Overview of the National Transport Authority

The National Transport Authority (NTA) is a statutory body established by the Minister for Transport on 1 December 2009.

At national level, the Authority has responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger land transport services, including subsidised bus and rail and light rail services. The Authority also licenses public bus passenger services delivered by private operators and has responsibility for the regulation of the small public service vehicle (SPSV) industry (taxis, hackneys and limousines). Other areas of responsibility include the State’s rural transport programme, integrated information systems for public transport customers, management of the Integrated Ticketing Scheme for Ireland (the Leap Card system), and regulation of vehicle clamping.

Within the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) the Authority carries additional responsibilities including:

· Strategic planning of transport;

· Development of an integrated, accessible public transport network;

· Promoting cycling and walking;

· Provision of public transport infrastructure generally including light rail, metro and heavy rail; and

· Effective management of traffic and transport demand.

The GDA includes the local authority areas of Dublin City, Fingal, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, South Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow.

The Authority’s Capital Investment Programme includes an exciting and challenging range of projects and programmes for development and delivery over the coming years. These include mega-projects such as MetroLink, BusConnects Dublin and the DART+ Programme, together with numerous other major projects/programmes in the heavy rail area, light rail area, bus infrastructure and public transport fleet, in addition to a large portfolio of projects in the active travel area. Along with other initiatives in the areas of micro-mobility, transport technology and climate adaption, there are stimulating and rewarding opportunities to make a real contribution to enhancing Ireland’s overall transport system.

Further information on the Authority is available on its website www.nationaltransport.ie

The National Transport Authority wishes to recruit a suitably experienced and qualified individual to the role of Product Owner. Successful candidates may be placed on a panel from which future vacancies may be filled.

Transport Technology Department

The NTA’s Transport Technology (TT) department is responsible for overseeing the delivery and subsequent operation of technology solutions across four principal areas: Ticketing (Transport For Ireland (TFI) Leap Card, TFI Go, Leap Top-Up), Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL), Real-Time Passenger Information (RTPI) and National Journey Planner systems (TFI Live).

The Transport Technology Systems Team sources, develops and delivers new systems and enhancements, both via dedicated project teams involving external suppliers as well as via in-house resources. The Transport Technology Operations Team ensures that the supplied systems are operated and maintained within agreed service levels, manages service delivery, and handles all incidents and outages with live systems.

The Transport Technology department is responsible for several high-profile consumer mobile applications and websites on both iOS and Android, including TFI Live, Leap Top-Up, Leapcard.ie and TFI Go. Currently the Transport Technology department is working on the Next Generation Ticketing (NGT) project, which will ultimately replace the successful Leap Card system and associated apps.

The Role

The NTA wishes to recruit a suitably experienced and qualified individual to the role of Product Owner to act as the primary person responsible for the development and enhancement of one of more mobile apps, systems and/or websites within the remit of the Transport Technology Directorate. Reporting to the Head of Transport Technology Systems, the successful candidate will put the customer first and will be responsible for overseeing the design, enhancement, and ongoing improvement of one or more mobile apps, systems, and/or websites developed by external suppliers for NTA.

The Product Owner will be responsible for creating and maintaining the backlog of features and shall prioritise the features for delivery, taking into account NTA design objectives. The successful candidate will work closely with internal stakeholders in driving the mobile app or systems design, including Irish language support and accessibility compliance in collaboration with NTA’s accessibility team.

Duties and Responsibilities

The principal duties and responsibilities of the Product Owner will include the following:

· Create and maintain the product roadmap(s) and prioritise the backlog of features;

· Write and review user stories for new features and enhancements;

· Ensure all new features and enhancements are comprehensive, unambiguous, aligned with NTA’s needs, and sufficient defined so that they can be implemented by external suppliers;

· Work with external supplier’s app development teams to improve usability and accessibility of mobile applications and/or websites;

· Review and approve supplier deliverables, including prototypes, wireframes, and app releases;

· Engage with internal stakeholders (Customer Experience (CX), Information and Communication Technology (ICT), User Interface (UI)/User Experience (UX) Lead, Operations, etc.) to gather requirements and to define new features and enhancements for subsequent implementation by external suppliers;

