Lead Product Manager

Job Opportunity

Within our ITS directorate, we are recruiting a Product Leader with responsibility for managing and leading a number of products within a product portfolio containing multiple individual products.

Are you an experienced product leader who enjoys taking responsibility and pushing boundaries? If so, we'd love to hear from you!

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary.
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days), plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King's birthday.
• Flexible working options that encourage a great work‑life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

As a Lead Product Manager you will oversee a portfolio of digital products, manage cross‑functional teams, and act as a key liaison between technical teams, stakeholders, and senior leadership. The Lead Product Manager role is a critical role in driving the development and maintenance of new and existing DVLA services during an exciting period of development.

• Managing a portfolio of products, providing leadership, direction and escalation, while also acting as product manager for the most complex areas.
• Define and articulate a portfolio‑level product vision, roadmap and strategy, aligning with organisational goals and government digital transformation objectives.
• Collaborate with internal business teams, senior leadership and external stakeholders to gather requirements, manage expectations and ensure alignment.
• Drive agile and lean product development processes, ensuring timely delivery within scope, budget and quality standards.
• Ensure operational running of the product, be involved in any ongoing incidents and support the prioritisation of the team in the resolution of issues and defects versus ongoing change commitments.
• Set strategy and manage resource allocation within the product to support product development as well as operational management of the product.
• Define and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure product success and drive continuous improvement.
• Work closely with other Lead Product Managers to ensure synergy across the product organisation.
• Contribute to the DVLA product management capability to build standards and guidance across the capability.
• Work closely with the Head of Product to provide leadership and direction within the product community.
• Be involved in hiring Senior Product Managers and managing any related contracts.
• Budgeting and forecasting across the product portfolio.
• Manage and mentor a team of product managers, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation and continuous improvement.

Lead Product Managers manage a complex portfolio of products at the heart of the delivery of DVLA change programmes. You will be responsible for line management, development and coaching of Senior Product Managers, providing the escalation route through to the Head of Product and ensuring the consolidated delivery of technical change across multiple squads.

You will be confident challenging approaches and be a positive role‑model of the values, attitudes and behaviours of the capability. You will set the vision and strategy of the technical outcomes, manage dependencies and identify and manage priorities to ensure the successful delivery of the technical products by introducing value within the products.

You will need to have excellent communication skills and will engage with senior stakeholders at all levels to support the effective delivery of those products and services.

You will own the development and continuous improvement of the product portfolio, turning the vision into reality. You will ensure the product vision is delivered in the most effective way, building something that is reusable and transformational.

You will be responsible for balancing requirements within change initiatives across multiple programmes, continuous product improvements to ensure the product is maintained to DVLA standards, managing defects, technical debt and other improvements identified.

You will work closely with Project and Portfolio Management teams to align any project plans of approved change…