About Genomics England
Genomics England is a global leader in enabling genomic medicine and research, focused on creating a world where everyone benefits from genomic healthcare. Building on the 100,000 Genomes Project, we support the NHS's world-first national whole genome sequencing service and run the growing National Genomic Research Library, alongside delivering numerous major genomics initiatives. By connecting research and clinical care at national scale, we enable immediate healthcare benefits and advances for the future. Our mission is to provide the evidence and digital systems so that by 2035 genomics could play a role in up to half of all healthcare interactions, whilst securing the UK's position as the best place to discover, prove and benefit from genomic innovations. We are accelerating our impact and working with patients, doctors, scientists, government and industry to improve genomic testing, and help researchers access the health data and technology they need to make new medical discoveries and create more effective, targeted medicines for everybody. Behind the Healthcare and Research outcomes, Genomics England delivers through designing, developing and operating complex healthcare software systems. We're on the cusp of big changes with the real prospect of genomics becoming the fabric of everyday healthcare through the lifetime - from birth to old age.
The Role: Principal Product Manager, 12 Month Fixed Term Contract (FTC)
At Genomics England, we're looking for an experienced Principal Product Manager to provide product leadership for work on the trustworthy stewardship of genomic data and how we manage our relationship with those who choose to share their data for research.
Our products and services operate in a uniquely sensitive environment. They must enable genomic data to be used responsibly for research while respecting the choices, expectations and trust of the people whose data makes this work possible. This creates complex product challenges that extend beyond a single feature, journey or team. They involve multiple products, people, policies, data, and technologies. They span operations and governance, with decisions that have lasting implications for participants, researchers, healthcare services and Genomics England.
As Principal Product Manager, you'll lead a strategically important product area that is an organisational priority. You will partner with the programme lead to set its vision, strategy and intended outcomes while coordinating discovery, direction and delivery across related products, services and squads. You will support with the leadership of the wider team, deputising for the programme lead where required. You'll establish clarity where the path is uncertain, bring teams and senior stakeholders together around shared outcomes, and translate strategic direction into meaningful OKRs, coherent roadmaps and focused priorities.
You'll initially lead the team through early discovery product work, with a view to shaping delivery further down the line. This means ensuring we understand the right problems and gathering requirements before committing to solutions, using evidence to test assumptions and helping cross functional teams create products and services that are useful, feasible, responsible and sustainable.
This is a Principal individual contributor role with meaningful scope to influence beyond a single squad. You'll connect related work, manage complex dependencies and help teams make effective product decisions while remaining close enough to delivery to understand where support, challenge or intervention is needed. You'll collaborate with participants, user researchers, designers, architects, engineers, data specialists, policy and governance colleagues, operational teams and senior leaders. Through clear direction, constructive challenge and inclusive decision making, you'll help people navigate competing priorities and make thoughtful trade-offs.
You'll also play a leadership role within the wider product management chapter at Genomics England, owning cross-chapter initiatives, mentoring Product Managers and helping to drive excellent practice across teams. You may have direct line management responsibility for 1-2 product people.
Responsibilities
•Leading a strategically important product area, setting its vision, strategy and intended outcomes while coordinating work across related products, services and squads.
•Setting meaningful OKRs aligned with wider programme and organisational priorities, translating them into coherent roadmaps and focused backlogs.
•Leading discovery from its earliest stages, framing complex and ambiguous problems, gathering requirements, testing assumptions and using research, experimentation and evidence to determine where teams should focus.
•Leading products and services, with consideration to the full lifecycle, adapting direction as evidence, user needs and products evolve.
•Bringing together user insight, qualitative and quantitative data, and relevant operational, technical, scientific, clinical and regulatory context to inform product decisions and measure impact.
•Working across user research, design, engineering, data, delivery, operations, governance and policy to create shared understanding, align priorities and manage dependencies across squads.
•Making transparent prioritisation and trade off decisions that balance participant needs, strategic value, feasibility, delivery constraints, risk and regulatory responsibilities.
