CV
Department for Business and Trade
Head of Profession: Product Management
September 2022 - August 2023
UK Health Security Agency
Interim Head of Product
March 2022 - June 2022
Supporting the transition of the product function to a post-Test and Trace / Covid emergency operation to something more sustainable and moving to a staffing model focused on permanent rather than contract staff.
Foundry4
Product Director
October 2020 - February 2022
Notbinary merged with three other companies from our parent group and I led the ‘product management’ practice with clients including the Welsh Government, HM Land Registry, the Department for Education and BEIS mainly undertaking Discovery and Alpha projects and coaching client product staff.
Essex County Council
Head of Product Management (Interim)
April 2020 - September 2020
I joined Essex for a six month assignment to help embed product thinking and agile approaches in their ways of working as they dealt with the initial COVID-19 crisis. This was a mix of coaching and mentoring permanent staff, leading the recruitment of new team members and directly supporting the digital strategies of Adults and Children's Services amongst others.
Notbinary
Director of Digital Services
February 2018 - September 2020
I led the Public Service Digital work which has included DVLA, the BBC, Food Standards Agency, UK Hydrographic Office, Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Ofgem, UK Export Finance and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. This entails oversight of all our projects, responsibility for our ways of working, strategic consultancy and product coaching.
mySociety
Head of Product
January 2017 - January 2018
Head of Product at mySociety with a particular focus on the 'democratic commons' with Facebook and Wikidata and the Better Cities portfolio (FixMyStreet, Mapumental and MapIt).
Office for National Statistics
Head of Digital Content/Transformation
April 2013 - September 2016
Initially the role was essentially a digital managing editor position bringing together graphic design, social media and an online editorial team. I introduced a more consistent approach to infographics, supported a more open approach to the @ONS Twitter account and encouraged experimentation with new editorial formats. I successfully launched a new data storytelling blog - ONS Visual.
For the bulk of my time I was Product Lead for the development of the new ONS website including the user experience, publishing application and infrastructure as well as ensuring the presence of a sustainable, multi-disciplinary agile team to continue to develop the product post launch. This included leading on all procurement, interviewing more than 50 candidates, producing the ongoing product roadmap and leading the team day to day.
Medical Research Council
Digital Communications Manager
October 2010 - April 2013
I oversaw the MRC digital strategy including responsibility for the website(s), intranet and social media presence. I assisted with the RCUK Gateway to Research project and was part of the team that introduced the first MRC blog - Insight - including a rare example of doing the development myself. I was also an advisor for a major CMS project involving multiple Research Councils and also produced two major 'citizen science' web projects with Zooniverse that launched in the summer of 2013.
JISC
JISC Technical Programme Manager [maternity cover]
October 2009 - October 2010
During my second spell at JISC I was Technical Programme Manager for the UK Open Education Resources programme including overseeing JorumOpen on behalf of JISC. I also represented JISC in a group liaising with publishers on the technical aspects of open access and lead acted as editor for my teams communications activity. During this time I also started to work with colleagues at Creative Commons, Mozilla and P2PU investigating opportunities to collaborate which culminated in an event in London and my involvement in the Mozilla Drumbeat Festival in Barcelona.
Jiva Technology
Product Manager
July 2008 - July 2009
At Jiva I acted as Product Owner and also oversaw product marketing activity for a Bristol based, angel backed education startup. I produced the initial wireframes and user stories that would develop into Tutorhub.com, launched an event for education technologists and also secured coverage in mainstream media for the company.
JISC
Product Manager
April 2003 - April 2008
At JISC I primarily led on matters related to digital strategy for the organisation. This included website management, editorial policy, social media, usability and product development. During this period I also prototyped and then commissioned two new products - JISC Answers which went on to become a successful consultation platform for developers Delib and JISC Involve a blogging platform that remains used to this day.
I was also seconded to parent organisation HEFCE to manage the migration of the Aimhigher portal to Directgov and to manage HEFCEs relationship with stakeholders regarding the Government web convergence policy.
Economic and Social Research Council
Website Manager
June 2001 - April 2003
At ESRC I introduced their first content management system driven website and commissioned the first usability testing of the site and the concept of iterative improvements. I also introduced the first editorial policy for the website and led ongoing staff training both in usage of the CMS and the style guide.