Safety Operations Product Manager

Salary: £60,000 up to £69,524 dependent upon experience

Contract Type: Permanent – Full Time

Security Level: CTC

Location: Gatwick Office

Visa Restrictions: This position does not offer visa sponsorship.

We are the UK's aviation and aerospace regulator and recognised as a world leader in its field. Our activities are diverse, enabling the aviation industry to meet the highest safety standards, and we pride ourselves on our ability to adapt to the constantly evolving aviation environment.

The Role

Safety Airspace & Regulation Group (SARG) are seeking a dedicated and strategic Product Manager to join an existing Product team to lead and guide the evolution of a high volume of IT systems. This role is pivotal in driving the maturity of these systems into a best-practice product operating model. The successful candidate will be expected to apply experience, proven methodologies and frameworks to enhance product management practices, while maintaining a pragmatic approach that balances quality with budgetary constraints. This is a challenging opportunity that will require commitment, resilience, and a strong focus on delivering value without over-engineering solutions.

The SARG Safety Operations Product Manager will review and group these systems to implement an appropriate product and service model, balancing oversight, governance, P&L opportunities, capacity risks, and safety priorities.

This role oversees a team of existing Product Owners and their teams, establishes agile delivery best practices, and ensures strategic alignment across organisational priorities (Airspace Modernisation, Future of Flight, Information Services Department technical strategy, Data Strategy, AI Strategy, Customer Experience & Modernisation, Funding Structure Reform) to maximise income, reduce costs, and improve customer experience.

The role involves liaising with industry and government departments, managing the overall Safety Operations Product roadmap and P&L contribution, prioritising work and cross-team resources, handling multi-year budget planning, creating business cases for new products, and managing supplier escalations.

Core Accountabilities

• Lead team delivery and iterative service improvement
• Oversee multiple product roadmaps aligned with CAA strategic direction (IT, Customer Experience & Modernisation, AI, Data, Air Space Modernisation, Funding Structure Reform, cross-government etc)
• Direct line management including training and career development
• Bridge stakeholders, users, and agile teams
• Establish benefit measurement methods and ensure value for money
• Track innovation revenue/costs and manage budget cycles
• Define and iterate compelling multi-product vision
• Build, prioritise, and review product backlog based on user value and dependencies
• Ensure user stories have acceptance criteria and testing standards
• Oversee demos, retrospectives, and progress reporting
• Ensure compliance with Government Digital Service Standards
• Manage 3rd party contracts and supplier relationships
• Liaise with industry and government departments (DFT, DSIT, MAA, MOJ, MOD)
• Coordinate with FSI Technical Strategy Team on technology changes
• Manage Safety Ops roadmap, P&L analysis, and portfolio impacts
• Managing agile methodology in a larger waterfall environment
• Prioritise cross-team resources and multi-year financial planning
• Create business cases for new products or major changes
• Review and implement legislative changes (Managing Public Money, Procurement Law)
• Integrate legislative and safety changes into roadmaps (AAIB, ICAO, Airprox, Safety Plans) and report against KPIs

About You

Minimum essential requirements for the role:

• Experience as a Product Owner, Systems Owner or Product Manager previously
• Certificated in, or working towards a certification in project management, SaFe, Agile, SCRUM, LEAN or Kanban.
• A good commercial awareness and understanding of product P&L management.
• An ability to think strategically and work comfortably with ambiguity.
• A fast and committed learner.
• A strong communicator who is equally comfortable communicating high level messages to senior managers as working in the detail with the delivery teams.
• Energy and enthusiasm to set the vision and inspire the delivery team to achieve it.
• A strong decision maker who can work with ambiguity and leverage different techniques dependent on the situation and stage in the delivery.

Desirable skills for the role:

• Technically proficient having operated in a digital role previously
• Experience of working in Agile teams and applying Agile Delivery principles.
• Experience of working in Agile teams within Waterfall environments.
• Experience or knowledge of user research techniques and how to articulate a user journey.
• Experience of working within the software development lifecycle.
• Understanding of modern digital platforms that can be used to delivery large scale public facing services.
• Understanding of the challenges of integrating legacy technologies with modern platforms.
• Knowledge of the aviation industry and regulatory context.
• Contract and 3rd party supplier management – including SOW’s, milestones, CCN’s etc.
• Line management experience.
• A passion for developing public facing digital services with an outstanding user experience.
• A collaborative team player who is empathetic to team members and end users.

Additional Information

For many appointments within the CAA, these roles require access to operationally sensitive infrastructure and/or Nationally Protected information. For these roles the post holders must undergo National Security Vetting and achieve the appropriate level of clearance.

To be vetted we will usually expect a reasonable period of residency in the UK so that meaningful checks can be undertaken. For this role this will need to be 3 years.

If you do not meet these requirements, we may not be able to accept your application.

For more information on CTC clearance please visit - Vetting explained - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The CAA values high ethical standards and personal integrity among employees. If invited for interview you will be asked to complete a declaration of interest.

Relocation & Property

The CAA will be relocating from Aviation House (Our Gatwick Office) to new premises in a few years’ time. Our move is driven by strategic, operational and environmental considerations.

We will be moving to a new local home, up to a 15-mile radius of Aviation House, to minimise disruption for our valued colleagues and customers.

We are now working with colleagues and visitors to understand what we need in our new office, before we start our property search. We will sell Aviation House and land, vacate the site and move to new premises, but we do not expect to move before 2028

Inclusivity

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and celebrate our diversity ensuring all are backgrounds included here at the CAA. As a member of the Disability Confident scheme, applicants who meet the minimum criteria for a role with us will be guaranteed an interview.

Our Benefits

We offer a range of excellent benefits such as:

• Flexible & hybrid working arrangements available
• 28 days annual leave + public holidays (additional 5 days leave purchase scheme)
• Generous pension scheme (Up to 12% employer contribution)
• Wellbeing Room at Gatwick
• Mental Health and Suicide First Aiders
• Employee Assistance Programme, talking therapies and neurodiversity support via Occupational Health & access to Headspace for colleagues and 5 dependents
• Free onsite gym at Gatwick or discounted gym membership for London
• EV charging points
• Employee Development courses internally and via Skillsoft

Our Values

Do The Right Thing, Never Stop Learning, Build Collaborative Relationships, Respect Everyone – For more information please Click Here

Closing Date: Monday 24th November 2025

Interview Date: W/C Monday 1st or 8th December 2025

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

No recruitment agencies please.