Product Delivery Manager

Fixed Term / Secondment (12 months)

Full Time

£47,878 - £56,326 per annum

Location: Chelmsford*

Working Style: Anywhere worker

Closing Date: Sun 28th June (23:59)

*This is a hybrid-working role contractually based in Chelmsford. You will work from the Chelmsford office at least one day per week, depending on business need.

Essex Digital Service is at the forefront of supporting Local Government Reorganisation across Essex - shaping how services are delivered not just within Essex County Council, but across the entire public sector landscape. We’re building digital foundations and shared capabilities that make it easier, safer, and more joined‑up for residents and colleagues to get things done, wherever they are in Essex.

We design and deliver modern, user‑centred digital solutions that work seamlessly across organisations, enabling better outcomes in social care, education, transport, the environment and beyond. Our vision is to create digitally empowered, 21st‑century public services that operate across boundaries, strengthen collaboration, and deliver lasting value for every community in Essex.

The Product and Delivery team provide product leadership and direction for Essex County Council. They develop a bold product vision, translating this into a roadmap of prioritised deliverables, planning and managing the different phases of the product delivery lifecycle, iterating a product over time to meet user needs, and ensuring products are built effectively, on time and to budget, setting high standards to ensure products meet user needs.

This role is accountable for shaping and managing digital product delivery, using an agile approach to deliver the Council’s strategic aims. The postholder will take full responsibility for the planning and delivery of work, engaging and coaching stakeholders in Agile skills and actively participating in all phases of the project, advocating for user centred design, open data and transparent governance.

Role responsibilities

• Lead a multidisciplinary Agile delivery team working on products that enable Council services to improve outcomes for residents and reduce costs.
• Use Agile methodology and apply an agile mindset to all aspects of your work. Create a fast-paced, evolving environment and use an iterative method and flexible approach to enable rapid delivery.
• Lead the collaborative, dynamic planning process, understanding the environment and prioritising the most important or high value tasks against the capacity and capability of the team.
• Optimise the delivery flow of teams, actively addressing the most complicated risks, issues and dependencies, including where ownership exists outside the team or no clear ownership exists, and identify innovative ways to unblock issues to maintain delivery momentum.
• Allocate responsibilities and assign packages of work to team members, ensuring that work packages are aligned with the particular skills and abilities of individuals whilst managing the rhythms and rituals of a multidisciplinary team, helping the team collaborate, communicate and learn throughout delivery.
• Effectively forecast and deliver work within defined costs and timescales against an agreed statement of works, monitoring and accounting for expenditure and making early identification of where costs may exceed the planned budget, providing timely reports, ensuring that all financial targets can be met.
• Manage stakeholder expectations, moderating discussions about high risk and complexity aligning decisions with the organisation’s risk appetite and standards. Ensure that all activities align with organisational goals, deliver agreed outcomes and provide business value.
• Take responsibility for the effective release of new products and services, taking into consideration deployment, capability deployment (training and engagement activities) and any business activities required to integrate new products and services into production to ensure the smooth introduction of changes.
• Contribute to the development and selection of appropriate design standards, methods and tools and ensure they are applied effectively and that all work is documented using the appropriate standards, methods and tools.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Educated to Degree level or equivalent in experience in a relevant subject.
• Experience of delivering digital products/prototypes within a complex and diverse context.
• Evidence of delivering and using agile methods balancing multiple priorities, dealing with ambiguity and evidencing impact.
• Evidence of championing agile delivery methods and principles.
• Evidences a knowledge of the digital landscape and Information Governance principles.
• Experience of working with diverse multi-disciplinary teams within a complex environment with proven track record of developing others.
• Excellent communication skills with an ability to influence and motivate teams and partners.
• Experience of creating and proactively leading cultural and operational change initiatives in a complex environment.
• Knowledge and practical application of the Government Service Standards, Government Accessibility Regulations, Technology Code of Practise and Information Governance principles and an understanding of how these can apply to ECC.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.

To read more about us please visit: Corporate Services - Working for Essex

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 March 2026, the Government announced that councils in Greater Essex will be reorganised into five new unitary authorities from April 2028. In addition to this, Greater Essex has been accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on our careers site: devolution and local government reorganisation (LGR).

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.

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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