Product Owner

Permanent role

Location: Cardiff & remote (hybrid)

Salary: £50,000 - £59,877 per annum + excellent benefits

Start: ASAP

Role Overview

A Product Owner is required for our utilities sector client to be accountable for ensuring that their Specialist Applications initiatives continue to align with their business strategy and best practices.

You will be part of the Collaboration Centre Specialist Applications team and ideally possess expertise of geospatial solutions as this would be advantageous (ideally within the Esri stack).

The Collaboration centre is a critical component of the clients IT Services operating model and technology strategy; which brings together the historically separate worlds of change / project delivery and IT service and operations into one multidisciplinary team responsible for the complete end to end business service for a given technology platform or group of applications.

Essential Skills & Experience required:

SCRUM Certified Product Owner

Experience working within an agile team environment

Experience of working in an application product base environment and managing requirements and product backlog.

Experience of working with Geospatial technologies (Esri stack would be desirable)

Experience of working as a Business Analyst/Product Owner role.

Responsibilities include:

To ensure that their Specialist Applications Collaboration Centre initiatives continues to align with business strategy and best practices.

To ensure that the team continually releases innovative products to relevant business areas to support the achievement of their business goals, drive efficiencies and help the the business areas to provide excellent customer service.

The Product Owner role is accountable for ensuring that the initiatives continues to align with business strategy and best practices. You will also ensure that the team continually releases innovative products to relevant business areas to support the achievement of the business goals, drive efficiencies and help the business areas provide excellent customer service.

To engage with all business areas to identify business problems that can be solved through enterprise grade, specialist applications. This will require not only an in-depth knowledge of applications, technology and concepts, but a deep understanding of the business and the challenges you may face. You will translate these problems into requirements aligning with best practice and standards which can be delivered by their technical teams.

You will work with stakeholders all over the business, from director level to front line staff, technical and non-technical and be comfortable communicating confidently at all levels, facilitating discussion and negotiation priorities with restricted resources.

• Define and implement stakeholder management strategies to ensure that all business stakeholders, from all areas of the business remain engaged and that they are continually informed of progress of products and features on the specialist applications backlog schedule.
• Develop a process by which to assess priority of demand based on forecast business benefit to ensure that the client is delivering initiatives in the correct order, that delivers the most value for money for the business
• Lead and challenge business stakeholders to define a Minimum Viable Products (MVP) for initiatives so that they only delivery high value requirements and minimise wasted effort.
• Act as a Subject Matter Expert across the business and lead the organisation in defining application principles and procedures and ensuring that these are adhered to.
• Represent the applications team at internal and external forums.
• Lead and coach others on Agile ways of working and principles to ensure that business value is delivered often and value for money is achieved.
• Challenge stakeholders on their behaviors when they do not align with these principles.
• Lead on implementation Go/No Go decisions during deployment to Production, and sign-off of Test Exit Reports.
• Managing all demands/requests through ServiceNow and Azure DevOps for the specialist applications backlog.
• Contribute to Scrum ceremonies and take ownership of Product Owner Scrum Artefacts
• Work with the team to help resolve issues and impediments that would result in not delivering on the sprint commitments and customer expectations

To apply for this role please call Joanne Stanley - Tel: 01675 468926 or email: joanne.stanley@certes.co.uk

Certes IT Service Solutions welcome applications from all sections of the community and from people with diverse experience and backgrounds

No job description added

Network Architect (SC Cleared)

Duration: 3 Weeks

Rate: £500 - £600 per day

Location: Remote working

IR35 Status: Outside

Start: ASAP

A Network Architect (SC Cleared) is required for our public sector client to provide high/low level design and the technology skill set required is Firewalls (Cisco ASA, Palo Alto) Networking, Meraki Switches.

Role Overview: The client has a specific Science Division which was a separate business; however as part of the integration of the business into the wider client, a new science network needs to be created to enable research and experimentation to be undertaken.  Due to the nature of this work, it needs to be separate from the client via a firewall.  The client already has a Palo Alto firewall in place separating the client from the Science Division, hence this can be reused.  The firewall is currently in chain with a Cisco ASA Firepower which should be removed.

The objective is to provide a design that removes the ASA but maintains routing of existing services across the Palo Alto whilst introducing the new Science Network with rules in place to let science equipment transmit data to where it will be appropriately processed within the Client's network. Options would include users' laptops / storage within the Client's network or Production network / development network Azure Virtual Desktops

As the Network Architect (SC Cleared) you will be required to provide high/low level design; this will include providing a design for the removal of a Cisco ASA that is in line with a Palo Alto firewall, ensuring services are maintained and then introducing a new Science Network that will be used for experiments at the Clients Science Centre. Rules will then need to be put in place to allow flow from this network on a device-by-device basis so that each piece of equipment can send data to the part of the client's network most appropriate for its processing.

