Assistant Head, Strategy Development

Job summary

Do you want to work on one or the most exciting transformation projects in the public sector?

The Defence Housing Service (DHS) is being created through the Armed Forces Bill to deliver a step-change in housing for the UK’s Armed Forces and their families following the publication of the Defence Housing Strategy on 3 November 2025, which marked the most significant change to Armed Forces housing in over 50 years. DHS will bring a dedicated focus to improving the homes, communities and lived experience of Service personnel, placing families firmly at the heart of everything it does.

This is one of the most ambitious housing transformation programmes in the UK today. Backed by a £9.2 billion investment, DHS will modernise tens of thousands of homes, introduce a more proactive and customer-focused approach to maintenance, and unlock new opportunities to develop housing on Defence land. DHS will have the focus and agility to deliver change at pace, combining public service values with greater flexibility to build the skills, systems and partnerships needed for the future.

This is a rare opportunity to be part of shaping its culture, influencing how it works, and helping deliver lasting improvements for Service families across the UK.

The Defence Housing team is currently part of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), who respond to the evolving needs of our military personnel, and the ways in which they live, work, train and deploy. We are proud to be the expert partner Defence needs for all their infrastructure requirements. From large scale infrastructure projects such as runways for the F35 fighter jets to net carbon-zero accommodation for our Service families, our activities focus relentlessly on our customers, and our outputs are unique in the UK and across the globe!

DIO , What we deliver every day.

The future delivery model for this team is currently under review and may change as part of potential organisational developments. This could include the team or function transferring to a different employer or organisational structure in the future. Should activities transfer out of the Ministry of Defence existing employees transferring with those activities will maintain the same, or substantially the same, terms and conditions of employment.

Job description

As Assistant Head, Strategy Development, you’ll will work closely with the Deputy Head of Strategy, cross-cutting stakeholders and experts, to translate strategic priorities into clear, deliverable outputs.

You’ll bring together evidence, insight and a range of perspectives, to tackle complex cross-cutting strategy challenges, whilst enhancing business capabilities and driving performance. You’ll lead on a variety of interesting strategic areas, which are likely to include the Corporate Strategy, Annual Report and bespoke cross-cutting projects, that ensure Service Personnel and their families are at the heart of defence development activities.

You’ll need to hit the ground running, with strong strategic thinking, leadership capabilities and a track record of seeing the bigger picture, turning complex issues into clear, practical recommendations. You’ll be passionate about building strategy from the ground up and dedicating time and resources to develop team capability, to make DIO Accommodation Strategy a great place to work.

Responsibilities

• Support delivery of key DIO strategies, such as the Corporate Strategy, to provide a clear vision, evidence-based objectives and deliverable outputs for the organisation.

• Bring together stakeholder perspectives, to address gaps and opportunities to support clear decision making, against Strategy deliverables.

• Lead monitoring and reporting against The Defence Housing Strategy recommendations, identifying key risks and areas for improvement.

• Lead and line-manage a small Strategy team, providing guidance and mentorship as required, to ensure alignment with strategy development and delivery.

• Lead high-profile, cross cutting projects on behalf of senior leaders, to help drive forward delivery of Defence Housing Strategy recommendations and wider organisational priorities.

• Provide clear strategic outputs that influence tangible operational and policy change, putting Service Personnel and their families at the heart of areas for improvement.

• Ensure recommendations from strategic projects have clear owners and implementation arrangements to drive successful delivery; establishing project structures, plans and governance to maintain momentum, managing risk and dependencies to deliver high-quality outcomes.

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders including internal DIO teams, wider MOD colleagues, external partners and serving personnel/families and their representatives.

Person specification

To be successful in this role you’ll need to demonstrate the following essential criteria in your application: (weighting order):

1. Demonstrable experience of strategic thinking, strategy development and delivery. (personal statement)

2. Strong leadership capabilities, able to work with and bring together a wide range of individuals and teams to work on shared objectives. (personal statement)

3. Experience of project and/or programme management, including structure, governance and risk management.

4. Line management experience, including building capability and developing high performing teams.

5. Able to demonstrate ability to analyse evidence, evaluate options and make strategic recommendations.

6. Excellent stakeholder management skills, able to build strong working relationships, to influence and deliver objectives.

Additional information

We have a strong learning and development ethos, supporting you to fulfil your potential by providing learning and development tailored to your role, professional skills development, access to thousands of training courses through Civil Service Learning and the ability to obtain industry recognised qualifications, supported by MOD.

This role can be based at London SW1A 2HB, Whittington WS14 9PY, Andover SP11 8HJ, Wyton PE28 2EA or Bristol BS34 8QW. Work location will be agreed once the successful candidate has been selected.

This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is an informal, non-contractual and voluntary arrangement, blending a balance of attendance in the workplace (your permanent duty station, which is based on business assessment of where the work is best done) and working from home as a personal choice (if the role is suitable for this). If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

Dependent on the business need, there will be a requirement to travel to meetings within the UK (and potentially occasional overseas visits).

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,630, Ministry of Defence contributes £17,854 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 with a dedicated minimum of 5 days per year
• 25 days paid annual leave rising (by 1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of five years’ service
• Ability to roll up to 10 days annual leave per year
• In addition to eight public holidays per year, you will also receive leave for HM The King’s birthday
• A Civil Service pension
• Parental and Adoption Leave
• Discounts on a range of services within and external to the civil service – Defence Discount Service, Civil Service societies for Sports and Leisure, Healthcare, Insurance, Motoring, Company discounts with Virgin, Vodafone, and Microsoft Office.
• In year rewards and ‘thank you’ schemes such as vouchers and gift cards
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• Find out more here - Discovermybenefits

Our people are at the heart of everything we do. It’s vital that our workforce reflects the diversity of both our audience and the wider society in the UK, so we’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer and we actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds and communities. We also recognise the importance of a good work life balance, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including part-time and job shares for all our roles. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process if this is something you want to explore.

Defence operates an organisation model in which every individual belongs to a Government Profession. The successful applicant will be posted into one of the defined Government Professions on Standard Terms of Reference for the grade. Defence reserves the right to move individuals between roles, within their allocated profession, to meet the needs of the business and in support of agile resourcing.

Defence is going through a significant transformation programme which aims to improve the way it conducts its business and delivers for Defence and the nation. As a consequence of this, all posts are/will be subject to review and potential changes, as we continuously improve across the period of the transformation programme. These changes may be minor or could be more substantive and will generate new opportunities. Throughout the transformation programme, Defence is committed to following the MOD’s framework on managing and supporting people through the change process and places an emphasis on early and open consultation and engagement with personnel and Trade Unions.

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.

At application, candidates will be required to provide:

• A CV detailing your job history and previous skills and experience. Review the essential criteria above and evidence how you meet them with clear and relevant examples.
• A personal statement (no more than 500 words). Applicants should use their personal statement to demonstrate how their skills, knowledge and experience align with essential criteria 1 & 2, as detailed in the Person Specification.

The sift will be conducted on your CV and personal statement.

Interviews

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

Behaviours

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

In the event of a tied score at interview, the order of merit will be distinguished based on the ranking of the assessed Behaviours in the order listed above.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.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 see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : NAD Talent Acquisition Team
• Email : alexander.penny102@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : NAD-TalentAcquisition@mod.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance you should contact the department via email: NAD-Recruitment-Complaints@mod.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

Candidate Information Pack Opens in new window (docx, 31kB)DIO Candidate Information Guide Opens in new window (pdf, 1963kB)MOD Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1562kB)