Deputy Director Data Modernisation and Deputy Director Data Innovation (2 posts)

Job summary

Home Office Digital designs, builds and runs the technology and services that deliver, at scale, some of the UK’s most critical and well-used public services. The engineering capability plays a critical part in every part of the Home Office in delivering its mission from how we secure the border and control immigration to issues passports and reducing and preventing crime, supporting these services that impact millions of people every year.

The Home Office Digital estate consists of more than 600 systems, enabling critical services such as;

• 13 million Electronic Travel Authorisations since launch
• 3 million visa applications annually
• 130 million border checks each year
• 7 million passport applications annually
• 140 million police checks on people, vehicles, and property

You will work closely with the Chief Data Officer to translate strategic priorities into tangible outcomes, ensuring that data programmes deliver measurable improvements in operational performance, decision-making and service delivery. You will sit within the Digital & Innovation Group and be part of the wider Data and Innovation leadership community, working closely with senior leaders across Digital, Data, Technology, Analysis and Operational functions.

We are recruiting for two roles:

1. Deputy Director – Data Modernisation : We are enhancing and modernising the departments Data Services and Analytics capabilities to provide the single source within the department and inter-department and enable AI deployment at scale. The Deputy Director will lead the DSA modernisation program which will include implementation of some 3rd party market leading packages to accelerate delivery, simplifying the data technology landscape, ensuring data held in front line tools (like excel sheets) feeds into cloud-based systems and enables self-serve analytics for Director Generals and other senior stakeholders.

2. Deputy Director - Data Innovation : There are several opportunities for rapid improvement in our data landscape by deploying automation at scale, leveraging AI as appropriate. These can be within business areas, technology teams and corporate teams. The Deputy Director will lead a rapid action team to solve quick wins at pace will unlock significant cost and improvement opportunities for the Home Office. This team will also experiment and incubate long term strategic capability issues where a rapid fix is not possible. This will include research & development engagements with 3rd party market leaders on specific topics including corporates, academia, other government departments etc.

Job description

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of both roles will include:

• Lead the delivery of the Home Office's strategic data transformation portfolio, ensuring programmes and initiatives deliver measurable operational outcomes and value.
• Drive data programs to unlock short term value at pace while shaping long term strategy.
• Drive complex cross-government data programmes that support critical operational priorities, including Foreign National Offender management, public protection, border security and immigration services.
• Translate the strategic vision established by the Chief Data Officer into deliverable programmes, products and capabilities that improve decision-making, service delivery and operational performance.
• Lead engagement with government departments, law enforcement partners and wider public sector organisations to improve data sharing, interoperability and the effective use of data across organisational boundaries.
• Remove barriers to data sharing and exploitation by coordinating business, operational, policy, legal and technology stakeholders to deliver sustainable solutions.
• Lead multidisciplinary teams and suppliers responsible for delivering data platforms, products and services that support Home Office priorities.
• Ensure robust governance, assurance and benefits realisation across major data programmes, maintaining appropriate standards for security, resilience and compliance.
• Support the delivery of AI-enabled capabilities by establishing strong data foundations, quality standards and governance arrangements.
• Provide regular reporting and assurance to the Chief Data Officer and senior governance forums on programme performance, risks, dependencies and outcomes.
• Champion a data-driven culture across the Home Office, promoting collaboration and maximising the value of departmental data assets.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate their knowledge, experience, capability and behavioural approach to a high standard against the following key criteria:

• An accomplished senior data leader with a strong track record of influencing, negotiating and building trusted relationships across functions, organisational boundaries, and at board and executive level.
• Significant experience leading complex programmes to deliver cross-boundary outcomes, spanning multiple stakeholders, governance structures and operational priorities, improving data sharing and delivering outcomes across organisational boundaries in regulatory, public service or similarly complex environments.
• Deep understanding of complex operational data environments and the challenges of managing, sharing, integrating and extracting value from data across law enforcement, criminal justice, border, immigration or comparable operational systems.
• Proven strategic expertise across data, analytics and AI, encompassing data management, quality, governance, architecture, integration, reporting, analytics, cloud technologies and the wider technology landscape, together with strong market knowledge of suppliers and industry developments.
• Exceptional leadership and people management capability, with a record of building high-performing, inclusive teams, leading through others, driving improvement and delivery at pace, and achieving outcomes within complex and fast-moving environments.
• Outstanding stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the credibility to align senior operational, policy, analytical and technology communities and translate complex technical and operational issues into clear advice for boards, senior leaders and executive stakeholders.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £90,000, Home Office contributes

£26,073 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).

• 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%

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

Online application

Please follow the Job Advert instructions on the Civil Service Jobs website to apply online by 23:55hrs on Thursday 8 th October 2026.

You will be asked to provide:

• A CV - (3 pages max) setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role. Please provide reasons for any gaps within the last two years.​​
• A Statement of Suitability – (limited to 1250 words) providing examples of how your experience meets the essential criteria.​​ This is your opportunity to give examples and show how your skills and experience fit the job requirements.

When writing a supporting statement, it is important that you:

• Read the job specification so you are clear about the job requirements. Structure your personal statement to reflect the essential criteria listed in the advert.
• Make sure you provide evidence against each of the listed criteria - i.e. ‘experienced in leading high performing and diverse teams and promoting inclusivity.’ When have you led a team, how large, what did you do to promote inclusivity, how did you handle diversity?
• Ensure any evidence you provide demonstrates the impact of your actions in that situation, provide statistical evidence where relevant.

For more information on how to write a personal statement, click here .

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please