Posted 4 days ago
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**Senior Product Owner - ISO** Lead the annual ISO 20022 message upgrade for CHAPS and RTGS at a central bank in Leeds. Define roadmaps, engage stakeholders, and ensure alignment between business needs and global standards. Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience. Proven experience in product ownership, business analysis, or change roles. Strong influencing skills, problem-solving abilities, and familiarity with ISO 20022 are essential. JIRA, Confluence, Swift MyStandards, and financial services experience desirable. Join a dynamic team shaping the UK's financial landscape.
- Compensation
- Not specified GBP
- City
- Leeds
- Country
- United Kingdom
Currency: £ (GBP)
Full Job Description
Location: Leeds, United Kingdom
Location: Leeds
We currently have a number of opportunities across our Product team - if this role isn't the right fit for you, we'd encourage you to explore what else is available:
- Product Manager - Payments
- Senior Product Owner - Payments
- Policy Adviser - Product Team (Payments)
- Product Owner - Payments
Directorate
The Payments Directorate sits at the heart of the UKs financial system, playing a critical role in delivering the Banks mission. We design and operate the RealTime Gross Settlement (RTGS) service and CHAPS, the UKs highvalue payment system. RTGS ultimately lies at the heart of every electronic payment in the UK and settles over 800 billion on an average working day.
The directorate leads on policy and innovation for our Payments services and helps shape the broader payments landscape, both domestically and internationally. Drawing on our expertise in innovation and delivery, we are now enhancing the new RTGS 2 platform, enabling the UK financial sector to innovate while ensuring safe and efficient settlement in central bank money.
Our work connects us closely with many other areas of the Bank. As one of the most outwardfacing and fastpaced directorates, we offer a dynamic and impactful environment to work in.
Role Overview
As a Product Owner for ISO 20022 Messaging, youll be part of the Initiative team under the Product Portfolio. You will shape and coordinate the annual ISO 20022 message upgrade for CHAPS and RTGS (the RTGS Standards Release), ensuring strong alignment between business needs, industry standards and technical solutions.
Youll work across policy, delivery and engagement teams to ensure that ISO messaging changes are clearly defined, implementable, and aligned with the Banks strategic direction. You will not own a dedicated delivery team; instead, you will influence and collaborate with product and technology teams who own their respective designs.
DaytoDay Responsibilities
Planning & Prioritisation
- Define and prioritise the scope for the annual ISO 20022 standards release.
- Shape the roadmap for ISO messaging changes, ensuring alignment with business needs and global standards (including CBPR+ and HVPS+).
- Collaborate with the project manager to manage scope, dependencies and risks throughout the release lifecycle.
- Support the ISO policy function in publishing annual updates to message schemas and technical guidance.
User & Stakeholder Engagement
- Work closely with ISO policy experts to interpret emerging industry trends and standards developments.
- Engage directly with Swift to ensure alignment on standards interpretation and timelines.
- Present upcoming ISO message changes to RTGS participants, Account holders and scheme operators, explaining rationale, impacts and implementation approaches.
- Act as a key point of contact for participant queries related to ISO messaging, providing clear and authoritative responses.
- Support the ISO policy team in shaping the Banks broader ISO strategy where appropriate.
Delivery & Documentation
- Work with product and delivery teams who own RTGS designs to ensure they understand ISO messaging changes and can update their designs accordingly.
- Review and challenge proposed functional design updates to ensure they are robust, highquality and aligned with policy intent.
- Support effective communication with industry alongside the external engagement lead.
- Maintain documentation and contribute to release planning and implementation activities.
Minimum Experience
- Experience working as a Product Owner, Business Analyst or in a closely related change role.
- Experience working with business and technical stakeholders to analyse and deliver change.
- Demonstrable experience with crossfunctional business improvement initiatives.
- Familiarity with agile and change methodologies.
- Workinglevel understanding of ISO 20022 payment messages.
Essential Skills
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills:
- Ability to explain complex technical information to nontechnical audiences
- Skilled in delivering impactful communication to senior audiences
- Confident in facilitating discussions to understand requirements and solutions
- Strong problemsolving and analytical abilities.
- Strong influencing skills able to lead without direct authority.
- Experience working within and contributing to highperforming teams. (This is not a linemanagement role, but Product Owners are expected to show leadership within their product area.)
- Good understanding of ISO 20022 payment messages and how changes to the standard influence system design and processing.
Desirable Criteria
- Understanding of CHAPS and CBPR+ ISO 20022 payment message flows.
- Experience using JIRA and Confluence.
- Experience using Swift MyStandards.
- Experience in a product or change function in the public sector or financial services.
- Familiarity with datadriven environments.
- Ability to read, interpret and work with ISO 20022 XML message schemas (XSDs), including understanding how schema changes affect system design and processing.
- Currently a non-contributory, career average pension giving you a guaranteed retirement benefit of 1/80th of your annual salary for every year worked. There is the option to increase your pension (to 1/65th) or decrease (to 1/105th) in exchange for salary through our flexible benefits programme each year. The Bank has the discretion to vary standard accrual rates and dial up and dial down rates at any time and to withdraw dial up and dial down options at any time.
- A discretionary performance award based on a current award pool.
- An 8% benefits allowance with the option to take as salary or purchase a wide range of flexible benefits.
- 26 days annual leave with option to buy up to 12 additional days through flexible benefits.
- Private medical insurance and income protection.
The Bank of England welcomes applications from all candidates, but as a UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) approved sponsor, we have a responsibility to comply with the Immigration Rules and guidance. As such, our ability to employ individuals who require sponsorship for immigration purposes is limited. The Bank cannot guarantee that you and / or the role you are applying for will be eligible for sponsorship and that any application made to UKVI will be successful. Eligibility will therefore be considered on a case by case basis.
