IT Application Product Owner

What if you could work with remarkable people on extraordinary things? What if the end result was something a little bit special? What if your role was mission critical?

For nearly 70 years, AWE has been at the forefront of nuclear weapons research and development. We have a critical mission: to provide the warheads for the UK’s ultimate deterrent – Trident. We also use our unique skills to provide wider UK government with counter-terrorism and nuclear threat reduction solutions.

It takes a special sort of person to work at AWE. What if that person was you?

Information Services and Security have a vital role to play in a crucial national mission.  We’re here to enable the organisation to deliver through the use of technology.  As AWE transforms itself to meet the needs of the UK’s next-generation nuclear deterrent, we need to adapt to deliver data-driven decision making, flexible and future-proofed IT services, adaptable cyber security, support to a multi-billion Pound building programme, and many more.

The scale might be daunting to some, but you’ll find it stimulating.  We’ve got a long journey that we’ve only just started and we’re looking for motivated people who can take us in the right direction.  Your role will contribute directly to that shared mission.  We won’t deceive you, in some areas we’re starting from a low base, but within ten years this organisation will look very different, and you can help make that happen.  This is a role where you’ll contribute to a legacy of national security for decades to come.  So come and join us.

An exciting opportunity has arisen at AWE for an experienced IT product owner/applications manager who will be responsible for leading the direction of our HR, payroll, and learning applications and delivering an excellent IT service to the business. As a key member of our Information Services Enterprise Applications team, you will be a trusted partner to the business in providing subject matter expertise and thought leadership on the implementation and development of these applications. The role will require strong collaboration with our HR and Business Management teams to be at the helm of how AWE exploits technology in the running of our enterprise. To achieve this, you will manage staff and external resources to deliver against your application roadmap; this is a technical leadership role.

This role would suit a candidate who:

• Has an application technical leadership, product ownership, service delivery and/or business engagement/analysis background
• Exhibits a real passion for the potential of technology in business applications
• An effective communicator who can persuade others and influence decision making
• Challenges the status quo and is not afraid to seek innovation
• Enjoys building strong relationships with others, to drive change in a highly regulated environment
• Has a strong customer focus
• Is a self-starter and actively takes ownership of issues through to resolution
• Is a strong leader, able to motivate a team to achieve success

Location – Reading area

Package - £48,250 - £60,000 subject to skills and experience

As part of our People Promise, AWE (one of the best 25 big companies to work for in the UK) has a range of benefits to suit you. These include:

• Time to recharge your batteries with 270 hours of annual leave (plus every other Friday off work)
• Consideration for flexible working arrangements so that your work may fit in with your lifestyle. Just let us know on your application if you wish to work part time
• Opportunities for Professional Career Development that include funding for the annual membership of a relevant professional body, access to mentors and training
• Employee Assistance Programme and Occupational Health Services
• A generous defined contribution Group Personal Pension (we will pay between 9% and 13% of your pensionable pay depending on your own contribution)
• Life Assurance
• Discounts – access to savings on a wide range of everyday spending
• Special Leave Policy including paid time off for volunteering, public service (including reserve forces) and caring for your family
• A host of voluntary & core benefits to suit your health and wellbeing – more information available on our careers site

Key Accountabilities:

• Delivering a resilient service to the business that fulfils user requirements and service level agreements
• Implement application changes in line with IS/IT processes, procedures, and policies to budget, time, and scope
• Maintain the application roadmaps with the Senior Application Services Manager and Head of Enterprise Applications
• Manage the application change backlog
• Communicate with key business stakeholders to ensure solutions meet expectations
• IT functional consultancy for the applications
• Management of resources to support the application
• Maintain the IT application configuration baseline and system architecture in accordance with corporate IS/IT specifications

Key Responsibilities:

• Work collaboratively with the business relationship managers and customers to prioritise and schedule work
• Maintain strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, ensuring excellent levels of engagement, collaboration, and forward planning
• Contribute to budget planning
• The Company may require you to fulfil any other reasonable duties aligned to your position from time to time in line with business needs

Essential skills, qualifications and experience:

• Delivering innovative IT solutions at enterprise scale.
• IT service, change, and application lifecycle management
• IT environment management (development, staging, production, etc)
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to convey appropriate detail to technical and non-technical audiences at all levels of seniority
• Business relationship and stakeholder management
• Vendor and contract management
• People management and leadership

Desirable skills, qualifications and experience:

• Implementation and use of the of the Workday platform, especially the Human Capital Management (HCM) and Payroll functional areas
• Implementation and use of the of the Saba Cloud e-learning platform
• Integration of HR/payroll applications with other information systems such as an ERP, including data flows, master data management, etc
• Data mastery; surfacing data for business intelligence
• The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the context of human capital management
• ITIL Service Management certification
• Working within a SIAM framework
• Managing IT in a secure, complex, and highly regulated environment
• Finance management
• Relevant software vendor training and certifications

All Candidates must be willing and able to obtain and maintain the necessary security clearance for the role.

Please note that you must be a British Citizen to apply for a role with us.

Our ambition is to create workplaces where we recognise and celebrate differences, encourage diverse contributions and our employees feel able to be themselves at work. We strive to create a genuine culture of openness and inclusion and encourage diverse applicants. Any inclusion information you provide us will be used to encourage and support you through the application process and will be held only for this purpose in accordance with GDPR.