Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Child Maintenance Service - Customer Insight Manager
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Locations
Birkenhead - Great Western House, Woodside Ferry Approach, Birkenhead, CH41 6DA
Dudley - Waterfront East, Level Street, Dudley, DY5 1XA
Falkirk - Callendar Boulevard, Callendar Business Park, Falkirk, FK1 1XT
Hastings - Havelock Road, Hastings, TN34 1BG
Leicester - Crown Building, 60 Wellington Street, Leicester, LE1 6DS
Newcastle - Benton Park Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE7 7NE
Plymouth - Clearbrook House, Bickleigh Down Business Park, Plymouth, PL6 7TN
Please note that for candidates requesting to work in Newcastle, this role is based at Benton Park View and will relocate to 1 Pilgrim Place in Newcastle city centre by the end of 2027.
Job Summary
As the UK government’s largest public service provider, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for welfare, pensions, and child maintenance policies.
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) supports parents who are unable to reach a private financial agreement by ensuring – and when necessary, enforcing – their legal responsibility to contribute to their child’s living costs. Our mission is simple: to get money to children, because it makes a real difference in their lives.
While we’ve made significant progress in transforming our service, we remain ambitious about what more we can achieve for the families who rely on us. CMS is a dynamic and rewarding place to work. Step into any of our service centres and you’ll find passionate, dedicated professionals committed to supporting our customers.
We are proud to foster an inclusive and diverse workforce where everyone can thrive. If you're looking to make a difference, this could be the career for you.
This is a fantastic opportunity to start or grow a fulfilling career in the Civil Service. We offer a flexible work-life balance, along with opportunities for growth, challenge, and personal development.
Job Description
The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is responsible for all aspects of child maintenance in Great Britain. Our role is to promote financial responsibility, and to encourage and support private maintenance arrangements, as well as provide a statutory maintenance service.
This role is to lead the Customer Insight team in a fast-paced environment and will be expected to be a self-starter, exceptional leader to inspire and empower others to deliver.
The role requires close working with CMS Senior Leaders and partners/stakeholders across the DWP and wider government, building and maintaining strong relationships at all levels.
The successful applicant must be able to deliver at pace and be able to demonstrate excellent stakeholder management.
Key Responsibilities Will Include:
- Provide visible and effective leadership across the customer insight functions, setting clear direction, role modelling Civil Service values, and creating an inclusive, high-performing team culture.
- Lead, motivate, and develop teams and individuals, building capability, encouraging innovation, and continuous improvement, and ensuring resources are aligned to business priorities.
- Oversee the analysis and interpretation of customer insight, feedback, and business intelligence to identify trends, risks, and opportunities, and shape strategic recommendations.
- Ensure the production of clear, accurate, and timely briefing products and narrative, translating complex information into high-quality outputs for senior leaders, Directors General, and ministers.
- Use customer insight and evidence from across the business to challenge existing ways of working, inform decision-making, and drive service improvements that improve outcomes for customers.
- Build strong relationships with senior leaders and key stakeholders across Child Maintenance Service, DWP, and external partners, influencing priorities, securing buy-in, and enabling delivery of shared objectives.
- Operate effectively in a fast-paced and complex environment, managing competing demands, commissioning further analysis where needed, and ensuring delivery to tight deadlines.
- Work as part of the senior leadership team to align customer insight activity with wider organisational priorities, supporting joined-up planning and delivery.
- Make sound, evidence-based decisions and recommendations that are strategic, practical, and focused on improving customer experience and business outcomes.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Person specification
Your personal statement will be assessed against the following essential criteria. Please ensure you provide specific, evidence-based examples that clearly demonstrate how you meet each one.
Essential Criteria:
- Strong leadership skills, with the ability to set clear direction, build an inclusive and high-performing culture, and inspire teams to deliver against business priorities (Lead criterion)
- Proven experience of leading and developing teams, including across multiple sites or through remote line management, building capability, confidence, and continuous improvement
- Demonstrable ability to work at pace in a complex and pressurised environment, balancing competing priorities and delivering to demanding deadlines
- Excellent drafting and briefing skills, with the ability to translate complex information into clear, concise products for senior leaders, up to and including ministerial level
- Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to interpret data, identify trends, and risks with sound judgement and decision-making turn evidence into clear actions and evidence-based recommendations that are strategic, practical, and focused on delivering better outcomes for customers and the business
- Experience of using customer insight, feedback, and business intelligence to shape recommendations, challenge existing ways of working, and drive service improvement
- Strong collaboration, communication, and influencing skills, with the ability to build credibility and buy-in with a wide range of stakeholders to deliver shared outcomes and improve service
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Changing and Improving
- Delivering at Pace
- Managing a Quality Service
Salary and Benefits
Alongside your salary of £57,946, the Department for Work and Pensions contributes £16,786 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
Working for DWP will include benefits such as learning and development tailored to your role, an environment with flexible working options, a culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
Annual Leave
23 days annual leave rising with service to 30 days, plus public holidays.
Flexi Time
Access to flexible working hours scheme will be available.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Hybrid Working
This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement, and your office will be your contractual place of work.
If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office.
If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert.
Working Hours
The Department’s Contracted Working Hours Are:
- Monday to Friday: 07:45 to 20:00
- Saturday: 08:45 to 17:00
Employees are contracted to work a set number of hours per week within these timeframes.
For full-time employees, this is 37 net hours per week (equivalent to 42 gross hours, including meal breaks).
For part-time employees, the number of hours will be proportionally less, based on their contract.
Employees are expected to work the full number of hours for which they are contracted.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate, and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn, and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, and Experience.
Eligibility
Visa Sponsorship
For these vacancies, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply. Please note that while we consider sponsorship requests in accordance with current DWP guidance and Home Office policy, sponsorship cannot be guaranteed.
Location
Applicants should only apply for roles where they can reasonably commute to and from their selected home office location daily.
Selection Process
As part of the application process, you will be asked to submit a CV and a 1250-word Personal Statement.
Important Information Regarding Anonymisation
When completing your application form, CV, and personal statement, you must remove any personal details that could be used to identify you. This includes name and contact details which might usually appear on a CV or personal statement.
Failure to do so will result in your application being withdrawn.
Personal Statement
Write an evidence-based statement demonstrating your suitability for the role, reflecting on the essential criteria outlined in the Job Description.
Your evidence-based statement should be no longer than 1250 words. Avoid generalised claims – focus instead on specific examples that highlight your achievements. For each example, explain the context, the challenges you faced, the actions you took, and the outcomes you achieved.
Sift
The sift panel will assess your evidence-based statement to evaluate your experience
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills