Job Description

On behalf of the Met Office, we are looking for a Digital Product Manager (Inside IR35) for a 9 month contract based Hybrid in Exeter.



The Met Office is modernising the technology foundations that power weather and climate services used across government, science and industry.



We need an experienced Product Manager to help shape and improve the internal platforms our developers, scientists and service teams rely on every day.



You'll join Platform Technology - the team responsible for shared, cross-cutting capabilities such as developer tools, APIs, data pipelines and infrastructure services.

Your mission:

make these platforms reliable, discoverable and enabling: reducing delivery friction, improving user experience, and helping downstream service teams ship faster and more safely.



As a Digital Product Manager your main responsibilities will be to:

Own the roadmap and backlog for one or more shared technology platforms and deliver to the agreed product vision. Work with engineers, architects and delivery teams to deliver incremental improvements that make platforms easier to use and maintain. Understand internal users - from developers to operations staff and translate their needs into clear priorities. Define measurable service outcomes (adoption, usability, performance) and use data to track progress. Balance short-term reliability with long-term sustainability and compliance. Facilitate collaboration across technical and non-technical stakeholders; communicate trade-offs transparently. Champion product-led and user informed, iterative ways of working in a complex, legacy / brownfield environment. Support the development of a business case to invest in service enhancements.

Essential:

Proven experience managing developer-facing products and associated technologies (e.g. APIs, platforms, shared services). Ability to apply and adapt Agile and Lean practices in the context of an engineering focused team. Strong understanding of user-centred product development, championing the use of user centered design even when the "users" are engineers. Skilled at prioritising by outcome - e.g. using impact vs. effort or cost-of-delay approaches. Confident working with cross-disciplinary teams and senior technical stakeholders. Comfortable operating in environments with legacy systems, competing priorities and incomplete information. Excellent communicator: can translate complex technical issues into clear decisions and trade-offs.

SC Clearance is an essential requirement for this role, as a minimum you must be willing & eligible to undergo checks. Please note, due to the exceptional requirements of this position (short-term nature of this role and speed at which we require a postholder in situ) preference may be given to candidates who meet all of the essential criteria and hold active security clearance.



Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas.



Disability Confident



As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, the Met Office guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.



Armed Forces Commitment



The Met Office guarantees to interview?veterans or spouses / partners of military personnel who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of ex-military candidates / military spouses or partners, who meet all of the essential criteria, we?will interview the best candidates from within that group. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.



In applying for this role, you acknowledge the following "this role falls in scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation. Any rates of payment quoted will reflect the gross rate per day for the assignment and will be subject to appropriate taxes and statutory costs. As such the payment to the intermediary and your income resulting from this contract will be different".