Senior Product Manager WCC621242

Job Details:

Salary range: £54,684 - £74,487 per annum. Salary negotiable depending upon experience 
Work location: Westminster City Hall, 64 Victoria Street, Westminster, SW1E 6QP
Hours per week: 36 
Contract type: Temporary up to 24 months   
Closing date: 10 June 2025

About Us:

THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF 809 CONNECTED BUSINESSES

Digital and Innovation in Westminster City Council is a world of extraordinary stories, where creative and enterprising people put local residents and businesses first. Creativity isn’t something that only senior managers do. In Digital and Innovation at Westminster City Council, we expect it from everyone, including our newest recruits. 

Today, Westminster is the most connected borough in London. But, when David joined us in the mid-2010s, small businesses were still struggling to get connected to fibre. Without gigabit-capable broadband, some companies even resorted to biking memory sticks around the city, simply to share files with clients.

Although still in a junior role, David took the initiative and successfully made the business case for £2.8 million of European funding to support connectivity for small businesses across Westminster. Feedback from businesses has been overwhelmingly positive as the project has enhanced their communications with clients. The new connectivity allows them to make video calls and work remotely. As the pandemic hit and many more people needed to work from home, it became clear just how vital this investment had been. 

Fast-forward a few years. Westminster is leading the way for connectivity, as a result of the project businesses are thriving, and David is heading up a service of his own responsible for delivery of the Smart City strategy.

The Role:

As a Senior Product Manager in our Digital and Innovation team, you can make your own powerful contribution to people across Westminster. Joining our brand-new AI Innovation Hub on a two-year fixed term contract, you’ll work alongside a multi-disciplinary team to lead groundbreaking AI initiatives that directly enhance the lives of residents and council officers. Some examples of the AI initiatives we are exploring include Generative-AI chatbot assistants, speech-to-text generators for frontline workers, and NLP/ML solutions for process improvement and fraud detection. This role offers the unique opportunity to shape the future of public service through innovative AI solutions, all while working in a dynamic, inclusive, and supportive environment that values ambition, diversity, and creativity!

You'll play a pivotal role in identifying and shaping AI opportunities across the council, creating a portfolio of innovative products that balance user needs, business goals, and technical feasibility. Acting as the voice of industrial AI trends within the council, you’ll define achievable and cost-effective goals, build and/or buy AI solutions and, crucially, achieve stakeholder buy-in for your proposals. 

Acting as a source of expertise and inspiration, you’ll foster a culture of inclusion, learning and development both within your team, and within the wider council ecosystem. You’ll work to educate senior stakeholders on the importance of user-centred design, developing solutions that have a tangible and significant impact on the wellbeing of our local communities. 

Please refer to the Job Description for more information. 

About You:

An established professional with significant product management experience, and a background in leading multidisciplinary teams in the design and build of digital products and services, you’ll have a nuanced understanding of agile methodologies and user-centred design principles. 

Your skillset will include scaling AI-driven products, integrating AI solutions into existing systems and processes, and designing prototypes and MVPs. You will have proven experience in exploring and prioritizing AI opportunities by measuring potential impact and considering implementation costs and governance risks, thereby helping an organization shape its AI strategy. 

You’ll be confident using your excellent communication and influencing skills to educate senior leaders on complex technologies. And, as a leader, you’ll have experience managing a team, and of helping colleagues develop their skills. 

On a personal level, you’ll be a resilient, organised, communicative team player passionate about using technology for public good! 

Westminster City Council is committed to supporting Care Leavers into the workplace. Care Leavers seeking their first job and who wish to be considered under our scheme, will automatically be invited to interview should they meet the essential criteria for the role. 

The Council is committed to achieving diverse shortlists to support our desire to increase the number of staff from underrepresented groups in our workforce. We especially encourage applications from a Global Majority (GM), people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as 'ethnic minorities' (formally known as B.A.M.E , Black, Asian and multiple ethnic) background and, while the role is open to all applicants, we will utilise the positive action provisions of the Equality Act 2010 to appoint a candidate from a global majority background where there is a choice between two candidates of equal merit. If you are from a Global Majority background you can self-declare this to the hiring manager as part of our positive action commitments.

What We Offer:

Westminster is an amazing place. We are home to more than 200,000 residents from all backgrounds, over 50,000 vibrant and vital businesses and three-quarters-of-a-million people work in Westminster. Westminster City Council’s strategy is to work towards a Fairer Westminster. A Fairer Westminster is one in which our communities are at the heart of our decision-making and help to determine the city’s future. By working directly with our communities and other partners, we can build a more inclusive city that celebrates our diverse communities, and where residents, workers and visitors from all backgrounds will feel welcome and safe.   
 
At Westminster City Council, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive workplace and employer of choice. We encourage and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that, at all levels, represents the communities we serve. We champion equality, diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued, has a sense of belonging and is empowered to be their best, that is the Westminster Way. To find out more about how we do this visit https://www.westminster.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health-strategy-policies-and-reports/equality-duties  
 
As a forward-thinking Council we appreciate that people work in different ways, therefore our staff benefit from working a range of flexible working patterns as well as Agile working.  
 
The Council is a Disability Confident Employer. If you have declared a disability in your application, we guarantee an interview if you meet the essential criteria of the job. If you are invited for interview, you will be asked if you need any reasonable adjustments in order to attend, and we will make these wherever possible.