· Work with the Transport Technology Test Team to ensure all new features and enhancements are understood and sufficiently documented for testing purposes;

· Gather user feedback, perform market research, and analyse app usage data to inform product decisions and backlog prioritisation;

· Work with suppliers to identify opportunities for performance optimisation, bug fixes, and feature improvements;

· Ensure that enhancements to the app/product meet expectations for usability, performance, and functionality;

· Ensure that app/product documentation is appropriately documented and maintained; and

· Work closely with Transport Technology Operations, including attending meetings to give updates about the roadmap and backlog and working with the Supplier Relationship Lead to ensure the app/product operates and is maintained within agreed service levels.

Note: The functions and responsibilities initially assigned to the position is based on the current organisational requirements and may be changed from time to time. The person appointed requires the flexibility to fulfil other roles and responsibilities at a similar level within the Authority.

Essential Criteria

Please note: In order to satisfy the shortlisting panel that you meet these criteria you must explicitly reference how you meet same in your application. Failure to demonstrate these may prevent your application progressing to future shortlisting stages.

Each candidate must meet the following requirements at the time of the competition closing:

a) Hold a minimum of an NFQ level 7 qualification in computing, engineering, information technology or a related technical discipline;

b) Have a minimum of 5 years’ recent satisfactory experience working in a product owner role or similar related role;

c) Have substantive experience in defining user stories and wireframes for implementation by app developers;

d) Have substantive experience in developing clear, concise, and comprehensive requirements for new features and enhancements; and

e) Have substantive experience in analysing user behaviour and using this insight to modify app features or design new features.

Desirable Criteria

Please note: Should further shortlisting be required after essential criteria above, a selection of the following may be assessed.

The ideal candidate will also:

f) Have experience as a product owner of an app including in-app payments, and/or of an app involving financial transactions;

g) Have experience of tools such as JIRA and Trello or similar; and

h) Have experience in working with outsourced app development teams.

Remuneration

Salary Grade: Engineer Grade II

Salary Scale: €72,511, €74,168, €75,821, €77,481, €79,137, €79,577, €81,210, €82,904, €85,663 (LSI 1), €88,429 (LSI 2)

Personal Pension Contribution (PPC) rate. This salary is payable to an individual who is required to make a personal pension contribution (PPC) to their main pension (in general those persons whose initial appointment to the Public Service is on or after 6th April 1995).

€68,988, €70,569, €72,134, €73,715, €75,288, €76,862, €78,429, €80,020, €81,378 (LSI 1), €84,002 (LSI 2)

Non-Personal Pension Contribution (non-PPC) rate. This salary is payable to an individual who is not required to make a personal pension contribution (PPC) to their main pension scheme.

Annual Leave: 27 days per annum. This leave is based on a five day week and is exclusive of the usual public holidays.

Note:

· entry will be at point 1 of the scale and will not be subject to negotiation;

· different pay and conditions may apply if, immediately prior to appointment the appointee is already a serving Civil Servant or Public Servant;

· the rate of remuneration may be adjusted from time to time in line with Government pay policy.

Contract: Permanent Contract

Probation: There is a 6 month probationary period which may at the discretion of the CEO be extended to 10 months.

Selection Process

Prior to completing your application please read the Important Candidate Information Booklet on our careers page here: www.nationaltransport.ie/about-us/careers

How to Apply

Please submit your application in one single word document or PDF referencing the title of the role you wish to apply for in the subject of the email to careers@nationaltransport.ie with the following:

1. A comprehensive cover letter outlining why you wish to be considered for the post and where you believe your skills and experience meet the requirements for the role of Product Owner; and

2. A comprehensive CV (not to exceed 3 pages).

Please note that omission of any or part of the 2 requested documents, as set out above, will render the application incomplete. Incomplete applications will not be considered for the next stage of the selection process.

Closing Date

The closing date and time for applications is strictly 12pm (noon) on Friday, 29th November 2024. Applications received after the specified deadline cannot be accepted.

If you do not receive an acknowledgement of receipt of your application within 2 working days of applying, please email careers@nationaltransport.ie.