Deputy Director, Skills

Ministry of Defence

Hybrid

Expires: Expiring in less than 4 weeks

Flexible

£90,000 per year

Job summary

Skills are central to Defence’s ability to operate effectively today and to remain ready for the future. This role plays a pivotal part in how those skills are identified, prioritised and sustained.

The Deputy Director, Skills is a senior leadership role accountable for shaping Defence’s system‑wide approach to skills. It brings together insight, strategy and delivery to ensure that skills demand, risk and capability are clearly understood and used to inform decisions at senior level.

Working across a large and complex organisation, the role provides clarity where demands compete and trade‑offs are required. It leads the development of an evidence‑informed approach to skills that supports long‑term resilience, translating analysis into practical, sustainable ways of working.

The post works closely with senior leaders, workforce and analytical colleagues, professional communities and external partners, operating at system level rather than within a single business area.

This is a highly influential role for a thoughtful and credible leader who can navigate complexity, engage confidently at senior levels, and bring people together around a shared understanding of skills priorities that matter now and for the future.

The Vacancy Holder, Simon Gush, will be offering an online Q&A session on Tuesday 21st April at 11:30 to provide an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process. If you have any issues accessing the session, please contact: People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.

Job description

Skills System Leadership, Delivery and Change

This role provides senior, system‑level leadership for how Defence understands, prioritises and acts on workforce skills. It shapes the strategic direction for skills across the organisation, bringing clarity to where capability matters most and supporting senior leaders to navigate competing demands and necessary trade‑offs.

At the heart of the role is ownership of how insight and evidence are used at senior level. The post ensures that the right analysis is commissioned, understood and applied to real organisational decisions, translating complex insight into clear choices and practical action rather than standalone reports. It builds and sustains a shared, Defence‑wide view of skills priorities, enabling more confident, consistent decision‑making across the system.

The role operates across organisational boundaries, aligning skills‑related activity so that work is coherent, sequenced and focused on impact. It turns strategy and analysis into sustainable, business‑as‑usual approaches that endure beyond programmes or initiatives.

As a senior ambassador for skills, the postholder represents Defence with credibility and authority, engaging with senior stakeholders across Defence, wider government, industry, academia and local partners. The role also maintains oversight of workforce capability risks, ensuring skills gaps are identified early and addressed decisively, while operating within relevant policy, legal and governance frameworks and maintaining confidence at senior and board level.

Person specification

Demonstrable experience in the design and implementation of skills‑powered systems and strategies, with evidence of strategic judgement and delivery in large, complex organisations operating in contested or high‑stake environments.
A strong track record of leading large‑scale organisational and/or cultural transformation beyond discrete initiatives, embedding sustained system‑level change into business‑as‑usual, and demonstrating effective leadership through ambiguity, resistance and competing priorities.
Experience of leading high‑performing multidisciplinary teams to deliver meaningful impact, including across organisational, professional or sector boundaries where direct authority is limited, with an inclusive and adaptive leadership approach.
Evidence of influencing senior leaders and stakeholders on complex skills, capability or workforce issues, building trusted relationships and providing confident challenge and advice at senior level. Experience includes commissioning and applying evidence and insight to shape strategic solutions and influence decisions affecting long‑term organisational capability..
Proven ability to lead complex programmes or initiatives with strong governance and assurance, exercising sound financial and commercial judgement in the effective management of resources, budgets and/or partners, and ensuring delivery is well‑run, value for money is achieved and standards remain high.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £90,000, Ministry of Defence 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.

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

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process no later than 23:55 on 4th May 2026 and will involve providing the two documents outlined below via the Civil Service Jobs portal:

A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) providing tangible examples that demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria for the role.

External candidates who join the MOD and are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.

For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.

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

Open to UK nationals only.

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

Salary range

£90,000 per year