Head of Service Delivery

Job summary

UKRI
Salary: £58,589 per annum.
Band: UKRI Band F.
Contract Type: 3 Year Fixed Term (With possibility of extension)
Hours: Full Time or Part Time. (Minimum 0.8 FTE)
Location: While UKRI supports hybrid working, the postholder will be required to attend one in-office team day per week at Polaris House in Swindon, Wiltshire.

Closing Date: Sunday 15 March 2026.

Proposed Interview Date: Interviews are likely to be week commencing 06 April 2026.

Job description

About the role

We are looking for a Head of Service Delivery to join the UKRI Infrastructure Team and play a pivotal role in delivering the Next National Supercomputing Service (NNSS): the £750m project to ensure the UK scientific community retains access to the most advanced modelling and simulation capabilities through provision of state-of-the-art compute hardware at the University of Edinburgh and service provision and software services to support users. The NNSS is the cornerstone investment at the heart of the DSIT-UKRI compute roadmap, and a high-priority strategic investment for the UK government.

The Digital Research Infrastructure, Infrastructure Fund and Portfolio pillars form the cross-cutting UKRI Infrastructure Team that coordinates and manages UKRI’s Infrastructure portfolio. You will collaborate across the organisation and externally, engaging with relevant stakeholders in Government Departments, Public Sector Research Establishments (PSREs), academia and industry to gather insight and ensure that UKRI’s plans for Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) enable our varied communities to use the most powerful digital tools and techniques.

This role will be critical to successful delivery of the new service. You will work closely with the service providers, leading on successful implementation and management of the hardware and service provision contracts. You will lead on monitoring and evaluation to ensure the service fully delivers its intended benefits, as well as proactively looking for opportunities for continuous improvement, drawing on best practices from across the sector and major project management.

We encourage candidates with an interest and knowledge in large-scale compute and related aspects of DRI to apply for this position: relevant experience might have been gained from several different types of career path or educational background. It is likely that the successful candidate will have the opportunity to work for periods with other policy or technical teams within UKRI to enhance the knowledge needed for their work.

For further information, please contact Richard Gunn, DRI Programme Director (richard.gunn@ukri.org) or Luke Davis, Associate Director for Computational Services (luke.davis@ukri.org).

Your responsibilities:

• Ensuring that the NNSS service providers fulfil their agreed service requirements and managing any changes, including grant funding and/or contractual issues.
• Ensuring successful implementation of agreed governance, advisory and management structures, including coordination of the service providers.
• Ensuring that the NNSS service is effectively integrated within UKRI and DSIT’s broader support for the compute ecosystem, including coordination with related initiatives such as National Compute Resources (NCRs) and EuroHPC and proactively seeking opportunities for improvement.
• Supporting the Head of Policy & Engagement in implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the NNSS service model to ensure successful delivery, including liaison with the host site, technology provider and other stakeholders involved in delivering the service.
• Driving working level relationships with infrastructure leads in government, the service providers and other key stakeholders.
• Developing an understanding of, and communicating, how our work aligns with and supports key national policies.
• Supporting the delivery of time-bound strategic projects within the UKRI Infrastructure team.
  

Person specification

The following criteria will be assessed at either Shortlisting (S), Interview (I), or both (S&I)

Essential

• Awareness and understanding of large‑scale compute services, including key technical concepts, their operation, and how they interact within the broader digital research infrastructure ecosystem, sufficient to guide policy, governance, and access-related decisions. (S&I)
• Extensive experience of leading successful complex, high-profile and fast moving infrastructural and/or technical projects ensuring delivery to agreed specifications, cost, time and quality standards. (S&I)
• Demonstrable ability to develop and integrate services, projects or programmes within wider strategic or policy landscapes, ideally within a national research or digital infrastructure context. (S&I)
• Experience developing and coordinating research or innovation communities, consortia, or multi‑institution partnerships. You must have the ability to build and sustain productive relationships internally and externally and represent UKRI, at all levels of seniority and across government, academic, policy and wider sectors. (S&I)
• Excellent oral and written communications skills. You must be comfortable in speaking publicly to audiences of varying sizes; be able to write clear, concise and effective technical reports; and be able to absorb and convey detailed information to/from technical and non-technical audiences. (S&I)
• Able to prioritise and manage multiple commitments across a complex portfolio, applying creative and adaptive thinking to navigate ambiguity, resolve interdependent challenges, and make effective decisions. (S&I)
• Demonstrable ability to deal with critical and high-profile issues, often working with external organisations, and handle risks independently, calling out to senior managers when required. Show high levels of personal drive, determination and resilience. (I)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,589, UK Research and Innovation contributes £16,973 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

We recognise and value our employees as individuals and aim to provide a favourable pay and rewards package. We are committed to supporting employees' development and promote a culture of continuous learning!

A list of benefits below:

• An outstanding defined benefit pension scheme.
• 30 days' annual leave in addition to 10.5 public and privilege days (full time equivalent).
• Employee discounts and offers on retail and leisure activities.
• Employee assistance programme, providing confidential help and advice.
• Flexible working options.

Plus many more benefits and wellbeing initiatives that enable our employees to have a great work life balance!

For further information on our benefits please see:

Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

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

UKRI is an Equal Opportunity & Disability Confident Employer.

Please apply online, if you experience any issue applying, please contact Recruitment@ukri.org

We encourage candidates to apply as soon as possible, as we reserve the right to close this vacancy early.

Please note, if you will require sponsorship to work in the UK, as part of your sponsorship application, you and any dependants travelling with you, will be required to pay costs directly to The Home Office for the application before you start your role with us. UKRI is normally able to reimburse some, or all of these fees after you have become an employee and this can be discussed with the Hiring Manager. For more information, please visit https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/how-much-it-costs or contact Recruitment@ukri.org.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.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.

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

Job contact :

• Name : UKRI Recruitment Team
• Email : Recruitment@ukri.org

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitment@ukri.org