SCS2 Area Director for Southern England

Job summary

Ready to lead real change in communities across Southern England?

The Department for Work and Pensions is looking for an exceptional leader to become our next Area Director for Southern England, a pivotal role at the heart of our Operational Delivery Profession.

This is your opportunity to shape services that directly impact millions of people. You’ll be driving delivery in one of the most complex, fast‑moving operational environments in government, leading teams across diverse communities and working in partnership with a wide range of internal stakeholders and regional leaders, including Combined Mayoral Authorities.

With the Government’s ambitious Get Britain Working mission accelerating job creation and strengthening employment and skills support, there has never been a more exciting time to join us!

As a senior member of the Operational Delivery Profession, you’ll also take on influential national leadership roles across priority areas, from tackling fraud and error, to improving health-related journeys, to supporting self‑employment. You will play a central part in improving services, enhancing customer experience, and delivering better outcomes for the people we serve. Above all, you’ll be a role model for professional excellence and leadership.

For more information about DWP and this role, please see the Candidate Pack attached.

Location: You can be based at any Jobcentre within the Southern Area Directorate, excluding London. Our Jobcentres are located across Devon & Cornwall; Dorset, Wiltshire, Hampshire & the Isle of Wight; Avon, Somerset & Gloucester; Kent, Surrey & Sussex; and Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire. Please note that regular travel to other sites will be required.

Details of specific sites and the geographical regions they cover can be found on page 6 of the Candidate Pack.

Here more about DWP

Virtual Engagement Session ​

Date: 22/01/26 Time: 10:15am - 11:15am

This virtual session is an opportunity for you to find out more about the role and what it's like leading the Working Age directorate. You'll get the opportunity to hear directly from the vacancy holder, Barbara Bennett and HR Director Lorraine McGuirk, who will provide an overview of the role and hold a Q&A session. Join session HERE.

Job description

In this role, you’ll help transform lives by supporting customers into employment. Jobs and Careers Service Area Directors, as leaders within the Operational Delivery Profession, are accountable for the leadership and performance management of large scale, multi-site operations, and for the effective delivery of Job Centre services and working age benefits (including Universal Credit, Employment Support Allowance and Job Seekers Allowance.​

You will be accountable for performance including the into work rates for your region, as we seek an 80% employment rate. You will be expected to lead out the transformation, within your Area of the Jobs and Careers Service Programme which will deliver on one of the Government’s manifesto commitments. ​

Your responsibilities include: ​

• Being accountable for all aspects of the successful delivery of Jobcentre Services and performance within their area.​
• Ensuring that Jobcentre performance has a positive impact on the overall delivery of Universal Credit and other working age benefits.​
• Delivery of labour market outcomes as more households are encouraged and supported to work and earn more than ever before.​
• To embed effective place-based system and partnership leadership and build trusted partnerships across government.​
• Delivering exceptional customer service across jobcentres. Ensuring that key operational milestones are planned and delivered.​
• Accountable for delivering continuous improvement in the end to end customer journey.​
• Financial control both within your area and collectively across the group to deliver efficient and effective services and preventing fraud and error.
• Building key external relations and working collaboratively with partners, key stakeholders including Local Government, Mayoral Combines Authorities landlords, HMRC and other government department officials.​
• Driving through efficiencies in the current delivery model to raise levels of customer service and reduce cost in line with DWP’s stated ambition to reduce cost by 2030.​
• Establish a clear and active voice of operations in all parts of the Department for Work and Pensions through membership of key stakeholder groups.​
• Driving up colleague engagement, performance outcomes and diversity indicators.
• This post holder will have in the region of c.5,500 staff. Line manager to two Group Directors (SCS 1)​.
• Excelling in senior stakeholder relationships, including at ministerial level, to drive forward the overall DWP agenda.​
• This post holder will need the ability to influence and manage complex senior stakeholder relationships and deal with public and political scrutiny.

Person specification

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their knowledge, experience and skills against the following essential criteria: ​​

• An exceptional leader with experience in driving cultural transformation across multiple teams, driving both a customer-focused and a continuous improvement culture​
• Experience in shaping and leading cross-team strategies to improve overall operational delivery effectiveness, capability and service outcomes​
• An engaging leadership style with the ability to instil trust and connect with people at all levels​
• Has the personal impact to influence and challenge at the most senior organisation levels, with experience in managing complex senior stakeholder relationships​
• Astute business acumen: able to deliver at pace by using data and evidence to manage risk and reach sound judgements and decisions based on level of risk and reward to the business ​
• The ability to work in a fast-paced environment with challenging deadlines, adopting a flexible and proactive approach to change within a large and complex organisation

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £100,000, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £28,970 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave – at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many 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

If you have the experience and energy to take on this stretching and demanding role, we would be very keen to hear from you.​​

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process outlined below by no later than 12:00 noon on 2nd of February 2026.

• A CV 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 (maximum 1250 words), explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities, and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification.

Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.​

For more information about the roles and the applications process, please see the candidate pack attached.

Reasonable Adjustments
At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, especially those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact senior.recruitment@dwp.gov.uk as soon as possible, before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what additional support or adjustments you might need during the recruitment process.
For further information regarding reasonable adjustments, please see following link: Reasonable Adjustments , Civil Service Careers

Artificial Intelligence
For further information regarding the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within applications, please see following link: Artificial intelligence and recruitment , Civil Service Careers

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 undergo a 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.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 : senior.recruitment@dwp.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : senior.recruitment@dwp.gov.uk

Further information

What do I do if I want to make a complaint?

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact: senior.recruitment@dwp.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response, you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

Area Director SE Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 504kB)