Senior Product Manager
Description
- Job grade: Grade 7
- Contract type: Permanent
- Business area: GPA - Chief Operating Office - CTO
- Type of role: Digital, Information Technology
- Working pattern: Full-time
- Number of jobs available: 1
Location
About the job
Job summary
The Government Property Agency is the largest property holder in government, with more than £2.1 billion in property assets and over 55% of the government’s office estate.
We are transforming the way the Civil Service works by creating great places to work, leading the largest commercial office programme in the UK, working towards halving carbon emissions from government offices, and achieving greater value for taxpayers. And we are looking for innovative, solutions-focused people to join our team.
Representing the best covenant in the UK – His Majesty’s Government – we are leading significant transformational programmes such as the Government Hubs Programme, Whitehall Campus Programme and Net Zero Programme. We are also delivering cost-effective property services such as asset management, lifecycle replacement and workplace services.
Innovation and progress underpin our behaviours. We foster a culture of lifelong learning, where curiosity and self-improvement are encouraged. Our four core values are at the heart of everything we do. They shape our culture and guide how we work, lead and grow together:
- Striving for excellence- We always aim to deliver great results
- Empowering through respect- We insist on fair treatment for all, always
- Acting with integrity- We consistently do the right thing
- Succeeding together- We rely on each other to achieve success
We are committed to representing the communities we serve by making Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) part of everything we do. Our strong emphasis on EDI is not just about driving inclusion across our organisation, it is also about ensuring our services meet the needs of government departments and the civil servants who use our spaces. To ensure that we are always recruiting and retaining a diverse mix of talent, we are particularly inviting applications from candidates who are disabled, ethnically or gender diverse and people who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Join our dynamic and diverse team that leads with purpose, improving sustainability, nurturing social value, driving inclusivity and flexibility, and kickstarting economic growth. We are driven by purpose, and you can be part of it too: where you make a meaningful impact; where you influence; where your voice really matters; where you help to shape our future direction.
Job description
The GPA is redefining how the public sector manages and delivers printing at OFFICIAL. By replacing legacy infrastructure with a modern, multi-tenant cloud based service, GovPrint has reshaped the way central government prints and established a brand-new blueprint for shared printing across the wider public sector.
The architecture, commercial mechanisms, and operating model developed for GovPrint hold the potential to help transform how the Civil Service works. The platform already supports almost 100,000 civil servants across over 600 locations and has resulted in significant savings.
With the flexibility to innovate rapidly and drive real market change, the GovPrint team is entering a critical phase. As the Senior Product Manager leading GovPrint within the GPA PropTech directorate, you will take strategic and operational leadership of the service. You will be instrumental in defining its long-term vision, scaling customer adoption across Other Government Departments (OGDs), managing a complex supplier ecosystem, and driving financial self-sufficiency.
This dynamic, high-profile role offers an ambitious product leader significant influence, proving your ability to scale a complex technology service.
Key Responsibilities
Product Strategy & Lifecycle Management (DDaT: Product Ownership & Lifecycle)
- Lead the GovPrint service through all product lifecycle phases - from discovery, development, and delivery to continuous improvement
- Develop, communicate, and maintain the product vision, roadmap, and strategy
- Prioritize delivery backlogs and make evidence-based decisions driven by value, user needs, and overall quality.
- Ensure full compliance with central government IT standards, accessibility, information security, and policy requirements.
- Defining functional requirements and SLAs in alignment with GPA standards defining functional requirements and SLAs in alignment with GPA standards
Financial Sustainability & Commercial Management (DDaT: Financial Management Commercial Awareness)
- Manage the commercial recharge mechanism and income targets to transition GovPrint to a self-funding model.
- Track print volume trends, operational overheads, and cost-recovery metrics to inform pricing models, commercial business cases, and controlled margin recovery.
- Drive the commercial strategy including supporting procurement of new services and suppliers onboarding for new print and document management providers.
Data Assurance & Operational Quality (DDaT: Operational & Data Management)
- Establish independent data verification processes to validate client print volumes and billing data against supplier reports
- Improve data accuracy across client departments to guarantee transparent recharges, accurate margin tracking, and robust audit trails
- Work with suppliers to manage the deployment and delivery of the service to meet contractual targets
Leadership & Team Transition (DDaT: Leadership & Working in Agile)
- Collaborate closely with Delivery Managers, User Researchers, Technical Architects, Commercial Leads, and external suppliers in a multidisciplinary environment.
- Partner with the incumbent service contractor to establish operational oversight, managing a smooth transition plan to long-term Civil Service resourcing for the team.
