Deputy Director, Local Digital and AI Foundations and Resilience

Job summary

Message from the Director

Hello, and thanks for your interest.

I am recruiting two Deputy Directors to help lead the Local Digital and AI Programme, working at the intersection of major developments shaping the country today: the PM and government's commitment to devolution, the rapid advancement of digital and AI, and strengthening the local public services that support every citizen and community.

The Local Digital and AI Programme is one the most ambitious programmes of its kind in government. Helping councils, combined authorities and mayoral authorities test, adopt and scale digital, data and AI in ways that are practical, responsible and focused on real-world outcomes for residents. Our work spans everything from cyber resilience and shared digital/ data standards and capabilities to AI-enabled services, data-driven improvement and support for local government reform.

These roles offer the opportunity to shape a nationally significant agenda, and deliver meaningful impact, at a time of considerable ambition and change. The decisions you make and the programmes you lead will help determine how technology is used to improve services, strengthen local institutions and deliver better outcomes for citizens.

Most importantly, you will join a talented and committed team that cares deeply about public service and making a positive difference.

If you are excited by the chance to help shape the future of public services and local government at a pivotal moment, I would be delighted to hear from you.

Finally, I really welcome applications from local government and outside the public sector. I joined civil service after working in industry and academia, and I’m happy to help you successfully transition across.

Tom Smith, Director AI, MHCLG

Job description

The Deputy Director, Local Digital and AI Foundations and Resilience leads the Department's portfolio supporting the secure, resilient and effective adoption of digital, data and responsible AI across local government. The role sits at the heart of an increasingly connected agenda, and you will be helping shape the capability and capacity support for mayoral authorities and councils to deliver the government’s Rewiring the State agenda.

The role oversees approximately £90m of programme activity across cyber resilience, assurance, standards, market-shaping, responsible AI foundations and shared national capabilities. You will lead multidisciplinary teams delivering national services, frameworks and interventions which help strengthen local capability and sector resilience, protect autonomy, manage risk and adopt technology safely and support devolution, growth and public service reform.

The role works extensively with ministers, digital and cyber partners, councils, combined authorities, suppliers and delivery partners to strengthen the foundations of local government.

You will be part of the senior leadership team for the Local Digital and AI Programme, working closely with the Deputy Director of Transformation and Services, and with colleagues in local government, devolution, AI, digital, cyber and commercial functions.

The role works closely with:

• Government Digital Service and wider digital functions.
• National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Government Cyber Unit and wider cyber partners.
• Local authorities and mayoral authorities.
• LGA, SOLACE and sector partners.
• Cross-government digital, security and commercial functions.
• Suppliers and delivery partners.

As Deputy Director for Local Digital and AI Foundations and Resilience, your key responsibilities will include:

• Leading delivery of the Local Digital programme, setting strategic direction, determining priorities, allocating resources and ensuring strong governance.
• Providing strategic leadership for cyber resilience and assurance activity, and building/ leading the specialist capability needed to deliver.
• Developing, overseeing and mainstreaming common cyber, digital and data standards, frameworks and guidance.
• Stewardship, governance, design and delivery of departmental interventions enabling local government and mayoral authorities to operate securely and resiliently at scale.
• Leading market-shaping and procurement support activity.
• Supporting responsible adoption of AI and digital technologies.
• Accountability for approximately £90m of public investment, major programmes, commercial oversight, value for money, benefits realisation and significant operational, financial, cyber and reputational risks.
• Advising ministers and senior officials on local government sector cyber, resilience and assurance issues.
• Leading and strengthening relationships with ministers, senior officials, local leaders, representative bodies, suppliers and regulators, requiring senior negotiation, persuasion and coalition-building.
• Managing major risks affecting programme delivery and sector resilience.
• Leading multidisciplinary teams across policy, cyber, commercial, assurance and programme disciplines.

Person specification

You should be able to demonstrate:

• Ability to set a clear strategic direction, build effective partnerships and influence stakeholders at all levels and across organisation boundaries, bringing people with you to deliver change.
• Strong track record of leading large-scale delivery portfolios in complex environments. Strong commercial, programme and governance capabilities.
• Experience of cyber, resilience, digital, technology, risk or assurance leadership.
• Experience operating at senior level across multiple stakeholder groups, providing robust advice on options, risks and mitigations.
• System-wide working, collaboration and influence, coalition-building of strong alliances across multiple stakeholders, organisations and the wider system (in this case Whitehall, local government and mayoral strategic authorities).
• Ability and credibility to lead specialist and multidisciplinary teams.
• Robust decision-making in environments characterised by complexity and uncertainty – eg complex judgements on the balance between national intervention and local autonomy, determining which capabilities are best delivered centrally and which should remain locally owned.

