Strategy, Policy and Engagement Advisor

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.

Please note

Former DSIT recruitment campaigns are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government moves and will ultimately be in one of the new departments. We will provide more information if you are selected for a role. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.

Job description

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.

GOV.UK One Login represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to simplify and widen access to all digital government services. Sitting at the heart of the government, we are building one straightforward, secure and inclusive way for users to log in and prove who they are that will work across all government services.

The GOV.UK One Login programme is full of talented and passionate people who are consistently delivering high quality products for services and individuals. We’re half way through our build phase and features are being shipped almost weekly as we work to mature our product set so that we can expand the range of services and departments benefitting from our work.

Sometimes described as the most strategic programme in government, GOV.UK One Login represents a once in a career opportunity to work on a software product that will be used by the majority of the people living in the UK. It’s a fast paced, dynamic and challenging environment that is sure to offer you career satisfaction as well as a chance to develop and enhance your skills.

The Strategy, Policy and Engagement team plays a critical role in shaping the direction and success of the overall programme. By setting a clear strategic vision, ensuring alignment with broader government priorities, and fostering strong relationships across departments and stakeholders, we create the foundation for effective delivery.

We are recruiting for two Strategy, Policy and Engagement Advisor roles. One role will support GOV.UK One Login and the other will support GOV.UK Wallet. Please indicate in your personal statement whether you have a preference for either role, or if you would like to be considered for both.

Whilst we will take candidate preferences into account wherever possible, if both successful candidates express the same preference, we may need to re-allocate candidates across the two programmes to meet business requirements.

Strategy, Policy and Engagement Advisor, GOV.UK One Login

You will play a key role in shaping the strategic direction of GOV.UK One Login, bringing together user, policy, operational and delivery perspectives to inform decision-making. Working with stakeholders across government, you will analyse complex issues, develop evidence-based recommendations and build alignment around priorities that support the long-term objectives of GOV.UK One Login.

Strategy, Policy and Engagement Advisor, GOV.UK Wallet

This position will play a significant role in engaging across government and the wider public sector, identifying and engaging with organisations who will use the GOV.UK Wallet. There will be an initial focus on the rollout of the digital driving licence. This role will involve leading engagement with stakeholders across the public sector, developing guidance, helping resolve policy questions and supporting operational readiness.

As a Strategy, Policy and Engagement Advisor, you’ll:

• support the development and delivery of legislation, strategies and policies in line with the wider digital product, service and business requirements.
• collect and analyse complex information, evidence and business needs, working across policy, legislative, operational and digital, data and technology functions, to develop recommendations.
• engage with stakeholders across departments and externally to build trust, manage blockers and influence decisions where appropriate for alignment and support for strategic priorities. This will include providing clear, authoritative briefings and advice to senior decision ‑ makers.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

We’re interested in people who:

• help shape and align cross ‑ government policies and strategies by investigating problems and translating business needs into clear recommendations of opportunities and solutions.
• take accountability for work and emerging issues, identifying and addressing risks, adapting at pace in a fast ‑ moving environment, and supporting delivery of high ‑ quality user outcomes.
• build and maintain effective relationships with senior stakeholders, contributing to discussions, influencing where appropriate, and helping manage demand against shared priorities.
• demonstrate inclusive and supportive leadership, contributing to the development of people and the continuous improvement of ways of working.

Desirable Criteria

• Strong analytical and quantitative problem-solving skills, including experience applying modelling, forecasting or scenario analysis techniques to evaluate options, assess impacts and support decision-making in complex organisational, operational or digital environments.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,620, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes

£12,926 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.

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.

Things you need to know

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 compl ete a Civil Service Judgement Test. I f 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 28th September 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.

There will be maintenance for online tests on Sunday, 27th September. This means you will be unable to access the online tests between:

• BST (London) 4pm-Midnight

Your progress will be saved, and you will be able to continue once the tests are available again.

If successful on the test you will progress to the next stage of the application process.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and a number of Behaviour statements. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Applications will be sifted on behavioural statements and CV.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the lead behaviour statement (Seeing the Big Picture) only.

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Interviews will have two stages.

The first will be a 15 minute phone interview to discuss:

• Questions relating directly to their experience and their CV.
• Questions on the examples provided in their application form assessing the lead criteria of ‘help shape and align cross government policies and strategies by investigating problems and translating business needs into clear recommendations of opportunities and solutions’

The final interview (45 minutes-1 hour) will consist of behaviour questions, as well as a written exercise.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

Former DSIT recruitment campaigns are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government moves and will ultimately be in one of the new departments. We will provide more information if you are selected for a role. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

I nformation 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 our recruitment process can be found in our DSIT Candi