Product Owner

Product Owner

Hybrid - Stevenage

Full Time

Up to 2 Years Fixed Term Contract

Up to £60,000 per annum plus benefits 

Join Serco’s UK & Europe division as a Product Owner, working as part of our Armed Forces Recruitment Service (AFRS) team, and take overall responsibility for transforming customer requirements into an IT solution that maximises value and transparency. Through the capture and definition of customer, security, and operational requirements, you’ll build a secure IT environment that meets business needs.

As a Product Owner, you'll be at the forefront of designing and developing the software solution that supports our organisational goals. Your role will be crucial in shaping the service, capturing customer requirements, and assessing suitable solutions to meet these needs. You will be instrumental in creating epics and user stories to demonstrate desired functionalities and system interactions, with a particular focus on integrating multiple services. You’ll be responsible for ensuring concurrent scrum teams, from multiple suppliers, understand the requirements to be delivered and are always focused on the highest customer value items.

At Serco, we are proud to partner with the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) in providing critical recruitment services for the UK’s Armed Forces. This new approach will, for the first time, see the Royal Navy, the British Army, and the Royal Air Force have a joint Armed Forces Recruitment Service (AFRS). Delivered through a partnership of the MOD, Serco, and our consortium of partners, this service will provide end-to-end support from candidate attraction to assessment, onboarding, and Phase 1 training. Our team brings together best-in-class integrated technology and specialist partners to offer a holistic recruitment and skills solution for the UK Armed Forces, designed to modernise and improve the overall candidate experience. We are driven by the values of doing the right thing for our people, the MOD, His Majesty’s Government (HMG), broader society, and the candidates we source.

Main responsibilities of the role:

• Lead on the Design and Development aspects of complex product services.
• Holding the vision for, and leading on the development of, the product service through the capture of customer requirements and assessing suitable solution components to meet these requirements.
• Development of epics and user stories, managing backlog and demonstrating the desired functionality and interaction with systems.
• Giving key focus to Applications Services and API’s, identifying current and future system interactions and exchanges of data.
• To understand the direction of the business/bid, its imperatives, its future challenges and how these may be supported by an appropriate overarching product service.
• Understand the current or "as is" state of the product and the path required to move this to the future "to be" state, recognising the needs and demands future business improvement initiatives will place on the solution.
• Provvide clarity and vision to the various scrum teams, ensuring maximum value is achieved through collaboration and applicable Agile practices.

What you’ll need:

• Provable experience of successful delivery of applications in a Product Owner role on an Agile project with multiple scrum teams working in parallel
• Experience in working on major Government/Ministry of Defence (MOD) contracts and bids, including knowledge and understanding of MOD specific standards such as the Joint Service Publications (JSPs) and the Defence Cyber Protection Partnership (DCPP).
• Hold a deep understanding of product design and Agile methodologies.
• A degree in IT related discipline is preferred along with an understanding of modern IT systems. You should be a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) or equivalent.
• You must be good at offering solutions to problems, along with being an analytical thinker and logical in approaching issues.
• You will have effective communication skills that enables you to convey complex technical details to clients in a straightforward manner.
• You will need to identify technical issues and design solutions to fix them, gathering and assimilating information.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Ability to build from good relationships with clients/operational managers and colleagues.
• Good knowledge of quality standards, legislation, and best practice.
• Must be able to achieve SC clearance upon appointment.

What we offer:

• Company car.
• Bonus potential – up to 10%.
• Private medical insurance.
• Up to 6% contributory pension.
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Annual leave purchase scheme.
• Access to the Serco benefits portal offering discounts across major high street brands in Retail, Leisure & Hospitality.
• Health and wellbeing support for you and your family, including an Employee Assistance Programme, Health Cash Plans, free flu jabs, and more.
• Comprehensive career development opportunities, including role-specific training, leadership coaching, and formal study to support your growth with Serco.
• A safe, inclusive, and supportive culture.
• A company passionate about diversity and inclusion.

About Serco
At Serco, not only is the nature of the work we do important, everyone has an important role to play, from caring for vulnerable people to managing complex public services.  We are a team of 50,000 people responsible for delivering essential public services around the world in areas including defence, transport, justice, immigration, healthcare and citizen services. We are innovators, committed to redesigning and improving public services for the benefit of everyone.

By joining Serco you will have unlimited access to our Global Employee Networks – SercoInspire (Gender), SercoEmbrace (Multicultural), SercoUnlimited (Disability) and In@Serco (LGBT & Networks). Serco Employee Networks, led by colleagues who are passionate about diversity, inclusion and belonging. 

Apply
Please click on the apply button to complete your application. Occasionally we receive a large volume of applications for our roles and when that happens we sometimes bring the closing date forward, so please apply promptly to avoid disappointment. 

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. As such we will make reasonable adjustments at interview through to employment for our candidates and strongly encourage applications from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working. We operate a hybrid work structure in many of our business areas. We are proudly Disability Confident Leader employers and holder of the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview.  For help with your application please contact 0345 010 4000.
 

At Serco we support fair access to employment for those with unspent criminal convictions through the ‘Ban the Box’ pledge (some may be exempt due to the nature of the role and the security clearance required). Please contact our recruitment team directly on 0345 010 4000 to discuss.