The role will require regular engagement with local authorities and partner organisations across England.

Essential criteria:

• High level of digital and technology fluency with experience of delivering digital and technology enabled outcomes at scale.
• Proven ability leading and shaping large, complex delivery portfolios involving significant budgets, risk, governance and visible accountability.
• Experience strengthening organisational resilience, assurance, technology, operational or risk-management capabilities.
• Strong evidence of delivering change through influence and coalition-building, including with senior and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience of creating an environment for multidisciplinary teams to successfully deliver meaningful impact, embedding a culture where empowered teams identify emerging trends and opportunities, learn/ adapt fast, and translate into outcomes.
• Visible and credible advocate for a digital future, championing data-led decision making, experimentation, continuous improvement and modern ways of working.

Desirable criteria

• Experience of local government, cyber resilience, national infrastructure, regulation or market interventions would be valuable.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £86,000, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £24,914 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).At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Staff Benefits Scheme, Childcare Vouchers, and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

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

We are MHCLG

How to Apply - To apply you will need to submit a CV and Statement of Suitability via the Be Applied link. Your CV (up to two pages) should set out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years. Your Statement of Suitability (up to two pages) should explain how your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential and desirable criteria for the role.

Equal Opportunities - We encourage candidates to complete the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Data via Be Applied. The data will be treated in the strictest confidence and used for monitoring and statistical purposes only.

Interview Schemes - MHCLG is a Disability Confident employer and is committed to protecting and promoting the physical and mental health of all colleagues and applicants. We also operate the Great Place to Work for Veterans and Redeployment schemes. Applicants applying under these schemes who meet the essential criteria, will be invited to interview.

The Panel - Tom Smith - Director and Hiring Manager, Fran Oram/Sophie Langdale - Directors, Chantal McEwan - Deputy Director

Additionally, the panel may be joined by one of our staff representatives from a pool of volunteers as part of our commitments to diversity and inclusion.

Shortlist - Applications will be sifted after the closing date and shortlisted candidates will be invited to the next phase of assessment and interview. Your CV and Statement of Suitability will be assessed against the essential criteria, these will also be used to form the basis of the panel’s final interview questions. Desirable criteria will only be used to determine the merit order of candidates who rank evenly against the essential criteria.

Assessment - Shortlisted candidates may be invited to attend a Staff Engagement Panel, designed to provide insight into how you engage and interact with your team. Feedback from the session is passed to the panel for consideration alongside your final interview.

Candidates may also be invited to meet with a Senior Stakeholder. This is not a formal part of selection, but an informal chance to find out more about the role and organisation.

Shortlisted candidates may also be invited to give a short presentation or complete an exercise at interviews - further details will be provided when invited to interview.

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

Expected Timeline

• Advert closes: W/C 3rd November 2026

• Shortlisting: W/C 9th November 2026

• Assessments W/C 16th November 2026

• Interviews: W/C 23rd November 2026

*Please note that we try to offer flexibility where possible, but it may not always be possible to offer alternative interview dates.

Salary​ - For external appointments, remuneration for this role is advertised at £86,000pa plus a bonus opportunity depending on performance (within the normal Civil Service pay arrangements) and attractive pension. ​

For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If appointed on promotion you would get the higher of 10% uplift or the new minimum for SCSPB1. Please also note that, if successful, any existing specialist allowances you currently receive will not automatically transfer or be retained upon moving to this role.​

Future pay awards will normally be made in line with current SCS performance-related pay arrangements.​

Eligibility​ - This post is advertised on level transfer or promotion to existing civil servants and external candidates.

Full Information & Benefits - Find out everything you need to know before applying here.

You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.

• Security Clearance Requirements

• Civil Service Nationality Requirements

• Right to Work

• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles

• CV Declaration

• Sponsorships

• Salary and Grade

• Existing Civil Servants

• Conflict of Interest

• Location and Flexible Working

• Fixed Term Contracts

• Internal Fraud Database

• Appeals and Complaints

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

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 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

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 : SCS Recruitment
• Email : scs.recruitment@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk

Further information

If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:

a procedural irregularity

an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy

exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.

It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at recruitment@communities.gov.uk.

If the MHCLG Resourcing Hub is unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint, you may contact put your complaint in writing to the Civil Service Commission, Room G8,1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or by email to: info@csc.gov.uk