Senior Product Manager – Social Care

Senior Product Manager – Social Care

Fixed Term, Full Time

£63,323 to £74,497 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Working Style: Anywhere worker

Please note this vacancy is available as a fixed term contract or secondment opportunity for up to 1 year.

The Opportunity

Transformation is at the heart of service excellence in Social Care. This role will play a critical part in shaping and delivering the council’s social care digital services during a period of significant change, including a major social care platform procurement and re‑implementation programme.

You will bring strong product leadership, human centred design and agile delivery expertise to help ensure that social care digital services are designed around the needs of practitioners, residents, carers and partners, while remaining safe, resilient and compliant in a complex statutory environment.

This role will support and complement the Lead Product Portfolio Manager for Social Care, strengthening day to day product leadership and helping to embed modern, outcome focused product practices across the social care portfolio.

This role is responsible for day to day product management across social care digital services, working closely with the Lead Product Portfolio Manager for Social Care to establish clear product visions, priorities and delivery approaches during the reimplementation of the social care digital estate.

You will work across multidisciplinary teams to ensure social care products are user-centred, evidence led and iteratively improved, supporting the successful transition to new platforms and ways of working while maintaining service continuity and safeguarding responsibilities.

The role reports to the Assistant Director: Product & Delivery and works in close partnership with social care, technology, commissioning and delivery leaders.

This role requires a high level of expertise and collaboration to enable the Council to create a culture and working environment that supports creativity and embraces critical challenge to improve.

To read more about our business area, please visit: Corporate Services

Accountabilities

• Accountable for product management across defined social care digital products, supporting the wider social care portfolio.
• Accountable for shaping and communicating clear product visions and outcomes that align social care priorities, user needs and the wider transformation programme.
• Accountable for translating complex statutory, operational and practice requirements into prioritised, deliverable product roadmaps.
• Accountable for planning and managing product delivery through iterative, agile approaches, ensuring products evolve safely over time to meet changing needs.
• Accountable for working closely with the Lead Product Portfolio Manager for Social Care to strengthen product thinking, governance and ways of working across the portfolio.
• Accountable for engaging senior stakeholders across ASC and C&F to move from policy or service intent to clear, testable product outcomes.
• Accountable for maintaining a strong focus on user-centred design, including frontline practitioners, residents, families and carers, within the constraints of social care legislation and safeguarding.
• Accountable for ensuring products meet relevant service standards, accessibility requirements, information governance and data protection obligations.
• Accountable for close collaboration with technology, delivery and suppliers during the social care platform procurement and implementation phases.
• Responsible for contributing to a culture of continuous improvement, learning and reflective practice within social care product teams.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Educated to RQF level 6 (Bachelor’s degree) or equivalent by experience.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.
• Experience of building and nurturing new teams of qualified professionals in a matrix setting, providing strategic leadership and objective setting.
• Experience of successfully delivering human-centred, design focused technology and innovation products in Agile environments.
• Experience of communicating complex and technical information in simple and accessible language to a wide range of audiences, including Board Members and Directors.
• Experience of balancing the needs of users with organisation priorities to make the right decisions and empowering teams to act upon them.
• Experience of using sketches, wireframes, user flows and high-fidelity prototypes to visualise product ideas and testing tools to make sure prototypes and products meet user needs.
• Knowledge and practical application of the Government Service Standards, Government Accessibility Regulations and Information Governance principles.
• Experience working with or within complex public sector, health or social care environments, where services are safety critical and highly regulated.
• Experience of applying agile and user-centred approaches pragmatically in complex operational contexts.
• Experience of working alongside senior product, portfolio or programme leaders to embed and mature product practices across teams.
• Confidence operating in environments where policy, practice, technology and service delivery intersect.

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In February 2025, Greater Essex was accepted onto the Government’s devolution priority programme, which will see local authorities in Essex work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority by May 2026. You can read more about devolution and local government reorganisation (LGR) on our careers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

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