Head of Product
- Compensation
- Not disclosed
- Location
- Hammersmith, England, United Kingdom
- Work setup
- Hybrid
- Seniority
- C level
- Employment
- Not specified
- Experience
- Not specified
- Category
- Not specified
- Posted
Skills
Must have
- A proven track record of leading Product, BA, or UCD capabilities, underpinned by deep hands-on experience delivering complex, high-stakes digital services within UK Central Government or regulated pu
- Demonstrated courage and diplomatic finesse to challenge CEOs, CTOs, and client executives, successfully steering technical conversations toward measurable human and organisational impact.
- Deep expertise in the GDS (Government Digital Service) lifecycle and a strong track record of leading teams successfully through GOV.UK Service Assessments.
- Experience managing, coaching, and inspiring Product, BA and/or UCD practitioners.
- A strategic problem-solving mindset comfortable navigating the ambiguity of emerging technologies (like AI) and translating them into tangible, user-friendly services.
- Strong commercial acumen with experience shaping bids, defining product propositions, and estimating multidisciplinary team requirements.
- Exceptional stakeholder management skills, capable of influencing senior civil servants and coalescing diverse groups around a unified product vision.
- Humility and adaptability; willing to make decisions based on available data, but ready to pivot and change approach when user research or new information dictates.
- Sound technical understanding to work credibly with Engineering, Architecture, DevSecOps and AI specialists.
- Exceptional communication and narrative skills with the ability to translate complex technical or strategic concepts for diverse audiences, win buy-in from skeptical senior stakeholders, deconstruct t
- Ability to zoom into detail and zoom out to see the bigger picture, bringing clarity to intricate situations and helping product managers cut through ambiguity.
- Proven experience in establishing rigorous delivery boundaries and outcome-based governance, supporting product managers and teams to prevent uncontrolled project growth and scope creep.
Full description
The Mission: Club Arran delivers complex digital services across UK Central Government. Our multidisciplinary teams bring together Product, Delivery, UCD, Architecture and Engineering to solve problems and deliver sustainable outcomes.
We are now building on that foundation to become an AI integration consultancy for government: helping clients take AI and emerging technologies beyond experimentation and into real services, safely and sustainably.
We are looking for a Head of Product to champion user-centred design and product strategy, ensuring that as we integrate advanced technologies, we never lose sight of the user's needs.
Reporting to the Club Executive and sitting on the Club Leadership Team, you will be accountable for product and UCD excellence across Arran's portfolio and act as the Head of Profession for our Product and UCD capabilities.
In this role, you will split your focus between high-impact client engagements, acting as an executive advisor and strategic lead on flagship accounts, and practice leadership, capability development, and driving commercial growth across the club.
You will create the conditions in which multidisciplinary teams can build impactful government services: aligning stakeholders around a clear vision, navigating GDS Service Assessments, discovering true user needs, and ensuring our solutions deliver tangible value to citizens and civil servants alike
Your priority will be leading our Product, BA and UCD disciplines on an evolving AI journey, driving practical upskilling, leveraging AI to unlock efficiencies, and empowering teams to confidently articulate AI opportunities to clients, while assuring deliverable quality, maximising project outcomes and learning, navigating government service assessments, and coaching teams.
Key Responsibilities
Portfolio product leadership & quality assurance: Own the product strategy and user-centred design quality across Arran’s portfolio. Act as a strategic advisor to senior civil servants and the senior escalation point for product vision, quality, and GDS Service Assessment risks. Establish outcome frameworks (KPIs/OKRs) and roadmapping standards across the full product lifecycle from Discovery through to live service operationalisation.
GDS & Service Standard excellence: Champion the GOV.UK Service Standard and UCD best practice across the club. Set the benchmark for Discovery, Alpha, Beta, and Live phases, assuring high-confidence outcomes in rigorous government Service Assessments.
Product management for AI & emerging tech: Lead the product vision for AI-enabled government services. Ensure AI integrations solve real, validated user problems rather than being technology-led, addressing ethical considerations, accessibility, and safe service design.