Product Director, Public Sector

About the role

Leading Public Sector Product Strategy at Unit4

Unit4 delivers technology solutions to hundreds of public sector organizations across the UK, Netherlands, the Nordics, and comparable managed regions. These entities-including municipalities, local authorities, agencies, non-departmental public bodies, and emergency services-function under a dual reality of static funding and increasingly demanding service expectations. They operate with constrained technical resources compared to private-sector equivalents, and the divide between citizen needs and system capabilities continues to expand. The Product Director for Public Sector leads the product portfolio designed to close this divide.

This position is not advisory. It owns a dedicated vertical roadmap supported by committed engineering resources, ensuring genuine competitiveness in local government and specialized agency markets. The role translates deep sector expertise into platform-wide direction while working alongside horizontal product teams.

The ideal candidate has delivered enterprise software for public sector clients, understanding the realities of public finance management, compliance, and audit obligations. They have launched features adopted by finance and operations teams, not merely consulted on their requirements.

Artificial intelligence offers public sector organizations meaningful potential: reducing administrative tasks, accelerating regulatory processes, and improving decision insight. These institutions are not agile commercial entities; they are custodians of public funds, citizen information, and community trust, operating under strict transparency and security obligations. This role ensures the Unit4 public sector roadmap remains thorough, balanced, and innovative while maintaining prudent risk management. The objective is to earn the confidence of government buyers and enable public servants to focus on community building.

Core Responsibilities

• Define and own the public sector product vision, strategy, and multi-timeline roadmap, aligning with Unit4's platform direction and commercial objectives.
• Manage a prioritized product backlog with dedicated engineering capacity, specifying outcomes, success indicators, release plans, and quality standards.
• Take ownership of feature performance beyond delivery, establishing adoption targets, usage metrics, and customer impact measurements, then tracking results post-launch.
• Act as the central public sector knowledge hub for product, marketing, analyst relations, and pre-sales teams, providing the context needed for effective positioning and sales.
• Convert sector expertise into specific, investment-backed product requirements, including problem definitions, opportunity sizing, and build-versus-partner analysis.
• Develop industry-specific solution frameworks, reference setups, and pre-configured templates to shorten implementation timelines for public sector clients.
• Coordinate with horizontal product teams to ensure public sector needs influence platform investments in finance, HR, procurement, and operations.
• Collaborate with the Industry Growth Director on launch readiness, pricing strategy, packaging, and field enablement.
• Engage directly with strategic customers and public sector industry boards to validate roadmap direction, co-create solutions, and document outcome evidence.
• Embed regulatory, security, accessibility, and localization requirements across supported regions into the product roadmap.
• Track competitor activity, including Civica, Visma, Centric, and CGI, to assess implications for Unit4's positioning.
• Develop partnerships that enhance value for frontline workers and specialized public sector customers.

Required Competencies

• Demonstrated experience managing enterprise software products for public sector organizations, particularly municipalities, local authorities, or specialized agencies. You have deployed products used in production by public sector finance and operations teams.
• Strong command of public finance management, public sector accounting, and government budgeting practices.
• Practical knowledge of public procurement frameworks, including approval workflows, audit trails, supplier management, and contract compliance within enterprise systems.
• Awareness of security, data residency, and audit expectations in government purchasing decisions and their effect on cloud ERP strategies.
• A clear perspective on responsible AI in public sector contexts, balancing efficiency gains with accountability, transparency, and security obligations.
• Commercial judgment, linking product decisions to recurring revenue, win rates, and customer retention.
• Advanced communication skills for interactions with finance leaders, ICT directors, and senior public service executives.
• Experience managing enterprise SaaS products and professional services operations.
• Deep understanding of professional services business models, including project-based delivery, utilization tracking, billing, scheduling, and compliance.
• Ability to influence in matrixed environments without direct authority.
• Skill in converting complex sector requirements into scalable, coherent product solutions.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and stakeholder engagement capabilities.

Additional Experience Areas

• Familiarity with ERP or PSA platforms serving public sector needs.
• Understanding of mid-market services firms and their operational context.
• Experience in AI-driven or data-rich product environments where insights accelerate delivery.

Confirm application details on the official page.