Head of Partnerships and Public Policy

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

The Head of Partnerships and Public Policy is a leadership role within Defence Housing Service (DHS), responsible for brokering relationships with the sponsoring department and across all levels of government, as well as developing external partnerships that support the delivery of the DHS mission.

Working within an evolving organisation, you will be comfortable operating in ambiguity, establishing new ways of working, and identifying opportunities, risks and strategic priorities arising from complex stakeholder environments.

As a trusted adviser to senior leaders, you will help ensure that sponsorship, partner and stakeholder relationships contribute to effective governance, organisational maturity and long-term success.

The role will work as part of the wider Strategy, Policy and Partnerships directorate. As DHS continues to develop, the role is expected to assume management responsibility for a small team.

What you’ll be doing;

• Build trusted relationships with senior officials and key stakeholders across central, regional and local government, and beyond.
• Identify and secure opportunities for collaboration with private sector partners that support organisational objectives.
• Act as the relationship lead between the Defence Housing Service (DHS) and the sponsorship team in the Ministry of Defence.
• Develop effective governance arrangements and sponsorship mechanisms.
• Coordinate briefing, reporting and engagement activity for senior leaders.
• Develop and maintain strategic partnerships across the housing, defence, public and third sectors.
• Represent the DHS in external forums, partnership meetings and stakeholder engagements.
• Influence policy development and strategic decision-making where appropriate.
• Identify emerging risks, dependencies and opportunities arising from stakeholder relationships and the external environment.
• Provide strategic advice and insight to the Executive Team and senior leaders.
• Translate complex external developments into practical actions that support organisational priorities and performance

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 60% 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. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourselves with the site, the team, and your role.

Person specification

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

1. Experience of building and sustaining effective relationships with senior stakeholders across complex organisational environments, with the ability to influence, negotiate and build consensus across competing interests.
2. Demonstrable ability to understand complex strategic environments, assess risks and opportunities, and translate insights into practical recommendations and actions.
3. Experience of considering wider organisational, political and policy contexts when making decisions and providing advice, ensuring alignment with broader strategic priorities.
4. Proven ability to operate effectively in ambiguous, evolving or uncertain environments, establishing priorities, shaping new approaches and delivering outcomes where established processes do not exist.
5. Excellent communication and influencing skills, including experience of producing high-quality briefings, advice and recommendations for senior leaders, and communicating effectively with diverse audiences.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Leadership

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £72,840, Ministry of Defence contributes £21,101 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!

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.

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:

Behaviour 1: Seeing the Big Picture
Behaviour 2: Communicating and Influencing
Behaviour 3: Working Together
Behaviour 4: Leadership

In the event of a tie at interview, candidates will be ranked according to their scores in the assessed behaviours, in the order listed above.

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

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a standard (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.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).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

External Candidate Information 2026 Opens in new window (docx, 25kB)Ministry of Defence Terms and Conditions Opens in new window (docx, 31kB)Defence Civil Servant Offer Opens in new window (pdf, 1561kB)