Digital Improvement Partner

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

Are you passionate about improving services, solving complex operational challenges and using digital technology to deliver better outcomes for customers?

We are seeking an experienced Digital Improvement Partner to lead the design and delivery of transformative improvements across Defence Housing Services (DHS). This is an exciting opportunity to drive meaningful change, combining continuous improvement, digital innovation and service design to enhance customer experience, operational performance and value for money.

Taking ownership of improvement opportunities from initial problem through to implementation and benefits realisation, you will work closely with operational teams, stakeholders and suppliers to develop practical, data-driven solutions to complex service challenges. Using customer insight and evidence to identify root causes, you will design and deliver improvements that create measurable benefits for Service personnel and their families.

A key aspect of the role is driving digital innovation, including improving existing systems, processes and services, while identifying opportunities for automation, self-service, workflow improvements and data-enabled solutions. You will challenge existing ways of working, influence stakeholders across the DHS operating model and supply chain and support the successful delivery and adoption of service improvements.

Reporting to the Head of Customer Experience & Insight, you will play a key role in improving service performance, operational effectiveness and customer outcomes. Experience within housing, accommodation or property services, particularly in supplier-led environments, would be advantageous, as would familiarity with digital housing platforms such as HomeHub or similar technologies.

What you’ll be doing

Leadership and Team Management

• Lead and support the SEO Improvement Support Officer, setting priorities and embedding effective, user-centred ways of working (e.g. agile, user-centred design) that enable improvements to be delivered at pace.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement across the Customer Experience & Insight function and wider Defence Housing Services (DHS).

Continuous Improvement Delivery

• Lead the delivery of improvement initiatives from problem identification through to implementation and benefits realisation.
• Use data, customer insight and operational evidence to identify root causes, develop solutions and improve service performance, efficiency and customer experience.
• Design, test and implement sustainable improvements to services, processes, systems and ways of working.
• Manage and prioritise a pipeline of improvement activity, focusing on customer impact, operational value and strategic priorities.
• Lead pilots and test-and-learn activity where this provides a proportionate means of validating proposed improvements.

Digital Improvement and Solution Delivery

• Identify opportunities to use digital technology, automation and data to improve housing services and operational performance.
• Translate business and customer needs into practical digital solutions, working closely with technical teams, product specialists and suppliers.
• Assess and enhance existing digital services while driving the development of new technology-enabled solutions where required.
• Use performance data and user feedback to continuously improve digital services and maximise benefits.

Supplier and Housing Sector Collaboration

• Work with accommodation and service delivery partners to improve performance and deliver better outcomes across the housing supply chain.
• Build strong relationships while constructively challenging performance, processes and service delivery where improvements are needed.
• Drive initiatives that improve collaboration between DHS, suppliers and customers, reducing inefficiencies and enhancing the end-to-end customer experience.

Customer Insight and Governance

• Collaborate with insight, analytics and portfolio teams to ensure improvement activity is informed by robust evidence and aligned to organisational priorities.
• Support the development of performance measures and governance arrangements that demonstrate the impact of improvements.

Performance and Assurance

• Monitor the effectiveness of improvements, using data, benchmarking and customer feedback to identify further opportunities for optimisation and innovation.

Person specification

We're looking for someone who combines strategic thinking with practical delivery and has a proven track record of leading operational and digital improvements in complex environments. You'll be skilled at identifying service improvements, solving operational challenges and turning customer and business needs into effective solutions. You'll bring a strong understanding of digital service delivery and work confidently with technical specialists, product teams and suppliers to deliver successful outcomes. You'll also be a collaborative and influential leader who builds effective relationships across organisational boundaries, uses data and insight to inform decisions, and remains focused on delivering meaningful improvements for service users.

Essential criteria

To be successful with your application, you'll need to show that you meet the following essential criteria:

• Significant experience of leading and delivering continuous improvement activity in a complex operational service.
• Strong commercial and supplier-management awareness, with the ability to challenge suppliers constructively and hold them to account for outcomes.
• Significant experience of working with external suppliers and managing improvement across organisational boundaries.
• Experience of working with accommodation or housing technology platforms, including HomeHub or comparable products.
• Experience in housing/facilities management.

The successful candidate must hold or be willing to work towards holding a formal housing qualification by 2029, subject to approval.

Whilst this role is advertised as a full-time position of 37 hours per week, we recognise the benefits of flexible working and are open to discussing part-time hours, job share arrangements, or other flexible working patterns with suitable candidates. Regular in-person attendance is required (this is expected to be approximately 40% of your working week) to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance and business need. You may also be required to travel occasionally to DMS Whittington. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourselves with the site, the team, and your role.

Behaviours

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

• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together

Technical skills

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

• Adaptability to change (practitioner)
• Operational leadership and management (practitioner)
• Data and insight (working)

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).

• 25 days’ annual leave plus one day a year up to 30 days after five years, and eight bank holidays
• An extra day off to honour the sovereign’s birthday
• Flexible and hybrid working wherever possible to support your work-life balance - attending site a few days each week will be required and encouraged, depending on your role and team.
• Market-leading employer pension contribution of around 28.97%
• Enhanced parental leave schemes
• Recognition awards
• Access to specialist training and funded professional qualifications
• Support for progression
• Huge range of discounts – plus more!

The post does not offer relocation expenses (move of home, excess fares or temporary transfer). Non Standard move applicants will be eligible for the full package, subject to eligibility.

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, Experience and Technical skills.

Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:

At sift stage, applicants will be required to provide:

• A CV in the Job History section, ensuring it clearly demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. We encourage you to use specific evidence from your experience to illustrate your suitability for the role.
• A personal statement (no more than 500 words) providing specific examples of how you meet the two most critical criteria for the role. Further guidance is given within the Personal Statement section of the application.

Applications will be assessed against the essential criteria, with each criterion scored on a scale of 1 to 7. An overall score will then be calculated using the average of all criterion scores. To progress beyond the sift stage, applicants must achieve a minimum score of 4 on every essential criterion. This means that even if your overall average score is 4 or higher, you will not progress if you score below 4 on any individual essential criterion.

Please note that, in the event of a high volume of applications, the selection panel reserves the right to increase the overall pass mark.

At interview, you will be assessed against the following Behaviours and Technical Skills:

Behaviour #1: Managing a Quality Service
Behaviour #2: Working Together

Technical Skill #1: Adaptability to change (practitioner)
Technical Skill #2: Operational leadership and management (practitioner)

Technical Skill #3: Data and insight (working)

Job Families and Role Clusters - Operational Delivery Profession (Business Management and Operational Support, Business Management role)

In the event of a tied score at interview, the order of merit will be distinguished based on the ranking of the assessed behaviours/technical skills below:

1st: Managing a Quality Service
2nd: Working Together
3rd: Adaptability to change (practitioner)
4th: Operational leadership and management (practitioner)

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for interviews or assessments.

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 : NAD-TalentAcquisition@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 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

DIO Candidate Information Guide Opens in new window (pdf, 1963kB)Defence Internal Brief notice Opens in new window (docx, 25kB)MOD Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1562kB)Candidate Information Pack Opens in new window (docx, 32kB)