Head of Strategy and Operations

Job summary

We are looking for an ambitious and talented Head of Strategy and Operations. Policy Lab is an energetic and inspiring place to work and the postholder will be central to the leadership and smooth-running of the whole team. In this role we require a special candidate with a combination of skills in leadership, strategic thinking and hands–on delivery.

The Head of Strategy and Operations will lead and deliver in two core areas: 1) strategic initiatives and governance working directly with Policy Lab’s Senior Leadership Team 2) oversight of operations which are managed by our central Studio Team.

Job description

Policy Lab has a more than a decade of experience working openly and collaboratively to address some of the UK’s toughest policy challenges. The Lab team, of around 35 people, is located across the country and has expertise in policy, lived experience research, experimentation, art, systems thinking, futures, technology and design (including co-design, speculative design and strategic design). Recent projects include work in early years services, the government’s Opportunity Mission and protecting environmental sites. We run on a cost recovery basis, meaning that the Lab earns all its income to cover costs.

Policy Lab works across the whole of government and is situated in the Department for Education (DfE). At DfE we are proud of the commitment we make to diversity and inclusion. We have active and vibrant staff networks, special leave policies and workplace adjustments for those who need them. We are continuing to build a diverse DfE, in an inclusive environment which nurtures and realises potential in all, at all levels.

We are looking for an outstanding candidate to fill a role at the centre of our team. As the G7 Head of Strategy and Operations you will have two core areas of responsibility 1) strategic initiatives and governance 2) oversight of our operations. Your work will be highly varied, requiring you to both set direction and step in to deliver.

You will work very closely with our Senior Leadership Team, comprising the two Deputy Director Heads of Policy Lab and our four Grade 6 posts.

Responsibilities will include, but not limited to:

• Strategic initiatives and governance. Including:
  • Provide a strategic secretariat function to Policy Lab’s SLT.
  • Implement, monitor and review Policy Lab's governance model which comprises all team touch-points and meetings to ensure that these feed into and are more than the sum of their parts, taking lessons from other innovation organisations.
  • Lead the implementation of a new set of organisational objectives, which capture all the work Policy Lab delivers to achieve its mission and impacts. You will work closely with SLT and our G7 Head of Portfolio Management to ensure this is resourced effectively and is inclusive to the whole team.
  • Use your knowledge of business innovation to scope developments to the Policy Lab business model with others in the team.
  • Lead special initiatives, defined with SLT, such as a new engagement strategy to ensure that key relationships are nurtured and managed effectively across and beyond the Civil Service.

• Oversight of our operations and Studio Team, which includes two other colleagues:
  • The Studio provides a dynamic central support function for the whole of Policy Lab; work is led by our SEO Studio Manager and is highly varied. Your role will be to set direction, provide oversight at key moments and support the Studio to deliver a high-quality service to the rest of Policy Lab. Key areas include:

• • • Team culture and environment (e.g. whole team engagements, the physical space in which we work, and the annual People Survey)
    • HR and development (e.g. strategic workforce planning, onboarding and whole team L&D)
    • Day-to-day finance (e.g. month end, year end and annual business planning).

• Line management of individuals within the team, including our SEO Studio Manager and EO Business Manager.

• Contribute to Policy Lab’s thriving team culture and make corporate contributions to our wider Policy and Resilience Directorate.

• Depending on workload, capacity and demand, you may be part of Policy Lab’s project teams, delivering people-centred innovation projects across government.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Running and evolving operational processes in innovation teams: You have experience designing and improving operations in innovative teams or organisations.
• Strategic programme management: You have experience running programmes or large scale-projects that contribute to a strategic goal for a policy, issue or organisation.
• Relationship management: You have experience in approaches to managing strategic relationships for a team or organisation and in building excellent relationships within a matrix management model.
• Team and line management: You have experience of working collaboratively, including task-managing a small team. You have contributed to making your team or workplace inclusive.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience or proven interest in innovative approaches to policymaking.
• Experience working in multidisciplinary environments with a range of experts from different specialisms and backgrounds.

Desirable criteria will only be assessed at interview in the event of a tie break situation to make an informed decision.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,185, Department for Education contributes £16,856 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.

As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK.

You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.

We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.

Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.

Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.

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 would like to apply for this position, please complete the Civil Service Jobs application form by clicking the "apply now" button at the top or bottom of this advert.

Stage 1 – Application

At sift stage, you will be assessed on your Experience in line with the essential skills listed in the person specification section of the job advert.

To apply for this role, please provide:

Your CV – Set out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role.

Your Statement of Suitability – In no more than 1000 words, provide examples of how your personal skills, qualities and experience meet the essential criteria. This is not intended to be a cover letter, instead work through each essential criteria in turn. You may wish to follow the STAR technique to help focus your examples. The key things we are looking for are what you did, how you did it and what the outcome was.

