Deputy Director, Test Learn and Grow, Strategy and Enablement (Secondment Only)

Job summary

We recognise that candidates come from diverse employment backgrounds and are offering two distinct application routes for this role. Campaign 441402 is for those seeking a fixed-term contract or a temporary loan arrangement to become or remain a Civil Servant. This pathway is ideal for existing Civil Servants, individuals without an employer, or anyone looking for a temporary post as a Civil Servant.

Alternatively, Campaign 441398 is available on secondment for candidates who wish to maintain their current employment with their existing organisation while working with the Civil Service on a temporary basis.

For more information on secondments, please refer to the "Further information about Secondments" document attached to the bottom of this advert.

Both recruitment processes are the same, but as secondees do not become employed as Civil Servants there is a different eligibility criteria.

Please apply for one campaign, duplicate applications may be removed.

Want to learn more about the role? Join our Candidate Engagement Session at 16:30, 13th January 2026 here.

Job description

This is a critical role for delivering the Government’s public service reform agenda, leading on strategy and enablement of the Test, Learn & Grow Programme.

Located within the Cabinet Office, the Public Service Reform team plays a role in coordinating cross-government efforts around reform, anchored in a series of ‘big bets’ around prevention, place-based delivery, technology and data, and iterative and adaptive approaches to improving services and outcomes. Test, Learn and Grow is our flagship programme driving forward these efforts - the programme is designed to accelerate the Government’s mission ethos in partnership with local places, driving a focus on prevention and relational public services.

Test, Learn and Grow (TLG) is a Programme with two core components that work together to drive Public Service Reform. One part focuses on working alongside place-based services, providing teams in local government with multi-disciplinary support, enabling colleagues to embed test & learn approaches to tackle some of the biggest public service challenges. The other works to identify, prioritise and shift the blockers within central government that prevent progress locally and centrally. As Deputy Director of TLG Strategy & Enablement you will focus on this latter strand of work within the Programme, working very closely with the Deputy Director of TLG Delivery. You will work closely across the wider Director General Group, supporting and championing the work of sister teams focused on civil service strategy, impact economy, evaluation and planning.

The Deputy Director, Test Learn and Grown, Strategy and Enablement is a senior role, responsible for:

• Growing and scaling a large, complex delivery focused programme and ensuring the structures, roles and support are in place to enable teams to be successful.
• Building, owning and driving the story of the test, learn and grow programme, ensuring the work is recognised across central and local government.
• Ensuring teams can challenge and shift cross-government blockers that prevent teams from being able to take a test and learn approach.
• Co-leading a team of circa 50 people (with the potential to grow) with the Deputy Director TLG (delivery), forming an exceptionally high-performing team that both delivers outcomes and inspires through our approach.

This is a key leadership role; as Deputy Director, you will be a visible senior leader across the Senior Civil Service (SCS), advising the Director of PSR and Director General (PSR and Efficiency) and overseeing a large flagship programme.

As a leader you will have the ability to build strong relationships and engagement across central government, enabling the successful delivery of the programme’s outcomes. You will embrace challenges that arise to drive change, creating a community that can work together towards shared outcomes. You will endeavour to create the conditions that lead to place-based, citizen focused and joined up delivery for the public by valuing and championing collaboration, creativity and boldness. Your aim is to enable your teams to identify, diagnose, and rapidly resolve institutional barriers - translating insights and learning from teams working in places, delivering across the UK, into permanent, central government-wide improvements.

You will sustain an iterative, innovative, collaborative and delivery-focused culture, with your teams taking a test and learn approach. You will share this widely creating opportunities for collaboration with colleagues across local and central government. You will shape and curate the story of Test, Learn and Grow, working across departments and organisations to bring people on the journey of the programme and beyond. You will work alongside others who are leading the way, and support those who are endeavouring to put the approaches of test and learn into practice.

You will clear the way for delivery and enable the programme to meet outcomes by building strong relationships with partners across Cabinet Office and HMT, ensuring the programme’s strategic intent is well understood.

This is a crucial transition period for the TLG programme as we expand our leadership team to support the ramping up of delivery across place.

In this role, you will:

1. Overcome barriers & accelerate impact: Proactively surface systemic problems from TLG Accelerators and translate these into actionable insights. Find them, prioritise, and demonstrate high-impact solutions to sustain reform.
2. Influence: Build trusted allies by demonstrating effective new ways of working that departments want to repeat. Work with them to change ways of working rather than imposing. Act as a cohort with an empowered group of fellow DDs within the PSRE Group with a remit to drive cross-government change.
3. Prioritise: Enable your teams to have focus and direction, making tough decisions that create space for delivery. Ensure teams have the skills, capacity and support needed to be able to make progress.
4. Enable TLG as an exemplar: Make TLG itself a model of modern practice. Work hard to sustain test and learn approaches throughout the programme, learning what gets in the way as a source of insight for your work.
5. Strategic leadership & enablement: Provide courageous, clear leadership. Create psychological safety and enable teams to act in conditions of uncertainty that are inherent in innovation. You will create a ‘high support, high challenge’ culture which is outcomes-focused and puts citizens at the heart of everything we do. You will make it easier for everyone to deliver.
6. Collaborate: Work with your peers, teams and individuals across government and beyond to create trust, shared understanding and impactful delivery. Embrace collaboration at all stages of work and support your teams to do this well.

