About North Yorkshire Council and Transformation Services

Following a Local Government Reorganisation less than 2 years ago, we are a relatively new organisation coming together from 8 councils to being a single council. It’s an exciting time of change, evolution and transformation where using data and digital capability is critical in our desire to be more efficient and best in class in all service areas.

Transformation Services is an innovative, fast paced and large team providing digital and data services as well as delivering change management and innovation initiatives. We enable the organisation and its partners to achieve their outcomes and continually improve and evolve the services we deliver to the people of North Yorkshire and beyond.

About the role

With the role internally known as the Service Product Manager, we are looking to add another member of staff into our Service Design and Digital Adoption (SDDA) team within Transformation Services.

The SDDA team are responsible for creating, managing and improving a wide range of digital products that provide core capabilities across council and partner services.

Reporting to the Senior Service Product Manager, you will work alongside other SDDA team members including two other Service Product Managers, UX and service designers, and work collaboratively with numerous stakeholders across the council including Technology and Customer.

This is a unique opportunity to help to design, evolve and manage internal and external facing digital products. As a Product Manager, you will take products through discovery, alpha, beta and live phases of development with the goal of making council services simpler, easier and faster to use. You will devise and iterate the product roadmap and backlog, be a champion for user needs, document product knowledge, and communicate plans and progress through various channels, stakeholder meetings and demonstrations.

About the SDDA team

As part of a multi-disciplinary team, we’re changing how the council manages their digital products for the better. Recent projects the team have delivered include:

· Digital council services – these include online services such as garden waste licences, highway fault reporting, blue badge applications, and waste and parking permits. We have also implemented a comprehensive ‘Contact Us’ solution and developed a brand new website with a location checker to help direct users to area-specific web content.

· Household support fund – delivering a digital process that allows eligible residents to apply for financial support quickly and easily.

· Self-service IT portal – an online platform that allows staff to find answers to their questions and resolve issues independently, without needing to contact a support agent.

· Chatbot – an interactive tool that allows users to get answers to their questions and resolve issues through automated conversations, without needing to contact a support agent.

· Robotic Process Automation (RPA) – a technology that automates repetitive tasks and processes, enhancing user experience by reducing manual effort and increasing efficiency.

About you

We wish to recruit a team member who has a passion for digital and technology service and a genuine customer centric ethos to put the customer at the heart of everything we do. You may currently be in a project management role, or a delivery role in IT, or have experience working in a digital solutioning customer centric role.

The successful candidate will:

· be educated to Level 3 standard (for example A-Level, HND/C) or equivalent;

· understand digital product management methodologies including user centred design and user interaction design;

· have a good understanding of gathering requirements, UX analysis techniques, for example: user research, business process testing, user stories and customer journey mapping; have a good understanding of change management techniques and have delivered change in an organisation;

· have experience matrix managing multi-disciplinary delivery teams;

· be able to work with uncertainty in a fast paced environment, and still deliver results; have experience of delivering and continuously improving high quality products which deliver value to both the customer and the business;

· have experience of prioritising, planning and delivering work successfully in a project or product environment, product lifecycle management, and using the Agile practice framework; and

· have ongoing professional development in a customer centric digital and technology environment, so are knowledgeable about advancements and opportunities.

What can we offer you?

As a North Yorkshire Council employee, you will benefit from a comprehensive total reward package including a generous local government pension scheme and flexible working options. More information can be found here: Total rewards | North Yorkshire Council

Please note that:

· This is a career graded role and we are able to offer at the higher level for the right candidate. Responsibilities and competencies are detailed in the job description.

· As this role has arisen from a restructure, an immediate start date is possible.

Contact:

For more information about our role please contact Anne-Louise Arkle, [email protected], 01609 533050.

Key Dates:

Closing Date: midnight, 19th February 2025

Interview Date: week commencing 3rd March 2025

Key Documents:

Job Description

Total Rewards

NYC are committed to directly recruiting staff and will not accept applications nor services from agency suppliers in respect of our vacancies.

We are committed to meeting the needs of our diverse community and aim to have a workforce reflecting this diversity. We are also committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

North Yorkshire Councils’ purpose is to deliver services and facilities to the diverse residents and visitors of North Yorkshire. To ensure we deliver inclusive services we strive to have a diverse workforce where everybody can be themselves by respecting differences and embedding equality of opportunity. We celebrate diversity and recognise each other’s contributions, we therefore welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds.

North Yorkshire Council (NYC) advertise vacancies on behalf of schools and external organisations (third parties) in North Yorkshire. NYC are not responsible for the recruitment/employment practices of third parties and accept no liability in relation to the vacancy and any subsequent recruitment/employment processes. Enquiries regarding the vacancy or practices should be made directly with the third party.

North Yorkshire Council are committed to the health and safety of our employees and of others including the general public. It has a responsibility to ensure employees who hold a position that is deemed to be safety critical as it requires the performance of duties which are directly related to the safe operation or security of a facility, piece of equipment or vehicle, handling of chemicals or work at height or in confined spaces and which, if not performed properly, could result in a serious safety risk or environmental hazard to employees, a facility or the general public , do not attend work whilst under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Individuals offered employment with North Yorkshire Council will be subject to the Workplace Substance Misuse policy. For safety critical roles as detailed above, random alcohol and drug testing may take place during the course of employment.

It is a criminal offence for people who are barred from working in Regulated Activity (under the Safeguarding and Vulnerable Groups Act 2006) to apply for roles that require them to work unsupervised with adults at risk.

We are committed to the inclusion, safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults at risk*