Overview

Predominantly known for the role Cafcass has in supporting 140,000+ individuals and their families every year and ensuring their voice is heard in family proceedings, what may be less well known is our targeted use of technology as a key factor in ensuring we are at the forefront of our sector. A digital organisation rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted in 2024, we continually invest to drive performance and efficiency; we have a wholly cloud-based technology stack that is essential in supporting and enabling a diverse, flexible and highly mobile workforce. Central to this role are our Cafcass case management applications and related products. These IT applications are fundamental to our work with children and families, capturing all related data and documents, and are at the forefront of developments in practice and practice improvements with system updates and releases taking place at least quarterly.

Location, location, location

Our IT team is based all across England and so we are genuinely flexible on your location. However, there may be some very occasional requirements to travel, and we know many colleagues welcome the chance to work in a truly hybrid way that offers the best of working from home and in the office. Therefore, it may be helpful if you are located close to locations such as London and Leeds where many of our IT team are technically based.

Responsibilities

• If you join us as Junior Product Owner (internally known as Product Assistant) you will work closely with external partners, be line managed by the Test and Release Manager and work with colleagues across IT, including the Senior Product Owner and the wider organisation to: Provide full administrative support for the management and documentation of iterations, stories and the backlog.
• Support with the planning, testing and implementation of product releases, including the creation of test scripts and rigorous user acceptance testing (UAT), communications and change management.
• Capture and track lessons learned, known issues and improvement actions.
• Oversee enquiries coming into relevant mailboxes, facilitating timely responses to application queries and issues.
• Liaise with internal teams and external providers to identify root causes of issues.
• Support the Senior Product Owner in the management of the product backlog day-to-day and support the effective capture and documentation of functional and non-functional requirements as use cases/user stories.
• Engage with all stakeholders to ensure high-quality, multi-channel training materials are available.

The above is just a flavour, and we encourage you to read the job description to gain a greater appreciation of what the role will entail. We are looking to move forward with this recruitment process quickly and will review applications and be in touch as soon as we can. The recruitment process may be influenced by the quality and quantity of applications and is likely to include two interview stages as well as relevant assessments. It is our intention to complete interviews in the week commencing 29th September, but if we can move quicker we will aim to do so. We also reserve the right to extend the deadline to apply if this will allow us to attract additional applicants. Should we do this, it will not automatically mean anyone who has already applied has been discounted; it simply expands the range of candidates we can select from.

We look forward to receiving your application. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check. See our vetting charter. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard checks.

Requirements

• Foundation level IT qualification or equivalent is desirable.
• Demonstrable experience of working with enterprise-level case management solutions.
• Demonstrable experience of providing administrative support, including the effective capture, documentation and management of detailed information.
• Experience of providing advice and guidance.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.

Benefits

• Generous holidays - 28 days holiday (including three for Christmas) rising to 33 days with five years continuous service, which could include your current employment. You can also sell any you do not need.
• Excellent pension - 18.1% employer contribution to Local Government Pension scheme, potentially building on your current pension.
• Flexible working - Hybrid working, with options to suit personal preferences; flexible working requests (e.g. 9-day fortnights) are considered.
• Exclusive discounts - Generous discounts with a wide range of companies covering leisure, technology, travel, personal finance, fashion and supermarkets.
• Professional fees - Social Work England membership fees reimbursed for social work colleagues.
• Car leasing schemes - Our own scheme for colleagues who travel a significant number of business miles, plus an open scheme through a third party.