Job Title

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. We exist to make the firm the world’s most distinctive place to grow a career, investing in our people with the same long-term conviction as our portfolios and continually reimagining how work is done to outpace the industry. 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. Through this work, we ensure that people and performance are deeply connected and that our colleagues are equipped to deliver long-term value for clients.

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. As People Product Lead, you'll bring together product thinking, service design, business analysis, technology fluency and change leadership. The role exists 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. Reporting to the Director of People Operations, this pivotal, senior role is the People team's improvement engine. It will help the function prioritise the right problems, design better journeys, translate needs into practical requirements, lead improvement work from discovery through delivery and ensure changes land well. Working across People, Technology, Risk, Data, Innovation and other key partners, you'll connect teams around shared outcomes and help build simple, trusted and technology-enabled people services that power a modern, high-performing People function.

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.

What success looks like

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.

Your 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

The type of candidate we're looking for

We're 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 quo 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

Additional information:

Instead of a cover letter, candidates are asked to submit a CV and short written responses (maximum 300 words each) to the following questions:

Question 1 – Describe a time when you translated a complex business or people problem into a practical solution that made a process, service or experience simpler and more efficient.

Question 2 – Tell us about a difficult prioritisation decision you made when there were more opportunities or stakeholder requests than you could realistically deliver.

Question 3 – Tell us about a time when a product, service, process or technology change you worked on did not go as planned.

Closing Date July 27, 2026

Should you choose to use AI tools to support your application, we ask that you do this thoughtfully. We encourage you to ensure your application reflects your own voice, experience, and motivations. We value authenticity and want to understand your individual strengths and perspectives.

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.

If you are currently working at Baillie Gifford as an employee or contractor please apply to this job from the firm's Workday internal career site.

Baillie Gifford is an independent, private partnership, which allows us to focus entirely on our clients and their investments. It helps our stability, motivation and culture and enables us to take a long-term view on all that we do, including staff development, client relationships and investing. And just like with our investments, we’re good at spotting potential in our employees. Join us and we’ll actively support you to explore the possibilities of your career and interests. We’ll give you on-going training and development, all to ensure you have valuable opportunities to grow your unique talents and pursue your goals. We’re also incredibly committed to the wellbeing of our employees. This is just a taste of our culture. One that was created by the partners who own and will work with you every day in the firm. People who are always on hand to hear your ideas and suggestions of how to make Baillie Gifford an even better place to be. So, if this sounds like somewhere you could realise your full potential, then our next investment could be you.

If you have any questions or issues regarding your application, please contact us at HR@bailliegifford.com.

For more detail on careers at Baillie Gifford visit our careers site at: https://www.bailliegifford.com/en/uk/careers

This page hosts our regular vacancies - to view our graduate and internship vacancies follow this link.