Product Manager (Fixed Term) Internal Secondment Opportunity

The University of Cambridge is seeking a Product Manager to contribute to and lead on the delivery of continuous improvements in the Digital Admissions programme within its Education Portfolio. The Digital Admissions team is an agile multi-disciplinary responsible for the improvement, optimisation, and maintenance of the My Cambridge Application form, the Subject Moderator Interface, and Digital Pooling. The team is integral to the University in assuring prospective undergraduate students become students. One year ago, the team launched the new My Cambridge Application form and we have spent the past year optimising it based on user and stakeholder feedback. The team will now be focusing on improving the approach to Digital pooling. The successful candidate will play an important role, leading the discovery, working with the team to identify goals and visions, set the longer-term approach, and own the roadmap. This is a 12-month secondment, with the potential for extension or to be made permanent. It's ordinarily based on the University's West Cambridge Site, but is hybrid. Typically you will spend a few days a month on campus meeting with users, stakeholders, and working with the programme team in the office. The majority of the time you'll work remotely. As Product Manager you will:

• Manage multiple products or a single product that is especially complex or high-risk, including setting the overall product strategy for the service(s).
• Have expert product management skills, managing through discovery, alpha, beta and live states.
• Support and lead the adoption of agile and user centred practices in the team.
• Shape and deliver programmes of research & engagement to ensure we are led by user needs and business goals when enhancing our propositions and services., Fixed-term: The funds for this post are available for 12 months in the first instance.
The post is offered to internal candidates only on the basis of a secondment from their current role in the University. We welcome applications from individuals who wish to be considered for part-time working or other flexible working arrangements.

You should be a committed exponent of user-centred design thinking and doing, skilled and experienced in:
• Agile working. You know how to lead teams in Agile and Lean practices, working closely with the Delivery manager to determine the right approach for the team to take and continuously evaluating it.
• Experience of working within constraints. You can work with senior stakeholders and know how to prioritise and mitigate constraints. Turning them into an advantage and adapting the approach as needed.
• Prioritisation. You can clearly identify and articulate what the right approach is to hit an MVP and the longer-term goals.
• Life-cycle perspective. You know how to successfully lead teams through the full product life cycle. Identifying which tools and techniques should be used at each stage and with experience of eco-systems combining both procured and in-house developed products.
• Problem ownership. You know how to anticipate problems and how to defend against them at the right time. You understand how the problem fits into the larger picture and know how to build problem-solving capabilities in others.
• Product ownership. You can start to define and create approaches. You know how to coach others and implement new ways of working.
Ideally you will also have the following skills or some experience in:
• Supporting colleagues who are less familiar with user-centred design.
• Working within a service design framework such as the Government, NHS or local government service standards or similar
We are keen to hear from applicants with backgrounds in any specialism in digital, data and technology who have experience with product management tasks. We will support the right candidate to grow their skills with formal and informal training and communities of practice.