Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
Digital Strategy Lead
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Bristol, London, Manchester
Job Summary
The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.
Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:
- joining up public sector services
- harnessing the power of AI for the public good
- strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
- elevating leadership and investing in talent
- funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
- committing to transparency and driving accountability
We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.
We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.
The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.
Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.
Job Description
This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the next chapter of modern digital government at the Government Digital Service (GDS). As a Digital Strategy Lead, you will be at the heart of work to turn the ambition of the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government into practical, visible change across the public sector.
You will also work with senior leaders across GDS and wider government to build shared confidence in the next transformation horizon beyond the blueprint: setting a clear vision, using evidence to show what works, and translating complex priorities into tangible goals, plans and delivery choices.
This is a high-profile and varied role for someone who enjoys working strategically, moving between policy, finance, delivery and transformation questions, and bringing structure to complex issues. You will be expected to operate at pace, exercise sound judgement and help senior leaders make the decisions that will shape the future of digital government.
This is a great opportunity for anyone who enjoys bringing clarity to complex problems and wants to help redesign how government works so that citizens experience simpler, faster and better services.
Person specification
As Digital Strategy Lead, You Will
- Help set the strategic direction for GDS and the wider digital and data function, bringing together evidence, insight and senior stakeholder views to identify the choices government needs to make and turn them into a clear, compelling plan for delivery.
- Lead important strands of work to prepare for Spending Reviews, including supporting efficiency opportunities, developing cost models, shaping bids and assessing proposals from across government. Working closely with HM Treasury, Cabinet Office, departments, CDIOs and Heads of Digital, you will help secure the funding, reforms and operating conditions needed to deliver better outcomes for users, departments and the public.
- Create strong strategic narratives about what is working, what is not working and what needs to change to continuously deliver against the strategy set, using data and insights to make recommendations.
- Translate complex information into high-quality advice, submissions, slide decks and other products for senior officials and ministers, helping leaders make well-informed decisions with confidence and pace.
- Build trusted relationships across GDS, DSIT and wider government, aligning conversations with senior leaders and delivery partners so that the digital centre of government speaks with clarity and purpose. This will involve influencing across organisational boundaries, resolving challenges quickly and helping teams co-create practical plans that can be delivered.
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As a line manager, you will be responsible for working with your members of staff to define their objectives, as well as managing their development and performance.
Essential Criteria
The ideal candidate will have:
- Experience shaping complex, long-term strategies across systems, bringing clarity, structure and direction to ambiguous issues.
- Proven ability to interpret complex qualitative and quantitative evidence, identify key insights and make clear, evidence-based recommendations.
- Experience leading work through others outside of their direct reporting lines and helping teams stay engaged, focused and high performing.
- Strong relationship-building skills, with the credibility to engage, influence and work effectively with senior leaders, ministers, other departments and external stakeholders.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to turn complex material into clear briefings, presentations and advice for different audiences.
- Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and deliver high-quality work at pace in a complex, political environment.
- Ability to tackle challenging issues, develop practical solutions and adapt confidently as circumstances change.
- Confidence making balanced decisions, weighing risks and opportunities, and taking accountability for outcomes.
Desirable criteria
Experience working with the digital and data profession.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Leadership
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
Alongside your salary of £56,850, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £16,469 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).
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:
- A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
- Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
- A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
- An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
- Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
- A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.
Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
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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
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
After submission of the first stage of your application you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Judgement Test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application.
Please complete the online tests as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the tests is 23:55 on 24/08/2026. If you fail to complete the online test before the deadline your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the CS Jobs website.
You will be directed to the Talogy - True Talent – Scheduled Maintenance Window Webpage for online tests during an outage.
Please note: Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance between midday and 1 p.m., and 4 p.m., and midnight on 09/08/2026 and 4 p.m., and 7 p.m., on the 23/08/2026. You will be unable to access tests during this period.
If you are in the middle of a test when the maintenance begins, your progress will be paused. You will be able to resume your test from where you left off via your application centre once the downtime has ended. Please note that you will not be able to launch any new tests while the system is offline.
As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Please use your personal statement (in no more than 750 words) to set out how your relevant experience matches the essential criteria listed in this advert.
Applications will be sifted on CV and personal statement.
In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the personal statement only.
Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
The interview will consist of behaviour-based questions.
Interviewees will be asked to deliver a presentation; further details will be provided nearer the time.
Sift and interview dates
Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Further Information
For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.
Reasonable Adjustment
We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.
Information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that we offer to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during
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