Version 1

Principal Product Manager

London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Edinburgh, Belfast, United Kingdom · Hybrid · Full-time

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About the role

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EmployerVersion 1
LocationLondon, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Edinburgh, Belfast, United Kingdom
Work styleHybrid
Employment typeFull-time
Employer posted2 months ago

At Version 1, we are solving complex, meaningful problems that deliver real impact.

Working with leading public and private sector organisations across the UK and Ireland, we deliver important, real-world outcomes. For example, we help ensure prisoners are released at the right time, and reduce the cost of recruiting teachers for schools.

Our Principal Product Managers sit at the heart of these transformations — operating at the most senior levels of our client organisations, shaping strategy, and making sure that large, complex programmes stay pointed in the right direction.

Here's what that looks like day to day:

Define and hold the vision — set a clear direction at programme level, reinforce it consistently across teams, stakeholders, and suppliers, and protect it from the entropy that affects every large programme.
Own the organisational roadmap — plan, prioritise, and communicate across many teams simultaneously, surface and resolve cross-organisational dependencies, and make the hard calls about sequencing when everything feels urgent.
Frame problems before solutions — continuously discover, ask the right questions, and ensure the programme is solving the right problem at the right level.
Champion the user — bring real user insight into every conversation and every decision, ensuring it shapes priorities and trade-offs even when operating at pace and scale.
Govern suppliers and partners — influence organisations you don't control, hold them to shared goals, and resolve tensions constructively.
Navigate with diplomacy — handle difficult conversations across civil servant teams, operational stakeholders, and other suppliers with tact. This environment involves competing priorities and strong opinions; you know how to challenge and hold a position without damaging the relationships that matter.
Collaborate openly — work across disciplines — design, engineering, data, policy — as true problem-solving partners.
Facilitate with purpose — run workshops and meetings that lead to clear decisions and shared understanding.
Shape and secure incoming work — stay close to budget-holders' needs: spotting high-value opportunities, crafting compelling propositions, and shaping the team needed to win and deliver great work.
Drive progress — take ownership and ensure the team gets over the line.
Deliver with integrity — do the right thing, including having difficult conversations when needed, so we can proudly stand behind our work.

Show full description

This role requires eligibility for Security Check (SC) clearance.

To be eligible, you must have the right to work in the UK and will have resided in the UK for at least 5 years

Who You Are

You operate at programme scale. You've held a vision across organisations, managed roadmaps that span dozens of teams, and navigated the kind of senior stakeholder politics that derail less experienced people.
You've earned credibility fast. In complex environments — where priorities shift, suppliers need governing, and senior stakeholders need to trust you before you've had time to prove yourself — you know how to show up and get traction.
You build and lead high-performing teams, solve the right problems to drive outcomes, and bring clarity and alignment through storytelling.
You lead with curiosity and empathy, asking the right questions that get to the heart of a problem. You create environments where diverse perspectives are heard and the best ideas can emerge, wherever they come from.
You make decisions and set direction. You balance user needs, business priorities, and technical constraints to make clear, timely calls — particularly in uncertainty. You focus effort where it will have the greatest impact and bring others with you through those decisions.

How You Operate

We believe great product management is about outcomes, not outputs.

When working with our clients, expectations are often aligned to SFIA and DDaT frameworks. Experience working in these environments is desirable, but not essential.

At Version 1, we believe in providing our employees with a comprehensive benefits package that prioritises their wellbeing, professional growth, and financial stability.

Share in our success with our Quarterly Performance-Related Profit Share Scheme, where employees collectively benefit from a share of our company's profits
Strong Career Progression & mentorship coaching through our Strength in Balance & Leadership schemes with a dedicated quarterly Pathways Career Development programme
Flexible/remote working, Version 1 is tremendously understanding of life events and people’s individual circumstances and offer flexibility to help achieve a healthy work life balance
Financial Wellbeing initiatives including; Version 1 Pension with a 5% employee-matched contribution, Private Healthcare Cover, Life Assurance, Financial advice and an Employee Discount scheme
Employee Wellbeing schemes including Gym Discounts, Bike to Work, Fitness classes, Mindfulness Workshops, Employee Assistance Programme and much more.
24 days holiday allowance plus Public Holidays, enhanced maternity/paternity leave, marriage/civil partnership leave and special leave policies
Educational assistance, incentivised certifications, and accreditations, including AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, and Red Hat
Reward schemes including Version 1’s Annual Excellence Awards & quarterly Star Awards.
Environment, Social and Community First initiatives allow you to get involved in local fundraising and development opportunities as part of fostering our diversity, inclusion and belonging schemes.

And many more exciting benefits… drop us a note to find out more.

Version 1 is an equal opportunities employer

We are committed to building a diverse, inclusive and respectful workplace where everyone feels valued and able to thrive. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and lived experiences, and we value the different perspectives people bring including those shaped by disability and neurodiversity.

We want every candidate to have a positive and accessible recruitment experience. If you need reasonable adjustments at any stage of the process, please contact Ashley.Smith@version1.com at Version 1. We will consider all requests carefully, respectfully and confidentially.

#LI-AS1 #LI-Hybrid

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