Director General, Chief Operating Officer

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Hybrid

Expires: Expiring in less than 3 weeks

Management

Full time

£135,000 per year

Job summary

Welcome from our Permanent Secretary, Susannah Storey

Thank you for your interest in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

I am looking for an outstanding leader who wants to build the new Department, transform our operations to help deliver the change this government wants to see. If you are innovative in your approach, have the skills, capabilities and passion to lead, and are excited by our Department and its agenda, please apply for this role.

DCMS exists to help people and communities connect, create, and thrive across every part of modern Britain, strengthening the security, resilience, and trust that underpin modern life. DCMS has just expanded its remit following a machinery of government change. We are now the digital centre of government and responsible for digital, telecoms and cyber bringing together the digital services people rely on alongside the culture they enjoy, the sport they follow, the media they trust, and the communities they belong to. As a leader at DCMS, you will be at the forefront of driving change and outcomes centered on three strategic priorities:

Helping people live richer, safer, better connected lives: growing our digital and creative sectors while strengthening national security, online safety, and public services.
Bringing together the things that define modern Britain: uniting technology, culture, and infrastructure to transform public services and strengthen communities.
Pride and opportunity in every place: investing in digital infrastructure, skills, and local culture so everyone can build a proud future, wherever they live.

We deliver by growing the economy, enabling participation, connecting places, and keeping people safe.

Job description

As Chief Operating Officer (COO), you will provide strategic executive leadership for a DG Group of circa 500 staff across DCMS’s integrated Corporate Function, encompassing Commercial, DDaT, Finance, Legal and People and Workplace, which includes HR, Property, and Security. Having oversight of the Finance Function you will support the Accounting Officer with the management of the full DCMS budget of circa £11bn and will have a direct budget currently estimated to be around £200m.

Reporting to the Permanent Secretary, you will be responsible for driving civil service reform in DCMS and for delivering an agile, user-focused Department. Following the Machinery of Government (MoG) change, the COO will have a key role in creating the new Department, integrating our services, and setting up the department for long-term capability consistent with our focus on making our organisation better at pace. As part of this work, we want to use the civil service reform programme to drive change in DCMS and to deliver for citizens using digital and technology.

Key Responsibilities

Chief Operating Officer for our newly formed DCMS, integrating the organisation and driving innovation across our operations and our staff experience
Leading the transition, embedding new corporate operating models and sponsoring major transformations, including migration to the cross-government NEO shared services platform.
Provide overarching direction, risk oversight, and assurance across DCMS’s ecosystem of Arm’s-Length Bodies (ALBs).
Deliver strategic oversight across DCMS corporate services, which includes Finance, People and Workplace, Commercial, and DDaT*; steward multi-million-pound budgets, ensuring value for money, fiscal discipline, and robust governance.
Foster an inclusive, high-performing culture, driving workforce capability, talent development.
Serve as principal operations advisor to the Executive Board, Ministers, and the Permanent Secretary, navigating complex political, operational, and reputational risks.

*In light of our recent Machinery of Government the precise areas of responsibility are subject to change.

Person specification

The ideal candidate would have the following key skills and experience, please note that desirable skills will only be used in the event of tied candidates:

Essential requirements:

Outstanding strategic leadership capability with a track record of delivering at pace and building diverse, high-performing, and inclusive cultures across complex organisations.
Proven experience driving large-scale organisational modernisation and transformation, including innovative and cutting edge approaches to digital, data, or AI-enabled initiatives, to improve productivity, service quality, and operational delivery and ability to demonstrate innovative approaches to solving operational challenges.
Executive-level capability in providing strategic oversight and direction across corporate functions, specifically Finance, HR, Commercial, and Digital, Data & Technology (DDaT), ensuring robust systems assurance and coherent cross-functional alignment.
High-level strategic finance leadership with experience overseeing significant budgets, investment portfolios, and financial settlement negotiations, ensuring value for money and driving long-term strategic impact.
Exceptional interpersonal, negotiation, and influencing skills, with the resilience to operate at the highest levels of government and sector leadership, building strategic alliances and managing political, operational, and reputational risks with integrity.
Proven ability to provide strategic direction, assurance, and high-level governance across a diverse ecosystem of independent ALBs; balancing departmental accountability with operational autonomy, while exercising sound judgment to step in decisively and manage risk when performance or operational issues arise.

Desirable skills:

Proven capability in strategic communications and narrative-setting, with a track record of driving large-scale organisational transformation, embedding new operating models, and inspiring workforce engagement across complex delivery structures.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £135,000, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £39,109 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).

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

If you have any issues submitting your application please contact kerrie.bryce@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. All applications should be received by no later than 23:55 on Monday 5th October and should include:

A short CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. 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;
A Statement of SuitabilityA short covering statement of no more than two A4 sized pages explaining why this appointment interests you and how you can evidence your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the ‘what are we looking for’ section;
A Declaration of Interest Form

Civil Service recruitment processes at Director General level are regulated by the Civil Service Commission, and we follow clear guidelines to ensure that our recruitment is fair and open. We also design our recruitment processes to reflect our values-based approach to HR and to ensure that shortlisted candidates have the opportunity to meet key stakeholders for the role, before they join us. We expect the process for this role to be as follows:

The closing date for applications will be 23:55, Monday 5th October
A shortlist of the applications will take place during WC 12th October
From WC 12th October, shortlisted candidates will then:
- Undergo an Individual Leadership Assessment (ILA)
- Meet with key stakeholders, including Baroness Twycross, who is responsible for DCMS' Corporate functions as part of her ministerial portfolio
- Inputs from all of those steps will then form the basis of a panel interview, chaired by Tony Poulter from the Civil Service Commission during the WC 2nd November. Other panel members at the interview will include but may not be limited to Susannah Storey Permanent Secretary, DCMS; Jo Shanmugalingam Permanent Secretary, DfT; and Janet Pope a DCMS non-executive Director.

Please note that references and open-source due diligence checks (including into social media accounts) may be undertaken for all short-listed candidates.

Full details about the assessment process will be provided to shortlisted candidates and recognising that there are a number of steps in the process, we will do our best to arrange the sessions in a way that works for you. This process will be conducted in face-to-face sessions, but if you need any adjustments do let us know.

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

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (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

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Contact point for applicants

Salary range

£135,000 per year