UK Ministry of Defence
Deputy Director People Analysis
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Regular attendance to MOD Main Building London, is required, although your contractual location can be either London or MOD Abbey Wood, Bristol. There is an expectation that a minimum of 60% of working time will be spent in the office.
Job Summary
The Deputy Director of People Analysis will lead analysis for the People Function and Expenditure Statistics. You will be responsible for a multidisciplinary team of over 100 people across London, Bristol, Andover, High Wycombe, and Portsmouth. Together, these teams forecast and model the future shape of Defence's military and civilian workforce, deliver management information on organizational health, undertake research and evaluation of major people policies, and provide a centre of excellence for Defence survey activity. They also produce more than 20 National and Official Statistics publications and oversee compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
The People Analysis teams are currently undergoing significant transformation as part of Defence Reform. You will play a pivotal role in shaping and leading this change, working closely with your Grade 6 leadership team and senior leaders across the People Function to create a more efficient, effective, and responsive analytical service.
The role also currently includes leadership of a team delivering critical expenditure analysis that strengthens both internal and public understanding of Defence's economic contribution across the nations and regions of the United Kingdom. In addition, you will oversee a high-performing business support function that provides essential enabling services to analysts across the Directorate and Function.
Job Description
The responsibilities of the role include:
- Lead multidisciplinary analytical teams covering People and Expenditure Statistics, ensuring all statistical and analytical outputs meet the highest professional standards, support decision-making, and comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
- Lead the transformation of People Analysis as part of Defence Reform, delivering a more efficient, effective, and responsive analytical service while supporting colleagues through significant change. This will also include working very closely with the digital leadership in the People Function to support the provision of good quality and well-curated People data at a time of significant change.
- Provide leadership to four Grade 6s and a geographically dispersed team of over 100 analysts across multiple professions and specialisms.
- Play a full role as a member of the Directorate of Analysis and Performance leadership team, supporting the Director in delivering high-quality evidence and insight for critical Defence decisions and fostering an inclusive, high-performing culture.
- Build strong relationships with senior leaders across Defence, including Directors, Directors General (DGs) and senior military officers, to ensure analytical evidence is at the heart of strategic decision-making.
- Represent the Analysis Function on senior boards and governance forums, acting as a trusted adviser on people policy.
- Champion the integrity, quality, and independence of analysis while supporting ministerial priorities and delivery of the Strategic Defence Review. Drive a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and inclusion, harnessing new analytical techniques and technologies to improve impact and efficiency.
- Depending on wider organizational arrangements, the role may also include responsibilities as Chief Statistician, acting as the professional head of statistics in Defence and representing the Department with the Office for Statistics Regulation and UK Statistics Authority where required.
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Person Specification
- Strategic Analytical Leadership: Experience of leading broad and diverse analytical portfolios, balancing multiple priorities, and ensuring high-quality outputs that inform strategic decision-making.
- Leadership: Proven ability to lead, develop, and inspire large teams, creating an inclusive, high-performing culture, and delivering results through people.
- Leading Change and Improvement: Experience of leading change, innovation, or continuous improvement in analytical delivery, bringing people with you, and delivering better outcomes, services, or ways of working.
- Strategic Influence: Excellent communication and influencing skills, with demonstrable experience of translating complex evidence into clear and compelling analytical insight that influences senior leaders and informs strategic decision-making.
- Analytical Expertise: Proven extensive experience in complex analytical roles, demonstrating strong strategic thinking, analytical skills, and insight. Able to provide well-rounded recommendations and ensure decisions are based on robust evidence.
- Member of one of the badged analytical professions: (Government Social Research, Government Economic Service, Government Statistical Service, or Government Operational Research Service) or willingness to achieve it within an agreed timeframe upon appointment.
Desirable Criteria
May be used in the event of a strong field of candidates when there is a need to distinguish between candidates. This will be as a second sift, after the essential criteria have been considered.
- Experience of leading the production and dissemination of National and Official Statistics, including oversight of statistical quality, governance, and compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
Compensation
Alongside your salary of £86,000, the Ministry of Defence contributes £24,914 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
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. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection Process Details
To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process accessed via the Civil Service Jobs portal. This should be completed no later than 23:55 on 18th October 2026 and will involve providing the two documents which are weighted equally:
- A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
- A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) providing tangible examples that clearly evidence how you meet the essential criteria for the role.
External candidates who join the MOD and are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.
For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.
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Gianfranco Mansi will be offering a Q&A session on the 7th October at 11am to provide an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process. If you have any issues accessing the session, please contact: Adrian.Craven103@mod.gov.uk.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.
As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.
Security
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window). See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality Requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
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