- Champion digital ways of working and agile methodologies within physical infrastructure and PropTech initiatives.
This role is defined by the DDAT framework for Senior Product Managers:
Person specification
The Proptech team is operating as a set of multi-disciplinary service teams, your role as a Senior Product Manager For GovPrint is critical to the effective operation of these teams:
- Apply proven product management techniques to large-scale print management and IT infrastructure services.
- Apply agile principles and philosophy across a range of complex operational and delivery challenges.
- Work collaboratively with key service roles—particularly Delivery Managers, User Researchers, and Technical Architects—to align technical roadmaps with user needs.
- Manage high-value supplier relationships (e.g., Xerox), driving commercial onboarding, SLA definition, and performance management.
- Oversee financial recharge mechanisms, data assurance protocols, and margin tracking to ensure commercial self-sufficiency.
- Champion user-centric and product-centric development across the civil estate.
Experience & Technical Skills
Essential Criteria:
- Proven experience in product management for IT infrastructure or shared business services, preferably within a government or public sector environment.
- Strong understanding and practical experience of agile delivery principles, behaviours, and frameworks.
- Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills with a proven ability to manage complex relationships across internal teams, suppliers and external stakeholders including client departments (OGDs)
- Experience in creating and managing product roadmaps, prioritising functionality, features and updates, communicating product plans to both internal and external stakeholders.
- Experience of building a product strategy and vision, and integrating products appropriately into the business and wider organisational strategies
- Experience developing user-centric business cases and measuring financial and operational benefits by linking delivery back to strategic business outcomes.
- Experience managing service recharge models, income margin targets, and cost-recovery metrics to ensure financial sustainability
- Experience establishing data validation and quality control mechanisms to verify client service volumes against supplier billing reports (e.g., print telemetry vs. client charges) for robust audit trails.
- Proven ability to manage strategic supplier relationships and define and track technical/functional SLAs (working closely with relevant Contract Managers and Commercial)
- Ability to lead service teams through operational transitions, migrating delivery from incumbent contractors to civil service teams.
Desirable Criteria:
- Experience delivering shared IT infrastructure, document management, or print services across multi-tenant sites
- Familiarity with government DDaT standards, IT security policies, and public sector procurement/commercial frameworks.
Qualifications and Accreditations
Desirable Criteria:
- Gold Standard: Chartered IT Professional (CITP) or equivalent qualification in IT & Data Management.
- Recognized Product Management or Agile certifications (e.g., AgilePM, Certified Scrum Product Owner, or Practitioner level equivalent)
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Managing a Quality Service
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Customer Perspective
- Commercial Acumen
- Property Market Knowledge
- Innovation
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Selection process details
We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the communities and wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and well-being and aim to create a sense of belonging in a workplace where everyone feels valued. 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.
The Civil Service Code (opens in a 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 a 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 (RIS) 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 (opens in a new window) initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
Please note - At this time GPA are unable to offer any Visa Sponsorship to candidates as we do not currently hold a visa sponsorship licence. Please do not apply for permanent roles with GPA if you will require your employer to take on the sponsorship of your current or any future visas.
Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Sift
The sift is due to take place week commencing 30th November 2026.
As part of the application process, you will be asked to include a CV and a 750 word personal statement. The personal statement should then align with the person specification.
Interview
GPA policy is for interviews to be held face to face, with virtual interviews only by absolute exception. The date and location will be confirmed if you are invited to interview. If you feel this will be a problem for you, please contact [email protected] to discuss prior to submitting your application.
There will be a two stage interview process for this role, the first round being an initial video call and if successful a face to face interview.
At interview, applicants will be scored against 4 behaviours - Managing a quality service, Making effective decisions, Communicating and influencing & Delivering at pace.
Interview questions will be a blend of Behaviour, Experience and Technical (core skill) questions.
Reasonable Adjustment
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 Government Recruitment Service via GPArecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page 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.
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
Further Information
A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
Any move to GPA 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; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.
If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.
However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
Please note: in addition to the standard pre-employment checks for appointment into the Civil Service, all candidates must also obtain National Security Vetting at Security Check (SC) clearance level for this vacancy. You will normally need to meet the minimum UK residency period as determined by the level of vetting being undertaken, which for SC is 5 years UK residency prior to your vetting application. If you have any questions about this residency requirement, please speak to the vacancy holder for this post.
Feedback
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
See our vetting charter (opens in a 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
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Further information
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission:
Click here to visit Civil Service Commission
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