Government Digital Service
Head of Strategy and Policy, GOV.UK
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Location - 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.
Within GDS, the Digital Products Group is responsible for running and evolving some of the UK government’s most critical digital products and platforms. This includes GOV.UK, the trusted source of authoritative government services and information. GOV.UK supports millions of individuals and businesses each week to find information and complete tasks that are essential to live, work and do business in the UK.
The GOV.UK website supports an average of 88m visits per month, making it one of the most used digital services in the UK. But GOV.UK is now much more than a web platform, reaching users through an increasing variety of channels including GOV.UK Social, GOV.UK App and GOV.UK Chat. Together these form a core part of the UK’s digital public infrastructure.
The Head of Strategy and Policy will play a leading role both within the GOV.UK directorate - a team of approaching 300 people, which delivers the GOV.UK Website, Social, Content, Publishing, Insights and Analytics. It will also work across Digital Products Group, leading our channel strategy and Proposition across the GOV.UK product suite. They will lead a multidisciplinary team of c.13 people, comprising strategy, policy, service design, research and evaluation.
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Job description
As the Head of Strategy and Policy, GOV.UK, you will be responsible for:
Strategy
- working with the Senior Leadership Team to determine strategy for the GOV.UK directorate, as well as the multichannel strategy across the GOV.UK product suite
- working with the Heads of Product and Delivery to communicate and align the strategy with stakeholders, developing a compelling narrative and supporting materials, inspiring and motivate others to embrace and execute the strategy
- working with the Head of Programme to translate the strategy into business cases and secure funding for GOV.UK
Evaluation
- working with analysis colleagues, shape the development of the directorate's benefits model and evaluation strategy
- working with analysis colleagues, monitor and measure the progress and performance of the strategy via key metrics and recommend adjustments as needed
Policy
- leading the transformation of the GOV.UK Proposition - the policy for what must and must not go on GOV.UK - expanding from its current website focus to cover the full range of GOV.UK's channels and capabilities. This includes defining, agreeing, communicating and embedding the updated Proposition across government.
- leading the assurance and monitoring of exemption requests from other public sector bodies for the creation of new digital websites and channels
- overseeing all official correspondence and day to day policy work for the directorate, including parliamentary business and FOIs
Business relationship engagement
- managing and driving strategic engagement with priority stakeholders to ensure the directorate understands stakeholder needs and to enable delivery against the strategy in partnership with other government departments and external parties
Leadership
- leading a multidisciplinary team of user-centred design, policy, strategy, evaluation and engagement professionals, developing and supporting staff to be the best they can be and to achieve objectives
- acting as a valued and integral member of the GOV.UK Leadership team responsible for management of the GOV.UK directorate
- deputising for the Deputy Director for Strategy, Insights and Programme as required
- taking part in the out-of-hours on-call escalations rota for GOV.UK
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Person specification
We’re interested in people who;
- have proven experience of setting and leading strategy in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment, with the ability to translate long‑term vision into clear priorities and deliverable plans for large‑scale digital public services
- have strong strategic judgement, including the ability to weigh evidence, manage risk, and advise senior leaders on trade‑offs in politically and operationally sensitive contexts.
- can demonstrable ability to build constructive relationships and exert influence across organisational and departmental boundaries, including with DSIT, GDS, policy teams, delivery organisations and external partners
- have credibility in engaging senior civil servants and teams, presenting complex issues clearly and persuasively to support collective decision‑making
- have experience of leading, motivating and developing multidisciplinary teams, creating clarity of purpose and a strong culture of collaboration, inclusion and continuous improvement
- have ability to set direction while empowering others, supporting professional development across policy, strategy, data and digital disciplines
- can demonstrate analytical rigour, pulling together strong evidence and testing assumptions with users, delivery partners and stakeholders
- are able to operate in an ambiguous and changing environment, identifying what's important and continuing to drive delivery
- are able to lead without authority, influencing and motivating peers and stakeholders to deliver outcomes and align plans
- have experience of shaping or implementing cross‑government strategies or operating models
In order to assist candidates with this role, we will be holding a virtual recruitment session on Tuesday, 21st July at 13:00 - 14:00.
DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.
Please click the "Apply" button for further information.
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