Head of Product and User Centred Design

Job 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 .

Job description

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.

Person specification

Essential qualifications:

If you do not already hold the qualifications listed below, you will be expected to work towards achieving them once in role.

• APM Product Management Practitioner level
• A relevant qualification in Product management e.g agile product management or BCS certified digital product manager
• UX design - UX diploma certificate
• User centred design qualification
• Agile Project Management Practitioner
• APM Chartered Project Professional
• Project Leadership Programme (PLP)
• APM Project Management Qualification

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

• Experience leading Product Management and User-Centred Design (UCD) functions, setting strategy and driving organisational outcomes.
• Proven ability to build, lead and develop high-performing Product and UCD teams and communities of practice.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience influencing senior leaders and decision-makers.
• Experience developing and implementing product strategies that align with organisational priorities and deliver measurable value.
• Experience working in complex digital, transformation or portfolio environments, balancing priorities, risks and investment decisions.
• Ability to establish standards, governance and best practice across multiple teams and services.
• Strong people leadership skills, including coaching, mentoring, talent development and building organisational capability.

Working hours, office attendance and travel requirements

Full time roles consist of 37 hours per week.

Whilst we welcome applications from those looking to work with us on a part time basis, there is a business requirement for the successful candidate to be able to work at least 35 hours per week.

Occasional travel to other offices will be required, which may involve overnight stays.

This role is suitable for hybrid working, which is a non-contractual arrangement where a combination of workplace and home-based working can be accommodated subject to business requirements.

The expectation at present is a minimum of 60% of your working time a month will be spent at either your designated workplace (one of the locations cited in the advert) or, when required for business reasons, in another office/work location/visiting stakeholders. Your designated workplace will be your contractual place of work. There may be occasions where you are required to attend above the minimum expectation.

If you have a question about hybrid working, part time/job share hours, flexible working, travelling for work, or require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Vacancy Holder during the recruitment process to avoid possible disappointment later in the process should your working arrangements not be compatible with the requirements of the role (see below for contact details).

Visa Sponsorship

DfTc does not offer Visa Sponsorship for this role.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Head of Service Design - Design Communication
• Head of Service Design - Designing for Everyone
• Head of Service Design - Designing Strategically
• Head of Service Design - Leading Design

Benefits

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits:

• 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).
• 8 Bank Holidays plus an additional Privilege Day to mark the King’s birthday.
• Access to the staff discount portal.
• Excellent career development opportunities and the potential to undertake professional qualifications relevant to your role paid for by the department, such as CIPD, Prince2, apprenticeships, etc.
• Joining a diverse and inclusive workforce with a range of staff communities to support all our colleagues.
• 24-hour Employee Assistance Programme providing free confidential help and advice for staff.
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Find out more about the benefits of working at DfT and its agencies .

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement

Stage 2: Interview

You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.

Stage 1: Sift

At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (1250 word count). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following:

• Experience leading Product Management and User-Centred Design (UCD) functions, setting strategy and driving organisational outcomes.
• Proven ability to build, lead and develop high-performing Product and UCD teams and communities of practice.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience influencing senior leaders and decision-makers.
• Experience developing and implementing product strategies that align with organisational priorities and deliver measurable value.
• Ability to establish standards, governance and best practice across multiple teams and services.

The sift will take place on Thursday 8th October 2026.

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

• Behaviours – Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace, Leadership Managing a Quality Service
• Technical – Design Communication, Designing for Everyone, Designing Strategically, Leading Design
• Experience

You will also be required to create and deliver a presentation. Guidance will be provided if you are invited to interview.

The interviews will take place on Thursday 22nd October 2026.

This interview will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You can find out more about our hiring process, how to apply, and application and interview guidance on our careers site.

Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change.

Further information on the selection process

We will also hold a 12-month reserve list for this role, which may lead to potential opportunities beyond the role you applied for.

During your application, you should indicate which location(s) you wish