About the job

Job summary

GDS exists to help government make brilliant public services that empower people in the UK. We work at the very centre of government to drive digital transformation, focused on users. We build and maintain common platforms, products and tools for others to use and create great public services that are accessible, inclusive and easy to use. We also work with departments to identify patterns, share learning and create change to make government more efficient.

Our teams are organised around delivering on our priorities. These are:

• making it easier for people to find what they are looking for on GOV.UK
• building common service platforms to make it simpler and cheaper to build quality digital services
• promoting agile, user-centred design practices both in the UK and across the world

GOV.UK is the groundbreaking single website for the UK government with more than 700,000 pages, 30 million monthly users, and home to hundreds of vital public services. As a Senior Delivery Manager, you will lead one or more multi-disciplinary teams to research, design, build and ship major changes to GOV.UK. Your team will be part of the award-winning GOV.UK programme, and will be empowered to improve the way the people interact with the government at national scale.

The GOV.UK team’s mission is to make it simple for everyone to interact with government. GOV.UK is part of everyone’s lives in the UK, from registering a birth to starting a business. Our priorities are to ensure more people get what they are eligible for, the public is better informed, and that digital government is joined-up. GOV.UK’s recent work to help people find support with the cost of living is a great example of this, and you can read about some of the GOV.UK team’s other work on the Inside GOV.UK blog (https://insidegovuk.blog.gov.uk/).

GOV.UK is currently one of the top 25 most visited websites in the UK, and it’s our responsibility to be iterating and improving all the time as technology and user needs change. This role includes opportunities to experiment with new technologies and platforms with the potential to transform how the public interacts with GOV.UK.

Job description

We’re looking for a candidate with a demonstrated history of leading product delivery teams, with a strong emphasis on data-driven, user-centric approaches, in an agile setting. Your leadership should be deeply anchored in prioritising user needs, with a keen focus on delivering tangible outcomes and fostering a collaborative environment.

You’ll be working in a growing cross-functional team. You’ll also be working with stakeholders both internal and across government to understand needs and to deliver new capability.

You’ll be core to making decisions that build a high performing team, adept at breaking down barriers for your team, and both planning at a higher level and getting into the details to make things happen when needed.

As a Senior Delivery Manager, you’ll:

• lead and motivate multiple multi-disciplinary teams, helping them organise and plan their work, ensuring they deliver timely products and services that actually meet users’ needs
• co-create and co-own plans and progress using recognised lean/agile practices, and communicate status to more senior people and users appropriately
• provide useful and accurate delivery metrics to facilitate continual improvement 
• facilitate an inclusive team environment where innovation and challenge are welcomed from all colleagues
• deliver to the agreed goals, actively tackling impediments, risks and blockers, and communicating and escalating where necessary
• continually improve the effectiveness, efficiency and cohesion of teams 
• Work with senior leaders and stakeholders in GDS and Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) to ensure all needs are understood and to influence strategic direction
• develop, guide and coach your delivery manager line reports
• manage stakeholders to ensure strategic alignment and effective communication, taking into account organisational context and different needs and priorities, dealing constructively with conflicting views 
• work in partnership with product and technical leads on high profile work in ambiguous, complex and/or uncertain domains
• promote continual improvement, good communication and collaboration across the organisation using the principles of agile at scale

Person specification

We’re interested in people with experience of:

• using agile practices to ensure the iterative and timely delivery of products and services that serve real user needs 
• facilitating effective workshops which give a voice to all participants and provide concrete outputs that enable delivery 
• leading successful high functioning multidisciplinary delivery teams which are aligned to the organisation’s strategic priorities and the needs of stakeholders
• actively tackling impediments, risks and blockers, and communicating and escalating where necessary

Benefits

The benefits of working at GDS

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for The King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• paid volunteering leave
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to children's holiday play schemes across different locations in central London
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

GDS offers hybrid working for all employees. This means that everyone does some working from home and also spends some time in their local office. You’ll agree to your hybrid working arrangement with your line manager in line with your preferences and business needs.

Any move to Government Digital Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Things you need to know

Selection process details

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and to answer 2 questions related to the person specification
• a 60 minute video interview - as part of your interview you will be asked to prepare and deliver a presentation

Whilst we value the use of AI technology to enhance our daily work, we also value the personal touch and urge applicants to write responses without the use of AI to emphasise their own unique experiences.

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• delivering at pace
• changing and improving
• leadership
• making effective decisions
• developing self and others
  

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Digital, Data and Technology Profession Capability Framework for the Senior Delivery Manger role:

• Agile and Lean practices
• Commercial management
• Communicating between the technical and non-technical
• Financial management
• Life cycle perspective
• Maintaining delivery momentum
• Making a process work
• Planning
• Team dynamics and collaboration

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.