Regional AI Product Collaboration Officer

Bristol, Darlington, Leeds, Manchester, Wolverhampton

Job Summary

We are MHCLG

Here at the Ministry of Housing, Communities \& Local Government (MHCLG), we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives. Whether it's through the homes we live in, the work of our local councils, or the communities we’re all part of, our work is at the top of the political agenda.

We need someone to join the Local AI team and lead collaboration with Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) to identify, shape and support the adoption of new AI products for local government. Working alongside the Partnership Funding Lead, Local AI Product Managers and the Mayoral Data Council Secretariat, the role will bring regional needs, users and delivery contexts into the product and funding pipelines.

Our regional collaboration work aims to link our Local Authority product work with our work to support “Rewiring the State” and English devolution. The postholder will build trusted relationships with MSAs, identify shared high-value challenges, convene user-centred discovery and co-design, and prepare well-evidenced opportunities for product or funding decisions.

This role will shape the demand side of Local AI’s product portfolio and maintain strong partnership with the Mayoral Data Council from early problem definition through discovery, testing, adoption and shared learning. The postholder will translate MSA priorities into clear opportunity briefs, broker access to users and local expertise, and help product teams design solutions that can work across different places. The role is well-suited to someone who is organised, collaborative and motivated by public impact, and who enjoys working at the intersection of partnerships, product development and emerging technology.

Find out more about our Digital teams and what they are working on through our MHCLG Digital blog.  Please note that MHCLG do not offer visa sponsorship and applicants will need a valid visa for the duration of your employment.

Job Description

As a Regional AI Product Collaboration Officer you’ll

*Product discovery and co-design*

• Work with the Mayoral Data Council, regional partners and multidisciplinary product teams to define problems clearly, understand user needs and identify where AI could offer a proportionate and valuable response.
• Map related initiatives, products and data assets to identify opportunities to reuse, connect or scale existing work, sharing relevant market or supplier intelligence with the Partnership Funding Lead and Market Lead rather than leading supplier engagement.
• Develop concise opportunity briefs that set out the user problem, regional demand, potential benefits, delivery context, dependencies, risks and evidence required for product prioritisation or consideration by the Partnership Funding Lead.

*Regional partnership development*

• Undertake research and build networks to understand regional priorities, service challenges, user needs, existing assets and appetite for joint delivery.
• Create inclusive routes for MSAs with different levels of capacity and AI maturity to shape products, contribute users and expertise, host testing activity and share learning.

*Wider programme integration*

• Work closely with the Partnership Funding Lead to maintain a joined-up opportunity pipeline, providing regional evidence and partner insight.
• Coordinate with the Mayoral Data Council Secretariat, Community Manager and relevant government departments so engagement with MSAs is coherent, roles are clear and regional partners receive consistent communications.
• Prepare clear briefings, readouts and recommendations for product and programme governance, reflecting regional perspectives and signposting funding decisions to the Partnership Funding Lead.

*General team support*

• Provide flexible support across the Local AI team as priorities evolve, contributing to a collaborative and supportive team culture.

As a Regional AI Product Collaboration Officer You’ll

*Product discovery and co-design*

• Work with the Mayoral Data Council, regional partners and multidisciplinary product teams to define problems clearly, understand user needs and identify where AI could offer a proportionate and valuable response.
• Map related initiatives, products and data assets to identify opportunities to reuse, connect or scale existing work, sharing relevant market or supplier intelligence with the Partnership Funding Lead and Market Lead rather than leading supplier engagement.
• Develop concise opportunity briefs that set out the user problem, regional demand, potential benefits, delivery context, dependencies, risks and evidence required for product prioritisation or consideration by the Partnership Funding Lead.

*Regional partnership development*

• Undertake research and build networks to understand regional priorities, service challenges, user needs, existing assets and appetite for joint delivery.
• Create inclusive routes for MSAs with different levels of capacity and AI maturity to shape products, contribute users and expertise, host testing activity and share learning.

*Wider programme integration*

• Work closely with the Partnership Funding Lead to maintain a joined-up opportunity pipeline, providing regional evidence and partner insight.
• Coordinate with the Mayoral Data Council Secretariat, Community Manager and relevant government departments so engagement with MSAs is coherent, roles are clear and regional partners receive consistent communications.
• Prepare clear briefings, readouts and recommendations for product and programme governance, reflecting regional perspectives and signposting funding decisions to the Partnership Funding Lead.

*General team support*

• Provide flexible support across the Local AI team as priorities evolve, contributing to a collaborative and supportive team culture.

Person specification

As a Regional AI Product Collaboration Officer, you’ll have

• An understanding of product development or service design approaches, including discovery, co-design, testing, adoption and iterative delivery.
• Strong organisational and delivery skills, with experience managing engagement, discovery or adoption activity across multiple partners and priorities.
• Experience building effective place-based partnerships and translating stakeholder needs into actionable product or service opportunities.
• Experience organising workshops or engagement activities to define problems, understand user needs or co-design outputs.
• Ability to translate complex service, policy or technical challenges into clear plans, briefs and recommendations for different audiences.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the confidence to engage constructively with senior internal and external stakeholders.
• A proactive and inclusive approach, with the ability to work through ambiguity, manage your own workload and respond flexibly to changing priorities.
• Experience of planning and facilitating workshops, roundtables and bilateral engagement
• Experience supporting the discovery, testing or adoption of digital, data or AI-enabled products with service users or place-based partners.

Alongside your salary of £45,773, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £13,260 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Childcare Voucher and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Application and Selection

The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:

Behaviours

, Experience Please ensure your CV does not contain any personally identifiable information.

Note

We do not consider direct CV applications. All applications must be submitted via the provided application link.

Important

Your CV and Cover Letter *must* be merged into a single document before uploading.

Stage 1: Sift (CV \& Cover Letter)

At Sift We Will Be Assessing

Experience

Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page referencing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description.

Behaviours

Working together (250 word limit)

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.

Stage 2: Interview

• Behaviours: Communicating and Influencing, Seeing the Big Picture, Changing and Improving

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 28th September 2026

Interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

How We Recruit

Find out everything you need to know before applying here..

• Applying
• Sifting
• Interview
• Interview Results \& Feedback
• Reserve List
• Near Miss
• Civil Service Grades
• We are a DCS, RIS \& GPTWV employer
• Reasonable Adjustments

Human

How To Apply

What you need to know before applying.

You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.

• Security Clearance Requirements
• Civil Service Nationality Requirements
• Right to Work
• Artificial Intelligence
• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles
• CV Declaration
• Sponsorships
• Salary and Grade
• Existing Civil Servants
• Conflict of Interest
• Location and Flexible Working
• Fixed Term Contracts
• Internal Fraud Database - Internal Fraud Register
• Appeals and Complaints
• Conflict of Interest

Security Clearance Requirements

National Office

BPSS

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact

• Name : Digital Data Jobs
• Email : digitaldatajobs@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : digitaldatajobs@communities.gov.uk

Further information

About

If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - Recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:

a procedural irregularity

an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy

exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.

It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at Recruitment@communities.gov.uk.

If the MHCLG Resourcing Hub is unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint, you may contact put your complaint in writing to the Civil Service Commission, Room G8,1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or by email to: info@csc.gov.uk