Product Strategy and Transformation Delivery Lead (up to 2 posts)

Grade 6

The Strategy and Transformation Directorate is recruiting on a 12-month Loan (with the possibility of extension and/or permanency) for two Grade 6 Product Strategy and Transformation Delivery Lead. This campaign is open to current civil servants on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion.

If you are applying to this role on promotion, please refer to your own departments policy in respect of your grade on return from Loan.

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:

• London

• National

We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your chosen base location.

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:

• Full-time, part-time or the option to job share

• Flexible working patterns

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Salary

Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department’s pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.  

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MoJ is the largest government department, employing over 90,000 people with a budget of approximately £10 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.

Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

This role sits within the Service Strategy & Transformation Directorate. We are responsible for: 

• Working across the Service Transformation Group (with Justice Digital, the Legal Aid Agency, Office of the Public Guardian and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority), to understand and drive collaboration on current transformation and digital plans 

• Supporting digital development and innovation to enhance the victim experience throughout the criminal justice (CJ) process, implement recommendations from the Independent Sentencing Review and support probation workers in His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) 

• Identifying, encouraging and delivering new ways of working, acting as a critical friend to delivery partners and collaborating with a wider range of stakeholders to improve experiences for those in the CJ system. 

• Identifying cross-cutting transformation opportunities across the Ministry of Justice that can drive cutting-edge digital delivery, user experience, efficiencies and delivery of policy goals 

• Baselining and supporting performance and prioritisation across the Service Transformation Group 

• Bringing together all areas of the Group to collectively create a clear and compelling narrative for delivery over the next 3-5 years.  

• Engaging across the Ministry of Justice and its agencies to gain buy-in and support for our initiatives. 

• Supporting the Director General for Service Transformation with strategic and analytical activity. 

Product Strategy and Transformation Delivery Lead - the role

This senior role provides leadership directly beneath the Chief Product Officer (CPO) and is critical to accelerating product transformation across the department. The postholder brings deep expertise in modern product practice and plays a central role in shifting how teams think, operate and deliver value. Working across digital, policy and operational functions, the role ensures that the new product operating model is not only understood conceptually but is embedded in day-to-day practice at scale.

The Product Strategy and Delivery Transformation Lead will translate strategic direction into clear priorities, enabling teams to focus on outcomes, evidence and continuous learning. They will lead the adoption of a modern product operating model methodology such as continuous discovery and dual-track delivery, ensuring teams remain user-centred and hypothesis-driven, even when operating within legacy systems and complex constraints.

A core part of the role is identifying systemic blockers that hinder innovation, redesigning governance and enabling conditions to support rapid, safe iteration. The postholder will provide hands-on coaching to product leaders and multidisciplinary teams, developing capability, raising standards and driving consistent, high-quality practice across the organisation.

The role requires strong influencing skills, with the ability to build alignment at senior levels, constructively challenge entrenched behaviours and ensure decisions remain grounded in user needs, measurable impact and value for money. Acting on behalf of the CPO in key internal, across government and external forums with Senior Leaders and stakeholders, the postholder will ensure product thinking, data insight and evidence play a central role in how the organisation designs, prioritises and delivers change.

These roles are not part of the GDD Product or Delivery Profession structure. They are transformation-focussed roles within SS&T, designed to support pathfinders and the PoM work across Service Transformation Group

Key Responsibilities

• Translate Strategy into Delivery: Convert strategic product operating model direction into clear priorities and fast-paced delivery plans, ensuring teams focus on outcomes, evidence and continuous learning.

• Embed Modern Product Practices: Lead the adoption of continuous discovery, dual-track delivery and other modern product approaches, intervening early when teams revert to outdated behaviours.

• Remove Systemic Blockers: Identify, escalate and resolve organisational or structural barriers that slow product innovation, and encourage lightweight, enabling governance that supports safe iteration.

• Strengthen Capability: Provide hands-on coaching and mentoring to product leaders and multidisciplinary teams, ensuring consistent, high-quality practice and building long-term capability across MoJ.

• Cross-Organisational and Departmental Influence: Build strong relationships across policy, digital, commercial, and operational teams both in-house and across government. Leading negotiations with key stakeholders on product transformation initiatives, to drive alignment and ensure new ways of working are understood, adopted and sustained.

• Represent Senior Leadership: Represent the CPO in key forums, shaping decisions so they remain grounded in user needs, measurable outcomes and value for money.

• Leadership and Line Management: Leadership of a multidisciplinary team, providing clear direction and support, with the Line Management of at least one G7 Product Transformation Delivery Manager.

• Budget Management: Delegated budget management, with a high discretion on how this is managed across the function.

Skills and Experience

Essential:

• Extensive experience leading product innovation or transformation within digital, data or technology environments.

• Deep practical knowledge of modern product disciplines such as continuous discovery, dual-track delivery and user-centred design.

• Strong ability to use data, insight and structured analysis to inform prioritisation, decision-making and measurement of value.

• Proven leadership of multidisciplinary teams, including Line Management, with experience driving pace, clarity and momentum in complex, ambiguous contexts.

• Strong communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and stakeholders, challenge constructively and shift entrenched organisational behaviours.

• Experience working in central government or large public-sector environments, with understanding of policy, delivery and operational interfaces.

Desirable:

• Experience embedding product-led cultures or operating models at scale, including capability uplift and coaching programmes.

• Familiarity with government DDaT frameworks, Service Standard, Technology Code of Practice or other cross-government delivery standards.

Candidates applying from HMPPS should note that the Ministry of Justice does not have the same conditions of employment as HMPPS. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful.

The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, including your CV, statement of suitability and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

Experience

You will be asked to provide a CV during the application process with details of your experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role. The CV will not be assessed.

You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 750 words stating how you meet the following essential experience:

• Extensive experience leading product innovation or transformation within digital, data or technology environments.

• Deep practical knowledge of modern product disciplines such as continuous discovery, dual-track delivery and user-centred design.

• Strong ability to use data, insight and structured analysis to inform prioritisation, decision-making and measurement of value.

Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

Candidates invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

During the panel interview, you will be asked Experience-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of, and strengths-based questions to also explore what you enjoy, and your motivations relevant to the job role.

There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well.

You can refer to the CS Strengths dictionary for more details: Success Profiles - Civil Service Strengths Dictionary (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Interviews are expected to take place January 2026.