Key outcomes/deliverables will include:

Removal of Cisco ASA

Continued provision of services via existing Palo Alto

Creation of a new Science Network

High/Low level design to cover the solution

High level conceptual design can be provided

*Due to the nature of the role; candidates need to possess current SC Level Security Clearance*

Certes IT Service Solutions welcome applications from all sections of the community and from people with diverse experience and backgrounds

To apply to this role please call Joanne Stanley - Tel: 01675 468926 or email: joanne.stanley@certes.co.uk

Oracle HCM Specialist

Duration: 8 Months

Location: Remote working

Rate: £270 per day

IR35 Status:   Inside IR35

Start: ASAP

We require an Oracle HCM Specialist for our public sector client as the objective of their Finance Project is to stabilise Oracle and resolve all issues. 

The candidate needs to hit the ground running, lead on mini projects – scope and work with stakeholders to resolve issues, provide regular project updates and progress reports with clear timelines.

Essential Skills & Experience required:

As the Oracle HCM Specialist you will possess experience of the following modules:

Financials GL/AP/AR/C&B/Projects/HCM procurement EPM – Knowledge of reporting.

You will be experienced in Oracle end to end and possess 5-10 years’ experience.

You will be comfortable challenging the status quo, working with stakeholders including their external consultants.

Previous experience of working within the government/public sector would be desirable

To apply for this role please call Joanne Stanley - Tel: 01675 468926 or email your CV to: joanne.stanley@certes.co.uk

Certes IT Service Solutions welcome applications from all sections of the community and from people with diverse experience and backgrounds

Service Transition Manager

Duration: 6 Months

Rate: £410 per day

Location: Milton Keynes & remote (hybrid working)

IR35 Status: Outside

Start: ASAP

A Service Transition Manager is required for our Government Client to be responsible for coordinating day-to-day Service Transition activities, making recommendations on go-live, early-life support and service acceptance.

You will ensure established Service Transition methods and procedures are utilised for efficient and prompt handling of all requests to the Service Transition team.

Manage the transition of products or services into BAU service, ensuring they meet the acceptance criteria and be responsible for ensuring that the acceptance criteria is clear and covers all aspects and requirements provided by IT operations  teams.

Essential skills and experience required:

As the Service Transition Manager you will possess previous experience in a Service Transition role and of working on a large and complex IT estate

ITIL experience 

Experience of working with the ITSM tool ServiceNow (desirable)

Project management knowledge (desirable)

Possess experience of operating IT systems within government environments (desirable)

Demonstrable record of delivering results and meeting targets.

Excellent problem solving and research skills, including the ability to analyse facts, interpret data and make expert recommendations to stakeholders and ensure that key results are understood at all levels

Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to communicate clearly at all user levels (internal and external customers)

Ability to take initiative, identify and respond to service transition requirements; managing workload effectively to ensure tight deadlines are met

Excellent analytical, problem solving, decision making and influencing skills

**Please be advised this role will require you to be based on the client site three days per week**

Responsibilities include:

• Can work independently, work well under pressure and is capable of delivering accurate analysis, clear advice and recommendations (in an appropriate context and at a desired level of detail) to the Client's senior leadership team, customers, suppliers and other Government Departmental stakeholders.
• Have strong management capability, business analysis, process awareness and a service-orientated mind set in order to deliver the control, accuracy, consistency and quality required by Technology and Operations.
• Responsible for the controlled addition, amendment or removal of customer IT Services into and from live operations which includes the following activities:
• Maintain strong relationships and perform an advisory role with multiple internal stakeholders to ensure ongoing process adherence for service transition, which can be measured and fed back to relevant teams.
• Plan, prioritise work and coordinate resources to ensure that requirements of the Service Design are realised in Operations.
• On some occasions it will be necessary to provide coaching to the resolver teams in how best to adopt the new service.
• With a good understanding of the service pipeline, research technical training requirements and advise resolver teams.
• Coordinate service transition activities across projects, suppliers and operational resolver teams.
• Act as a point of contact for the customer as required and manage wider internal/external stakeholders across the business throughout the service transition process, representing the Service Transition Team.
• Identify and perform in-depth diagnosis on complex service transition issues, applying problem solving expertise and knowledge to make decisions, negotiate improvements and implementation plans.
• Conduct regular reviews of transition activity with Operational support teams, reviewing improvement suggestions, making recommendations and through regular mentoring sessions implement improvement steps.
• Ensure Service transition metrics/measures are aligned with Operational policies and objectives and accurately reflected in Management Information / internal KPI reports.
• Maintain the Service Transition Dashboard ensuring clear visibility of new, amended or disabled/retired services.
• Ensuring service transition compliance with all related Technology and Operations and/or wider Clients Policies and highlighting where gaps exist via the risk register to ensure senior visibility, effectively contribute to Continual Service Improvement process.

  Certes IT Service Solutions welcome applications from all sections of the community and from people with diverse experience and backgrounds

To apply for this role please email your CV to: joanne.stanley@certes.co.uk