To confirm, the maximum word count for the statement of suitability is 1000 words. Please adhere to this limit as anything over 1000 words will not be taken into account.

The CV and Statement of Suitability will be assessed against the essential criteria detailed in the advert.

Should there be a high volume of applicants, candidates may be sifted on the first two (2) essential criteria.

Sifting is expected to take place w/c 23 March 2026. Please note these dates are subject to change.

Please note, CV details must be contained within the template on the application form. Any CV or Statement of Suitability that has been emailed to our team will not be considered.

Stage 2 - Interview

The interview will be a 2-part process:

Part 1: Prepare and deliver a short presentation (approx. 5 minutes) to the panel. Please be prepared to answer follow up questions on the presentation. Presentation question is “What would your skills and experience bring to the role of Head of Strategy and Operations at Policy Lab”. You may use slides to facilitate your presentation. You may use AI to support your research and thinking, but you should not use AI to generate your presentation and script wholesale.

Part 2 - The interview will last approximately 60 minutes. You will be asked questions on the essential criteria listed above to determine your level of experience in these areas. Questions will typically ask for a brief and broad overview of your experience relevant to a criteria (e.g. tell us about your experience delivering policy projects) and/or a specific example (e.g. tell us about a time when you….). We may also ask you some follow-up questions.

Interviews will take place mid-April 2026. Please note these dates are subject to change. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We receive many applications, and unfortunately we’re not able to provide feedback for candidates who aren’t shortlisted. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

All communications will be electronic therefore it is vitally important that you check your Civil Service Jobs account regularly, as well as your spam/junk email folder.

Other Information

Interviews may be via Microsoft teams or face to face; the vacancy manager will confirm prior to the Interview.

In your application, please don’t include personal information that identifies you.

This means we can recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - it's called name blind recruitment (opens in a new window).

Please ensure that you remove from your application, all references to your:

• name/title
• educational institutions
• age
• gender
• email address
• postal address
• phone number
• nationality/immigration status

We reserve the right to raise the minimum pass mark in the event of a high volume or strong field of candidates.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK from the location options provided and not from overseas.

The government is committed to supporting apprenticeships, enabling people to learn and progress in a role whilst earning. We want to monitor the number of people who have completed apprenticeships who are now applying to progress further in their career and are asking this question to all candidates, on all vacancies. You will be asked a question as part of the application process about any previous apprenticeships you have completed. Your response to this question will not affect your application and it is not a requirement of the role to have completed a previous apprenticeship.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check maybe carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstance some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Department of Education of your intention by emailing Pre-Employment.Checks.DFE@education.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Department for Education do not cover the cost of travel to your interview/assessment unless otherwise stated.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Candidates will be posted in merit order based upon location preference. Where more than one location is advertised you will be asked to state your preferred location.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

Terms and conditions of candidates transferring from ALBs and NDPBs

Bodies that are not accredited by the Civil Service Commission and are not able to advertise at Across Government on Civil Service jobs will be treated as external new starters and will come into DfE on modernised terms and conditions with a salary at the band minimum.

Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission but do not have civil service status will be offered modernised terms and will not have continuous service recognised for leave or sickness benefits. Salaries should be offered at band minimum, but there is some flexibility where this would cause a detriment to the individual.

Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission and do have Civil Service status will be treated as OGD transfers. Staff appointed on lateral transfer will move on to pre-modernised DfE terms (unless they were on modernised terms in their previous organisation). Staff appointed on promotion will move on to modernised DfE terms. Staff will transfer over on their existing salary (on lateral transfer) and any pay above the DfE pay band maximum will be paid as a mark time allowance. Staff moving on promotion will have their salaries calculated using the principles set out in the attached OGD transfer supplementary information.

Reasonable adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Department of Education via centralrecruitment.operations@education.gov.uk soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Please refer to the attached ‘Reasonable Adjustments Guide 05_2025 – accessible version’ at the bottom of the advert, for further information.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to Department for Education (DfE) will mean you will no longer be able to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

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

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 : Camilla Buchanan
• Email : jobshare.bennett-buchanan@policylab.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Centralrecruitment.operations@education.gov.uk

Further information

The Department for Education’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the Civil Service Commissioners Recruitment Principles, which outlines that selection for appointment is made on merit based on fair and open competition. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles. In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly with the department concerned via CentralRecruitment.Operations@education.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages

Attachments

DFE Terms & Conditions - accessible version Opens in new window (pdf, 215kB)Reasonable Adjustments guide 05_2025 - accessible version Opens in new window (pdf, 723kB)OGD Transfer Supplementary information - accessible version (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 327kB)