Director of Delivery Planning, Defence Housing Service

Job summary

The DHS manages c50k family homes and is responsible for delivering a major 10yr programme of renewal, providing homes of the right quality in the right locations.

The newly created Director of Delivery Planning is responsible for shaping the future of housing across the UK. The post holder will develop a long-term national housing estate renewal programme aligned with the Strategic Housing Review, overseeing a £400 million annual capital budget. Key responsibilities include leading the housing Balance of Investment process, acting as Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) for complex projects (refurbishment, new builds, disposals, acquisitions), and optimising the housing estate to match supply with demand. The role involves responding to high-profile, time-sensitive requirements from ministers, Parliament, and the media. The post holder will establish and lead a new team, with the role deemed business-critical to implement the Defence Housing Strategy.

David Brewer will be offering an online Q&A session onTuesday 17th February 2026 at 16:00-17:00 to give an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. This is not part of the formal assessment process. If you have any issues accessing the session please contact Jacqueline.Woliter-Hewlett100@mod.gov.uk

Job description

The current responsibilities of the role include:

Leadership and Management

• Responsible and accountable for the performance, conduct, and development of the team. Establishing a new enterprise and new ways of working. This includes setting and communicating clear service delivery goals and directing performance.
• Develop and implement effective training strategies and solutions
• Demonstrate exceptional personal integrity with a strong commitment to inclusivity, valuing strategic thinkers who embrace diversity, collaboration, and innovation to drive social impact through housing.
• Build exceptional relationships with delivery partners and frontline commands, demonstrating strong influencing skills, effectively managing complex stakeholder dynamics.
• Lead the team with transparency and openness, ensuring appropriate levels of delegation are in place and actively monitoring and managing these delegations in line with departmental controls and standards.
• Foster a high-performing team culture by promoting diversity and inclusion across the business area, while supporting MOD People initiatives to engage staff and drive continuous improvement.
• Ensure the team is appropriately staffed with the necessary skills and capabilities to deliver agreed outputs. Set clear objectives for all staff and ensure reporting is completed within the mandated timescales.
• Ensure individuals are appropriately recognised and rewarded in accordance with departmental guidance.

Strategy Development

• Lead the development of a national housing estate renewal plan, aligned with the outcomes of the Strategic Housing Review.
• Ensure all plans and programmes incorporate emerging housing and social policies, comply with legal requirements, and support broader government priorities, including sustainability, equality, and levelling up.
• Design and oversee a robust Balance of Investment process to manage an estimated £400 million annual housing capital budget, ensuring value for money and alignment with departmental financial and capability planning processes.
• Provide strategic advice and policy insights to ministers, executive leadership, and internal teams on housing-related legislative developments and planning opportunities.
• Act as a trusted and credible advisor to senior leaders and ministers, effectively escalating options and decisions while working at pace to meet ambitious ministerial delivery goals for DHS.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Establish effective senior partnerships both internally and externally, quickly building trust and credibility including with senior stakeholders in high pressure environments.
• Work directly with ministers and senior officials, providing briefings, conducting negotiations, and ensuring policy alignment.
• Collaborate across internal departments (planning, finance, housing delivery, legal) and with external agencies and contractors to align organisational objectives with partnership opportunities and deliver outcomes effectively.
• Contribute as part of the DHS senior team to ensure implications are fully understood and integrated into the wider strategy and spending plans.

Operational excellence

• Lead all housing renewal initiatives, ensuring robust programme management and compliance with relevant frameworks. Demonstrate excellent financial planning and budget management expertise and the ability to work across financial, commercial, planning and delivery domains.
• Develop and implement an operational-level plan to ensure housing supply is aligned with current and projected demand across all regions.
• Act as SRO for a portfolio of projects, including the construction, sale, refurbishment, and acquisition of properties.
• Establish a culture of continuous improvement and innovation by implementing key changes, clearly communicating goals and expectations, and enhancing service delivery, processes, and outcomes. Ensure alignment with organisational objectives, industry trends, and best practices.
• Contribute to the organisation’s strategic change agenda by embedding housing strategy as a lever for growth, regeneration, and inclusive economic development.
• Demonstrate strong commercial acumen, including expertise in capital formation, land deals, joint ventures, and developer negotiations.
• Ensure service policies, procedures, and processes are continuously updated to reflect legislative changes, regulations, guidance, and best practices. Emphasise compliance with relevant legislation and ensure efficient working practices.

Person specification

• Exceptional leadership skills with the ability to create and communicate a clear vision, motivate and empower high-performing dispersed teams, in particular the ability to develop a new function in a new entity.
• Strong analytical and communication skills.
• Extensive Experience in Housing, Public Sector Land Development or estate optimisation.
• Proven track record of overseeing large-scale strategic initiatives with experience as a Programme Director or Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) for major programmes preferably in housing, infrastructure, or equipment procurement.
• Strong ability to build credible relationships with senior stakeholders in high-pressure environments. Demonstrated negotiation and influencing skills across internal and external stakeholders.
• Extensive experience in financial planning, budget ownership, and sound financial stewardship, including developing and approving complex business cases. Strong commercial acumen, including procurement, contract negotiation, and supply chain management.

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 Sunday 1 March 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.

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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

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

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 : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

Director of Delivery Planning Candidate Information Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 2193kB)