Product Owner

Join Social Security Scotland and help shape the products and services that support millions of pounds of benefit delivery across Scotland. Working with multidisciplinary teams and stakeholders, you’ll lead product priorities, drive continuous improvement and ensure services deliver value for users, operations and the organisation.

You’ll join a team delivering and enhancing business-critical products and services that support key operational and organisational priorities. Working across digital, data, policy and operations, you’ll help ensure services remain effective, user-focused and aligned to legislative and business requirements. Areas of work may include fraud and error prevention, service assurance, debt management and recovery, and the delivery of wider products and services.

A Product Owner is the lead for the product team in their programme or service.

At this role level, you will:

• be as interested in managing people as managing products
• work closely with the head of product (where they exist as a separate role) to provide leadership and direction to all products in a programme or a local product community
• maintain the high level roadmap
• be involved in a range of programme management activities in support of the service owner or programme lead
• be involved in hiring associate product managers, product managers, senior product managers and contractors
• provide leadership in your programmes and across the local community

Success Profiles We use an assessment framework called ‘Success Profiles’ which lists the elements we test and provides detailed descriptions of each. Find out more about the framework here .

For this post, the following Success Profile elements will be assessed, Our standard hours are 35 hours per week and we offer a range of flexible working options, depending on the needs of the role. We embrace a hybrid working style where all colleagues will spend time in either our Glasgow or Dundee offices. There is an expectation of a minimum 2 days per week in your assigned location, which will be either Glasgow or Dundee. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for, please contact us.

Security Checks Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre-employment checks - Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions).

Please note that depending on which business area the successful candidate is appointed to, there may be a requirement to obtain additional National Security Vetting clearance (Security Check) before an appointment and start date can be confirmed.

Further information regarding National Security Vetting clearance can be found here - United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK ( United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK )

Equality Statement Social Security Scotland are committed to equality and inclusion, and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation., Agile Leadership and Ways of Working

• Coach and lead teams in Agile and Lean practices, implementing effective ways of working by adapting your approach throughout the product lifecycle and applying internal insight and external best practice to drive impactful outcomes.
• Act as a recognised advocate for Agile ways of working, driving continuous improvement, challenging thinking, introducing innovative approaches, and fostering organisational Agile maturity through collaboration across teams and wider digital and data communities to achieve better outcomes.
• Act as an escalation point for major operational issues.Maintain awareness of the wider digital economy, emerging technologies, and cross-sector practices, applying relevant insights to improve delivery. *

Product Strategy, Vision and Value

• Set clear long-term vision and strategic objectives for your product portfolio, maintaining focus on priorities that deliver the greatest value and ensure products and services meet the evolving needs of the users across multiple channels..
• Understand the marketplace and user needs, building compelling business cases and clearly articulating the value of products to gain stakeholder buy-in.Ensure products are effectively adopted and deliver measurable benefits by aligning delivery to business cases and integrating products with wider services. *

Delivery and Product Lifecycle Management

• Lead multidisciplinary teams across the full product lifecycle, selecting appropriate tools and techniques at each stage to optimise delivery and using experience to guide teams in delivering high-quality, user-centred outcomes..Identify, manage and mitigate risks across all stages of the lifecycle, while developing sustainable support models. *

Problem Solving and Continuous Improvement

• Anticipate and define problems within a wider organisational context, clearly articulating issues and enabling others to develop strong problem-solving capabilities.Anticipate constraints, understanding when to challenge or remove barriers to enable delivery. *

Leadership, Collaboration and Capability Building

• Influence, challenge and support stakeholders at all levels to drive timely and effective decision-making.
• Coach and develop others, contributing to the growth and assessment of teams and supporting their progression.
• Build capability across teams, fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement.

• Product Discovery and Delivery Approach Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams to research and develop user-centred products and service blueprints, aligned with organisational strategy and the wider context. This includes adapting innovative and established approaches to achieve product or service outcomes.

• Benefits Realisation and Value Proposition Experience defining, measuring and tracking product benefits, with the ability to clearly articulate and promote the product value proposition to a range of stakeholders. Understanding of how benefits and value align with Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) principles where relevant.

Social Security Scotland is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. Our benefits help people from all walks of life in Scotland. We offer rewarding careers and employ people across Scotland in a wide range of professions and roles. We are committed to recruiting a diverse workforce that is representative of the clients we serve. Find more about us here ., Social Security Scotland’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the recruitment principles of the Civil Service Commissioner, which outline that selection for appointment be made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition - Recruitment - Civil Service Commission

If you feel at any time your application has not been treated in accordance with the values in the Civil Service Code and/or if you feel the recruitment has been conducted in such a way that conflicts with the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, you can make a complaint, by contacting Social Security Scotland at recruitment@socialsecurity.gov.scot in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commissioner.

The successful candidate will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of 3 years unless successful in gaining promotion to a higher Band or Grade.