Person specification

It is important that, through your CV and supporting statement, that you provide evidence of the following Essential Criteria:

• Collaborative and action focused: capable of building trust across organisational boundaries, creating a sense of excitement and common purpose about delivering together.
• Strategic delivery: passionate about getting things done and solving problems in the way of teams. Demonstrable success leading complex, multi-faceted programmes. Rapidly identifying problems, mobilising resources, delivering tangible impact at pace.
• Experience and deep understanding of test and learn: commitment and passion about modern methods whilst capable of bringing others along whose expertise and experience differs from your own. An understanding, and experience of, truly iterative approaches delivered through multi-disciplinary teams.
• Inspiring and inclusive leadership: a leader first and foremost, passionate about the wellbeing of teams and what you can do in service of them. Lead and motivate high-performing teams. Model exemplary behaviours. Foster an inclusive, high-pace culture of continuous improvement and psychological safety. You will care passionately about inclusion and place this at the centre of the team's work.
• Navigating existing structures: A proven track record of meaningful delivery against outcomes in large complex organisations, including outside your direct area of control. You will be able to demonstrate delivery that doesn’t come at the expense of individuals' development and well being.
• Political acuity: Street smart but able to keep your eyes on the north star of our work and the outcomes we are there to drive. Exceptional ability to operate at senior levels. Challenge with influence. Build trusted alliances to drive contested reforms.
• Bridging policy & delivery: Successfully integrate strategic policy with operational reality. Drive departmental engagement. Foster joint ownership for outcomes.
• Communication & storytelling: an instinctive storyteller, who can persuade a Secretary of State as easily as a social work team leader. You will be a confident communicator, able to persuade in private but also in public, modelling ‘working in the open’ and encouraging the team to do so whilst observing the civil service code. You will find stories that support the ambitions of the programme and work hard to share these widely.
• Experience of and passion for place-based delivery: you will understand the centrality of place to public service reform, with the ability to build trusted, action-focused relationships with local and regional government, the voluntary sector, and a range of other public services that touch on the lives of citizens.

Behaviours

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

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Leadership

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, Cabinet Office contributes £23,465 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.You maintain your existing contractual terms and salary; the Civil Service host department reimburses your home organisation for these costs.

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.

Application

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process, outlined below. This should be completed no later than 23:55, Sunday 25th January 2026.

• A CV 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 Statement of Suitability (no longer than 1250 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification.

Failure to complete both sections of the online application form (CV and Statement of Suitability) will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

Assessment.

If you are successful at the application stage, you will be invited to attend a panel interview,in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification. We will be assessing against the success profile Behaviours at interview.

Shortlisted candidates may have the opportunity to “Meet the Team” as part of the final interview process. Please note, this exercise is informal in nature and does not form part of the formal selection process.

Full details of the assessment process will be made available to shortlisted candidates. If you are required to prepare a presentation for the final interview you will be given the subject in advance.

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies in the Civil Service requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without the need for a new competition.

Indicative Timeline (subject to change)

Candidate Engagement Session - 16:30, 13th January 2026

Anticipated shortlist date - w/c 2nd February 2026

Anticipate interview date - w/c 9th or 16th February 2026

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service at: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
• Complete the ‘assistance required’ section in the ‘personal information’ page of your application form to provide information we should be aware of that will enable us to support you further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Reserve lists

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months, which the Civil Service may use to fill future suitable vacancies across government for candidates who are considered appointable following interview.

Further Information

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Any move to Cabinet Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

Current Civil Servants (all contract types) will need to ensure that they are still employed as a civil servant at the point of starting in the relevant new post. If their contract ends (e.g. end of FTA contract or resignation) at any point during the recruitment/onboarding process for the advertised role, they will no longer be eligible and may be withdrawn.

Please note that this role requires CTC clearance, which would normally need 3 years UK residency in the past 3 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist 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 : GRS SCS recruitment team
• Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

Civil Service Commission Selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.
In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles, our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of appointment on the basis of merit by fair and open competition. If you feel 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; scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission at info@csc.gov.uk and more information can be found at www.civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

Attachments

Further information about Secondments Opens in new window (docx, 1645kB)2026-01-09 - 441398 - DD, Test, Learn and Grow, Strategy and Enablement (secondment only)- Candidate Information Pack v4 Opens in new window (pdf, 643kB)441398 Deputy Director, Test Learn and Grow, Strategy and Enablement (Secondment Only) - Candidate Information Pack - Accessible Opens in new window (docx, 1803kB)