Product Manager/Design Lead

We are an organisation committed to world class farming and land management for the environment, food, and rural resilience. We are a voice for farmers and land managers, we encourage sustainable and profitable farming, and are a delivery agency for the 25 Year Environment Plan.

We help agricultural and rural communities to create a better place to live, we achieve this through:

• delivering economic growth
• delivering environmental sustainability
• supporting agriculture
• enabling innovation
• facilitating community activities

Every service we currently offer is changing as we seize the opportunity to develop a new approach for farming and land management having left the European Union. We will support farmers and land managers through agricultural transition, seeking to place British farming at the forefront of environmental good practice, supporting net zero and enhancing our beautiful natural environment. Supporting our customers through these changes is critical. We care about agricultural and rural Communities and the environment.

We understand our customers and we are best placed to support them. We are integral to Defra’s work on the Agricultural Transition Plan which will be key to farmers:

• running sustainable businesses that don’t need to rely on public subsidy
• managing their whole business in a way that delivers profitable food production and the recovery of nature, fusing the best modern technology available today with the rediscovery of the traditional art of good farm husbandry
• being able to access public money to help them deliver environmental and animal welfare outcomes on the land they manage, and help their businesses become more productive and sustainable
• meeting clear, relevant and outcome-focused legal standards that champion UK food internationally, prevent environmental harm, protect biosecurity, and protect animal welfare

We are a regional organisation with a presence in 27 counties and many of our people live and work in the communities they serve, giving us a unique perspective of our customers’ needs. We are a resilient and valuable organisation which can be flexible to meet the needs of both our customers and the policy makers. We have a bright future where sustainability and innovation will be at the centre of what we do to help our agricultural and rural communities create a better place to live.

Further information can be found on the Rural Payments Agency website www.rpa.gov.uk.

As a Product Manager/Design Lead within the Business Transformation Directorate you will work closely with the business to lead and shape the design for large scale and complex business transformation initiatives as well as smaller scale change to help us improve the services we offer for our customers.

You will work closely with operational delivery teams, policy, and technology functions, developing trusted relationships. You will lead on interpreting, translating, and impact assessing strategic initiatives from a cross cutting business architecture and design perspective.

You will be able to articulate a clear vision and purpose as to why we are developing a new feature, service, or process, helping to engage and motivate our teams and stakeholders.

You will be able to understand technology trends, be comfortable learning about them, and be able to understand how they can drive innovation. You will have the ability to consider different technical solutions and consider them in balance with business needs.

You will work closely with other Product Managers/Design Leads and provide strong leadership, mentoring, and coaching alongside prioritising continued professional development to a community of 80 business analysts and designers working across several diverse work areas.

You will be expected to demonstrate:

• a strategic mindset – facilitating collaboration, interpreting strategic context, making links across directorates, and the change lifecycle.
• a structured approach to problem solving – thinking logically about challenges and opportunities, being able to categorise and evaluate results to simplify opportunities.
• attention to detail – addressing challenges and opportunities systematically and collaboratively, enabling choice and high-quality decision making.
• accountability – for the development of a professional suite of design products, assuring quality, thorough analysis and attention to detail, and alignment to the change lifecycle.