Director – Building Digital UK

Job summary

As CEO (SCS2) for Building Digital UK, you will be responsible for delivering two of the Government’s major infrastructure programmes: Project Gigabit and the Shared Rural Network (SRN). These programmes are central to the UK’s ambitions to kickstart economic growth, reduce the digital divide, and ensure that new and existing technologies are safely developed and deployed across the country, with benefits shared widely. BDUK’s work is highly visible, with significant political interest and impact on national policy.

You will also lead BDUK as it completes its transition from an Executive Agency, to a Directorate within DSIT. Reporting to the Digital Foundations Director General, you will line manage Deputy Directors and play a key part in DSIT’s senior leadership team.

Job description

Responsibilities

• Lead BDUK’s digital infrastructure responsibilities as an operational delivery directorate within DSIT, working closely with the BDUK chair and Advisory Board.
• Provide strong people leadership to BDUK staff, fostering effective communication, engagement, productivity, and collaborative working relationships.
• Ensure the successful delivery of the £5bn Project Gigabit Programme and £1bn Shared Rural Network programmes - ensuring they meet their targets of 99% gigabit-capable broadband coverage by 2032, and 95% 4G coverage by 2027, as well as overseeing the closure of legacy programmes.
• Work with DSIT corporate teams to ensure the smooth running of BDUK corporate functions following BDUK’s integration into the department.
• Oversee business case development, programme planning, governance, risk management, supplier and contract management, benefits realisation, and evaluation.
• Lead the executive team to support BDUK and DSIT’s corporate objectives, securing resources and an effective operating model.
• Manage senior supplier and partner relationships, acting as a point of escalation as needed.
• Ensure effective stakeholder engagement across government, industry, trade bodies, parliament, and the wider public interest.

Key challenges for the role

• Providing strong leadership of over 200 staff. Navigating the integration of BDUK into DSIT, ensuring continuity of delivery and effective change management whilst knitting the team into a new organisation. Playing a wider leadership role as part of the senior leadership of the Digital Foundations Group.
• Delivering on ambitious targets for Project Gigabit (99% UK premises with gigabit-capable connectivity by 2032) and the Shared Rural Network (95% geographic 4G coverage), both of which have already achieved significant milestones ahead of schedule.
• Managing complex delivery risks, including supplier capacity, operational challenges, and financial pressures, especially in the context of macroeconomic uncertainty and evolving funding settlements.
• Responding to political and reputational risks associated with high-profile, high-value programmes.
• Maintaining strong relationships with industry partners, HMG and parliamentary stakeholders, and local communities, particularly in the face of delivery challenges and evolving programme requirements.

Person specification

Essential criteria

• Experience of delivering major infrastructure programmes and of complex project delivery at large-scale.
• Excellent leadership experience and skills, with a track record of leading high performing, diverse teams.
• An ability to quickly gain and maintain credibility with a wide range of stakeholders, including with Ministers and parliamentarians, or senior stakeholders in industry and across large organisations.
• Proven evidence-based strategic and analytical skills, with experience of formulating, leading and implementing programmes, including when under pressure, and a proven understanding of delivering value for money when managing budgets.
• Highly-developed communication skills, with the ability to brief on complex and often sensitive issues, presenting in a clear and concise manner and identifying key messages.
• Experience of operationalising policy and working with senior policy makers.
• To either hold or be willing to obtain MPLA qualification.

Desirable criteria

• Experience in the telecoms and/or infrastructure sectors.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £100,000, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £28,970 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period. Senior Civil Servant (SCS) staff are expected to aim for closer to 60% of the time at an office or non-home based location over the accounting period.

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

How to Apply

To apply for this post, please submit the following documents on Civil Service jobs no later than 23:55, 22nd June 2026.

1. A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. No longer than 2 sides of A4, Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained.

2. A Statement of Suitability (maximum 1250 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities, and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria in the person specification.

Applications will be sifted to select those demonstrating the best fit with the post against the criteria set out in the person specification. Please ensure you keep this in mind when writing your CV and supporting statement.​

As part of the online process, you will be asked to complete a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the characteristics, you will have the option to select ‘prefer not to say’. The diversity information you provide when submitting your application will help us monitor our progress towards the Civil Service becoming an inclusive employer.

The timeline further down this page indicates the date by which a decision is expected to be made, and all candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

Assessment

If you are shortlisted, you will be asked to take part in a Staff Engagement Exercise in advance of the final panel interview. This assessment will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, it is designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

Shortlisted candidates can request an informal conversation about the role with the vacancy holder, Sarah Connolly .This discussion does not form part of the assessment.

Shortlisted candidates may also be invited to an informal discussion with a minister from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. Full details of the assessment process will be provided to shortlisted candidates at the earliest opportunity.

For further information regarding the assessments please visit - https://scs-assessments.co.uk/

Interview

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend a panel interview 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.

As part of the process there may be assessment of skills either by a presentation or simulated exercise with follow up questions. Full details of the requirements will be given to shortlisted candidates ahead of their interview.

Selection and Feedback

Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible, and will offer the opportunity to discuss feedback for all candidates who reached interview. A reserve list will be held for up to 12 months, which we may use to fill future suitable vacancies.

Expected Timeline

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for assessments or interviews. You are therefore asked to note the below timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process, to meet the dates given. Please note that these dates are only indicative may be subject to change. If you anticipate any difficulties attending, please alert scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk upon application

The anticipated timetable is as follows:

Advert closing date: Monday 22nd June 23:55

Shortlist: W/C 06/07/2026

Assessments: W/C 20/07/2026

Panel Interviews: W/C 03/08/2026

It is expected that interviews will be conducted in-person in London, however this will be confirmed during the shortlisting process and successful candidates will be informed accordingly.

Security Clearance

Before the appointment of the successful candidate can be confirmed, the Department will undertake background security checks. As part of this, we will need to confirm your identity, employment history over the past three years (or course details if you were in education), nationality and immigration status, and criminal record (unspent convictions only).

This role will require the postholder to have Security Clearance (SC) clearance, therefore successful candidates will be expected to either hold this or be willing to undertake the SC clearance process once in post. More information can be found here.

Further Information

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

Information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that we offer to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during our recruitment process can be found in our DSIT Candidate Guidance. A DSIT Plain Text Version of the guidance is also available.

We encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

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 undergo a 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

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

Job contact :

• Name : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

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

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/contact-us/

Attachments

DSIT Director Building Digital UK candidate pack version 1 (1) (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 2267kB)453635 Director Building Digital UK -Accessibility pack Opens in new window (docx, 25kB)