•Building trusted relationships with senior internal and external stakeholders, communicating direction clearly, constructively challenging assumptions and creating the conditions for cross functional teams to succeed.
Requirements
•Substantial and direct product management experience and a strong record of leading complex products, services or product areas at Principal level or equivalent.
•Comfortable leading product thinking in the early stages of the product lifecycle where you do not yet have ownership of specific products.
•Comfortable operating across teams and organisational boundaries, setting direction where there is uncertainty and helping senior stakeholders and multidisciplinary teams make complex decisions together.
•Experience shaping product vision, strategy, outcomes and roadmaps across complex product areas, translating strategic direction into focused action.
•Deep experience of leading discovery, including framing ambiguous problems, gathering requirements, using research and evidence to test assumptions and making confident product decisions.
•A strong understanding of user centred product development, combining user insight, qualitative and quantitative data to shape priorities and measure impact.
•Experience leading across multiple teams, disciplines or products, creating alignment, managing dependencies and making thoughtful trade-offs.
•Strong stakeholder leadership, with the ability to communicate complex choices clearly, constructively challenge assumptions and build trust across organisational boundaries.
•Sound judgement in balancing user value, organisational priorities, feasibility, risk and sustainability, particularly where decisions are complex or sensitive.
•Experience leading through the full product lifecycle, from discovery and proposition development through to delivery, adoption and continuous improvement.
•A collaborative approach to product leadership, including mentoring Product Managers and helping strengthen product practice.
You do not need to come from a genomics background. Experience working with sensitive data or in healthcare, life sciences, government, financial services or another highly regulated environment would be valuable, but we're primarily interested in your ability to lead complex product work and build trust across users, teams and senior stakeholders. Experience working on 'know your customer' type of work could be relevant.
It would be helpful, but not essential, if you have experience with:
•Products or services involving participant, patient, citizen or customer consent, preferences and ongoing engagement.
•Healthcare, clinical research, genomics or data intensive scientific infrastructure and software.
•Products that support the responsible access, stewardship or secondary use of sensitive data.
•Working within complex governance, assurance, ethical or regulatory frameworks.
You'll have a demonstrable track record of leading complex product areas at Principal Product Manager level or equivalent. While your qualifications provide a foundation, we're particularly interested in the breadth and depth of your experience and your ability to provide strategic product leadership, set direction in ambiguity and influence across teams and organisational boundaries. Prior genomics experience is not required.
Terms and Benefits
This is a 12-Month FTC (Fixed Term Contract). For internal candidates, this will be considered an internal secondment for the same duration. Closing Date: Sunday 1st November at 23:00 (UK time).
•Generous Leave: 30 days' holiday, plus bank holidays, plus additional leave for long service, and also the option to apply for up to 30 days of remote working abroad annually (approval required).
•Family-Friendly: Blended working arrangements, flexible working, enhanced maternity, paternity and shared parental leave benefits.
•Pension & Financial: Defined contribution pension (Genomics England double-matches up to 10%, however you can contribute more if you wish), Life Assurance (3x salary), an Electric Vehicle salary sacrifice scheme and a Give As You Earn scheme.
•Learning & Development: Individual learning budgets, support for training and certifications, and reimbursement for one annual professional subscription (approval required).
•Recognition & Rewards: Employee recognition programme and referral scheme.
•Health & Wellbeing: Subsidised gym membership, a free Headspace and Blinkist account, and access to an Employee Assistance Programme, eye tests, flu jabs.
Blended Working Model
Genomics England operates a blended working model, with most people expected to come into the office a minimum of 2 times each month. This will vary according to role and will be agreed with your team leader. There is no expectation that people will return to the office full time unless they want to, however, some roles require full time on-site attendance (e.g., lab teams, reception team). Office locations are: Canary Wharf, Cambridge and Leeds.
Onboarding Background Checks
As part of the recruitment process, all successful candidates are subject to a Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Applicants must disclose any previous offences at point of application, as some unspent convictions may mean Genomics England is unable to proceed with the application due to the nature of its work in healthcare.
