Head of Product and User Centred Design


Company:	Government Recruitment Service
Salary:	£69,501 to £98,061 a year
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	Hastings
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	23 Sept 2026
Closing date:	7 Oct 2026

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Summary

Can you lead product management and user-centred design strategies across a large, complex organisation?

Do you have experience building and developing high-performing Product and UCD communities and teams?

Have you influenced senior stakeholders to deliver customer-centred outcomes aligned to organisational priorities and investment decisions?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

This is an exciting time to join the Digital, Information and Security Directorate within the Department for Transport as we restructure our directorate to ensure we are ready for future challenges, building a more sustainable, skilled and in-house capability.

Shape products. Champion users. Drive transformation. Lead product management and user-centred design across the Department for Transport, ensuring digital services deliver meaningful outcomes for users and the organisation.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here

25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday

Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at Department for Transport Central - Department for Transport Careers and within the Government Digital and Data Profession.

Join the Department for Transport as the Head of Product and User-Centred Design and play a leading role in shaping the future of digital services. This is an exciting opportunity to define the strategic direction for Product Management and User-Centred Design (UCD), ensuring services deliver value, meet user needs and support departmental objectives.

As a senior leader within the Portfolio Management Hub, you'll oversee and develop a community of Product Managers and UCD professionals, setting standards, driving best practice and building capability across the organisation. You'll create the conditions for teams to thrive, championing innovation, collaboration and a strong focus on user outcomes.

Working closely with senior stakeholders, business leaders and delivery teams, you'll help align digital investment with organisational priorities, ensuring product strategies contribute to long-term value, performance and sustainability. You'll influence decision-making, communicate strategic insights and advocate for user-centred approaches across the department and its agencies.

This is a unique opportunity to shape the Product and UCD profession, drive digital transformation at scale and help deliver better services for colleagues, partners and the public.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

Defining and maintaining the strategic approach to product management and user-centred design across the Portfolio Management Hub, aligning with organisational priorities and investment plans.
Setting and raising standards for product management and UCD practice, ensuring consistency and alignment across service lines.
Working closely with lead product managers, UCD leads, and business units to develop coherent product strategies that contribute to portfolio-wide value realisation.
Providing leadership, support, and coaching to senior and lead Product managers and UCD leads, fostering a strong, collaborative community.
Creating a community for product ownership across the department and develop a framework for product ownership.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Additional Information

The role is part of the Government Digital and Data Framework profession and utilises an enhanced Capability–Based Pay Framework which provides access to a Digital and Data allowance.

The base pay is £69,501 National and £74,535 London. In addition to this the role includes a Digital and Data allowance of up to £28,560.

The value of allowance awarded will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated through the selection process. Here are more details on the pay framework.

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