data speaks volumes! Quantify your achievements wherever possible. Did you increase user retention by a certain percentage? Launch a product ahead of schedule? Include these metrics in your CV to paint a picture of your impact and effectiveness in previous roles.
Tailor Your CV to the Role:Make sure your CV is tailored for the Lead Product Manager - Edinburgh position at HMRC. Use keywords from the job description and ensure your relevant experiences are front and centre. Highlight any certifications or relevant training you’ve completed that will make you stand out as a strong candidate for the role. And remember, we’re excited to see your application on our website!
How to prepare for a job interview at HMRC
✨Understand the Product Life Cycle
As a product management candidate, we need to get our head around the complete product life cycle. Be prepared to discuss real-world examples of how you’ve managed product development from ideation to launch. Bring specific insights on tools like JIRA or Trello that can help streamline these processes.
✨Showcase Your Cross-Functional Skills
Product management is all about collaboration. We should be ready to highlight how we’ve worked across teams—think marketing, engineering, and design. Prepare to discuss scenarios where you had to mediate differing opinions and how you got everyone on board with a shared vision.
✨Prepare for Case Studies
In a full-time role, we can expect to encounter case study questions during our interviews. Practise solving hypothetical product problems on the spot, such as prioritising features for a new app or improving user engagement metrics. This will show our analytical thinking and decision-making skills.
✨Know Your Metrics
Let’s face it, numbers are our best friends in product management. We should prepare to discuss key performance indicators (KPIs) and how we've used analytics to inform product decisions. Dive into examples where data has driven our strategy for improvements or justified product changes.
