Product Lead, People team
Department: Human Resources-BG-UK
Overview of Department
The people team develops the capabilities, culture and experiences that create a human and commercial edge for Baillie Gifford. The team supports the full people lifecycle, including people operations, people partnering, leadership, learning and capability development, attraction and resourcing, organisational culture, reward, wellbeing and the end‑to‑end people experience.
Purpose of Role
People Product is how we design, improve and evolve the services, processes and tools that support our people across the employee lifecycle. It treats our core people experiences as products: intentionally designed, clearly owned, continuously improved and measured by the value they create for colleagues, managers and the People team. The People Product Lead brings product thinking, service design, business analysis, technology fluency and change leadership to make people services simpler, more effective, scalable and better enabled by technology, automation, AI and data, while ensuring human judgement and care remain central to the moments that matter.
Responsibilities
- Establish and embed People Product as a core capability, introducing product thinking, service design and continuous improvement across the People function.
- Own and prioritise the People Product backlog and improvement roadmap, balancing colleague value, business priorities, risk, effort and capacity.
- Diagnose and redesign end‑to‑end people services and colleague journeys, removing pain points and simplifying processes before introducing technology, automation or AI.
- Translate business, operational and user needs into clear requirements, user stories and practical solutions that improve the employee experience and operational performance.
- Partner with Technology, Data, Risk, Innovation and external suppliers to deliver digital, automation and AI‑enabled improvements.
- Lead hands‑on discovery, testing, implementation and adoption of new people services, creating artefacts, managing the detail and ensuring changes are successfully embedded across the organisation.
- Define and track success measures, using operational data to evaluate outcomes and drive continuous improvement.
- Build strong cross‑functional partnerships, aligning stakeholders around shared priorities and delivering simple, trusted, high‑performing people services.
Success Criteria
People Product is established as a trusted capability with clear ownership and effective ways of working. The People team has a prioritised, outcome‑focused improvement roadmap that delivers measurable value and helps focus effort on the right problems. Colleagues and managers experience simpler, more intuitive and more consistent people services. Technology, automation, AI and data are used effectively to improve service quality and operational efficiency. Improvements deliver measurable gains in colleague experience, data quality, operational performance and risk reduction. Strong partnerships exist across People, Technology, Risk and Data, enabling successful delivery and adoption of change.
Knowledge and Experience
- Experience leading product, service improvement, transformation or operational excellence initiatives in a complex organisation.
- Strong understanding of service design, process improvement and business analysis techniques, with the ability to simplify services before digitising or automating them.
- Experience translating business needs into clear requirements, user stories and practical technology‑enabled solutions.
- Knowledge of people or business technology, workflow tools, automation and AI, with the ability to identify opportunities to improve services, reduce risk and free capacity for higher‑value work.
- Experience with HR technologies is helpful but not essential.
- Strong analytical skills with experience using data and insights to diagnose problems, prioritise work and measure outcomes.
- Proven ability to lead cross‑functional work and influence stakeholders across multiple disciplines.
- Experience managing change, driving adoption and embedding new ways of working.
- Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage technical and non‑technical audiences and translate complex needs into shared outcomes.
- Understanding of how to balance colleague experience, operational efficiency, controls, privacy, compliance and risk in service design.
Candidate Profile
We are looking for a product‑minded problem solver and human‑centred systems thinker who enjoys creating simple, intuitive services. You’ll be equally comfortable understanding complex problems, identifying opportunities, prioritising improvements and delivering practical change, taking a hands‑on approach to turning ideas into outcomes. You’re digitally fluent and curious, using technology, automation, AI and data thoughtfully to improve services and outcomes. You’re risk intelligent and pragmatic, balancing innovation and user experience with good governance and sound judgement. You’re data and insight‑led, using evidence to prioritise improvements and measure success. You build strong relationships across teams and can translate between technical and non‑technical audiences. You’re operationally empathetic and understand how change lands in the reality of day‑to‑day service delivery. You’re comfortable with ambiguity, energised by building something new and motivated by improving the status quò in a curious and constructive way. You may come from a product, transformation, operations, technology, consulting or change background rather than a traditional People career. What matters most is your ability to solve complex problems, improve services, bring others with you and deliver meaningful, sustained impact.
Critical Skills
- Systems Thinking
- Improvement Mindset
- Digital Effectiveness (including AI)
- Team Working
- Storytelling
Closing Date
July 27, 2026
Equal Opportunity Statement
At Baillie Gifford, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and respectful culture in which each of our colleagues can thrive and develop. We believe that our clients are best served by a diverse workforce with the experiences, ideas and perspectives that this brings.
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