UCAS is at the heart of connecting people to higher education.

UCAS is the world’s leading shared admissions service for higher education. We provide application services for UK universities and colleges as well as delivering a wide range of research, consultancy and advisory services to schools, colleges, careers services, professional bodies and employers.

We’re a successful and fast-growing organisation, which helps hundreds of thousands of people every year. We're committed to delivering a first-class service to all of our customers — they're at the heart of everything we do.

The Digital Services business unit is at the heart of UCAS’ technical innovation, data and infrastructure. It focuses on leveraging data science, technology, and enterprise architecture to enhance UCAS' digital products and services.

The unit is dedicated to developing and improving customer-centric digital solutions, ensuring seamless and secure online experiences for all users. By providing insightful data and analysis, often made available to anyone with free-to-use intuitive dashboard, Digital Services empowers the Higher Education sector and those interested in the sector with valuable information to make informed decisions. By working in collaborative, expert led, multi-disciplinary teams, Digital Services drives UCAS’ mission to connect students with their next opportunities through advanced technological solutions.

12 month Fixed Term Contract

The Product Owner (PO) is a key member of the agile delivery team, responsible for defining and prioritizing product backlog items (stories) to ensure smooth execution of business and customer priorities. The PO balances both functional and technical integrity of the product features or components, ensuring the team delivers maximum value.

In this role, the Product Owner ensures that prioritised backlog items meet user needs and align with the 'Definition of Done.' The PO plays a pivotal role in collaboration, working closely with Product Management, development teams, Architecture, Service Owners, customers, and other key stakeholders to deliver high-quality product outcomes.

Key accountabilities:

• Program Increment (PI) Preparation


• Backlog Ownership and Prioritisation

• User Story & Acceptance Criteria


• Customer Value Ownership

• Team Development & Improvement


• Enabler Work & Technical Decision-Making


• Stakeholder Collaboration & Demos


• Customer Understanding & Exploration

For a full job description please see the attached role profile

• Agile Experience:

Proven experience working in agile (Lean-Agile Frameworks) environments, including the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), especially scrum, with a proven ability to deliver high-quality digital products on time.

• Product Vision & Communication:

Communicates a strong understanding of the product vision and goals effectively to development teams. Bridges gaps across teams to ensure comprehensive business solutions during product development and continuous improvement.

• Technical Awareness:

Possesses sufficient technical knowledge to understand proposed designs and technical approaches, enabling informed decision-making. Can engage credibly with technology professionals.

• Communication & Stakeholder Management:

Strong communicator at all levels, adept at managing customer and stakeholder expectations, and influencing decision-making. Capable of translating technical terminology into relatable language for non-technical audiences. Adept at running scoping sessions and workshops confidently and concisely.

• Customer Focus & Clarity:

Demonstrates a strong customer-centric approach, providing clarity and context to facilitate decision-making for product teams and stakeholders. Actively seeks to improve customer expertise.

• Third-Party Collaboration:

Experience working with third-party technical teams, both offshore and onshore, is desirable.

Salary up to £48,500 (pro rata)

12 month Fixed Term Contract

• 30 days annual leave (plus 3 concessionary days over Christmas and your bank holidays!)

• Flexibility – UCAS positively supports Hybrid working for its employees, meaning you can work between home and the office in a way that suits you and the business and also has a comprehensive Flexible Working Policy


• A generous pension scheme

• Hundreds of high street discounts and offers with Perkbox

• Internal training and development

• Subsidised gym and café

• Be rewarded for going above and beyond with our ex-gratia bonus scheme and Celebrating U, our quarterly employee recognition scheme

• Dedicated volunteer employee networks promoting wellbeing, awareness and inclusion

Studies have shown that some groups of people are less likely to apply to a role unless they tick every box. At UCAS we recognise that talent comes in various forms and we are committed to delivering a fair and equitable recruitment process where applicants have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their skills. So, if you are interested in this vacancy, but don't necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please still apply.

If you have any questions and would like to find out more about the role before applying please email the Talent Acquisition team via careers@ucas.ac.uk and one of us will be in touch.