Job Description

Job summary

We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced leader to join the Digital, and Technology (DaT) Senior Management team within Companies House.

As part of the Senior Leadership, your role will be pivotal in helping to set the digital roadmap, strategy and direction for the DaT function within Companies House.

You will work closely with the Head of Delivery who will be responsible for the overall DaT delivery and capacity/workforce plan.

Delivering multiple projects at the same time, you\'ll be instrumental in the prioritisation and delivery planning of our roadmap in conjunction with our Service Owners and data and technical architecture teams.

Our Digital roadmap is currently focussed on 3 key workstreams:

• The legislative reform which requires all of our users to verify their identities.
• The economic crime bill which aims at tackling fraud and money laundering
• The migration of our legacy services to a new platform

Through strong leadership, you will be promoting the principles of the service standard, tech code of practice and functional standards. You will promote and support strong performance at Service Assessments.

You will also be expected to promote continuous improvement and development in an inclusive environment.

We are looking for a leader who will inspire an agile and transparent culture and will visualise and implement our transformation.

If you are interested in the position, we would love to hear from you!

Job description

This role will report to the Director of Digital and Technology. The role holder will be direct line manager for the Heads of Business Analysis, Product Management and User Centred Design.

As a Head of Product Design for Companies House, you will also:

• Provide direction and leadership for multidisciplinary teams in running, supporting and continuously improving products so that they meet user needs.
• Own and be responsible for developing and articulating a clear vision, achievable goals and measurable objectives for your products.
• Assess capacity and capability against transformation requirements and support the Heads of Profession in resource planning.
• Influence the prioritisation of product development, business analysis and user centred design in the portfolio.
• You will ensure that the products work for users, remain reliable, robust and secure, whilst also continuously improving.
• Be a champion for analysis including performance measurement that will enable effective measurement of the performance of services.
• Advocate the iterative design of services and champion service design ensuring services are accessible for all of our users.
• Lead engagement with key stakeholders, users and partner organisations.
• Coordinate product development, business analysis and design with other programmes, discipline leads and teams across Companies House and the government.
• Have a passion for product management, analysis and user centred design with an understanding of other digital delivery specialisms - attending meetups, conferences and learning from peers and other
• Represent Companies House in wider government digital and technology community.
• Maintain knowledge of the changing digital and technology landscape and the opportunities they provide to improve the delivery of public services in the UK.
• Coach and mentor, the heads of profession, the product, analysis and design teams and other members of the Digital community, identifying learning and development opportunities for individuals and teams. You will promote effective communities of practice.
• You\'ll represent our Product, User Centred Design, Business Analysis and Performance analysis professions at Senior Leadership Team meetings with our Executive, Programme Boards and Portfolio Assurance Boards, communicating our capacity and capability.
• You will manage the Product delivery cost centre budget.
• Support the Director of DaT with the development and implementation of the DaT and Companies House strategy.

Person specification

We are looking for a person who thrives on challenges and is passionate about making a difference - if you are pragmatic and keen to deliver great products that have big impact then this could be the place for you.

The Head of Product Design is a key leadership role that offers the opportunity to shape and evolve our product strategy, supporting teams to make good decisions and deliver a service that \'simply works\' and is inclusive by default.

We\'re looking for people who:

• Have strong product management and user centred design experience.
• Have a track-record for designing, delivering and evolving great digital products by working with multi-disciplinary teams in an agile delivery setting.
• Can set the direction for business analysis, guiding tactical decision making and influencing longer-term strategic plans in an evolving, complex and unpredictable environment.
• Work closely other heads of profession to direct the work of delivery teams through all phases of delivery - from discovery to continuous improvement in a live setting.
• Has leadership experience to mentor, give constructive feedback and guidance on priorities to a range of digital disciplines.
• Solve issues and unblock problems and empower teams to do the same.
• Have great working relationships with a variety of disciplines involved in digital delivery, including engineering, testing and delivery management.
• Engage with senior stakeholders, including suppliers, coordinating activity across several organisations toward common objectives.
• Possess strong communication skills that enable you to engage with people through a range of channels and explain what you are doing and how you are doing it in clear and compelling ways.
• Has experience recruiting, coaching and line managing Heads of Profession, identifying learning and development opportunities for individuals and teams.
• Possess familiarity with working with suppliers through the end-to-end procurement process.
• Have been in a role with a focus on operational maturity and ensuring a consistent approach to user and technical operational support.

We are also looking for someone who is:

• A Champion of learning and development for yourself and others
• An advocate for user-centred practices embedded within agile delivery.
• Respectful in your approach to stakeholders who aren\'t as familiar with user-centred design.
• Proactive and willing to take the initiative.
• Committed to improving digital public services and accessibility.
• Alert to opportunities to improve our teams, tools and processes.

About us:

Companies House is an award-winning employer, building brilliant services on cutting edge technology. You\'ll join our digital team at a time of transformation and you will be a part of shaping the future of our department. We use Agile methodologies and promote a culture of continuous improvement.

Inclusive and diverse teams are important to us. Wherever we can, we provide opportunities to work part-time, job-share or look for smarter ways of working. We\'ll support you to meet other commitments and help you find a better work-life balance. We\'re keen to create an environment that works for everyone.

Our aim is to be the best registry in the world achieved through brilliant people working on brilliant systems delivering brilliant services. We are currently delivering an organisation wide transformation programme focussing on a complete redesign of our digital services, target operating model and culture. This change will need different skills, capabilities and mindset where adaptable, bold and curious behaviours are the norm and empowerment is encouraged and utilised.

Companies House values its people, their contributions and has created a real sense of community where people seek to create strong connections. Our commitment to learning and development is exceptional, and we believe passionately in the employee experience with is prevalent through the engagement, wellbeing and development strategies which have resulted in Gold Investors in People and MIND index awards.

We are an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Everyone in Companies House brings something different, and so will you. We are committed to ensuring that we are representative of the citizens that we serve. To fulfil our commitment to recruiting and attracting diverse talent we welcome applications from underrepresented groups.

We encourage professional development, celebrate success and live our values to effect real change.

We are currently using a hybrid approach to the way we work. The majority of our digital teams are based in our Cardiff head office. Remote/homeworking contracts will only be offered to successful candidates who are not within a commutable distance to our Cardiff office. If you are located within a commutable distance to one our offices, you will receive a hybrid contract.

At Companies House, hybrid working is about achieving an effective balance between working in the office and working from other appropriate locations. Our approach to hybrid working provides opportunities for you to be adaptable in the way you work so that you can achieve a healthy balance between your work and home life . click apply for full job details

Companies House