Senior Delivery Manager

Job summary

Can you lead and inspire multi-disciplinary teams to deliver high-quality digital products and services that meet user needs?

Have you successfully managed complex digital projects, navigating technical challenges and engaging effectively with senior stakeholders and delivery partners?

Do you champion Agile and Lean practices, fostering collaboration and continuous improvement across teams and organisations?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Active Travel England is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department for Transport.

Active travel makes people happier and healthier. That’s why Active Travel England wants to increase the number of local journeys being walked, wheeled or cycled by 2030.

We are doing this by:

• investing in and improving standards for active travel schemes across England
• integrating active travel in the planning and development system
• focusing on inclusivity and accessibility and giving people from all walks of life the opportunity to try active travel
• helping councils to access state of the art data and analysis to use in active travel planning and design

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at ATE.

Job description

Active Travel England (ATE) is seeking an experienced and passionate Senior Delivery Manager to lead multi-disciplinary teams in delivering exceptional digital products and services. You’ll play a key role in shaping ATE’s growing digital portfolio, driving projects that meet user needs and align with the Government’s Service Standard. Working collaboratively with internal teams and partners, you’ll champion Agile and Lean practices, overcome technical challenges, and help define the strategic direction of ATE’s digital future.

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

1. Leading the discovery and development of digital services, translating user insights into actionable delivery plans, contribute to the digital strategy and roadmap, and ensure development priorities align with business needs and strategic objectives.
2. Owning the relationship with Department for Transport (DfT) Digital team and ensuring our development and cloud approach is aligned with wider priorities, whilst overcoming any technical blockers or challenges.
3. Facilitate effective communication between technical and non-technical stakeholders, manage expectations, moderate difficult discussions, and act as a key conduit between the ATE Digital team and the wider business.
4. Be accountable for the product delivery, manage teams through all delivery phases, coach and mentor other delivery managers, and address complex risks, issues, and dependencies. Ensure all products are developed following Government Digital Service (GDS) requirements.
5. Manage relationships with externally sourced delivery partners and contracted suppliers, including scoping, identifying contractual frameworks, negotiating effectively, and ensuring value for money.
6. Provide expert leadership and coaching in Agile and Lean practices, tailoring the approach to suit different lifecycle stages, and fostering effective collaboration within teams.
7. Identify and challenge inefficient organisational processes, guide teams through implementing improvements, experiment with innovative ways of working, and lead continual planning in a complex environment.

For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Person specification

We’re looking for a confident, resilient and inclusive leader who is focussed on delivering value through continually learning and adapting. The essential criteria are:

1. Demonstrable experience of leading delivery using a range of Agile and lean tools and techniques, empowering and coaching agile teams to be self-organising, inclusive and continuously improving.
2. Demonstrable experience in delivering multiple successful digital products and services through the agile delivery lifecycle following the GDS Service Standards.
3. Demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively across organisational, technical and non-technical audience.

Behaviours

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

• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Changing and Improving

Technical skills

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

• Agile and Lean Practices. (Relevant skill level: expert)
• Communication between the technical and non-technical. (Relevant skill level: expert)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £59,816, Active Travel England contributes £17,328 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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Technical skills.

Behaviours

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

• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Changing and Improving

Technical skills

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

• Agile and Lean Practices. (Relevant skill level: expert)
• Communication between the technical and non-technical. (Relevant skill level: expert)

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

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

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert or the information on our website, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit theHow We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

If your application is successful but you have been dismissed from the Civil Service, your application could be removed at the pre-employment checking stage depending on the nature of the dismissal.

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. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

All external applicants and current employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be required to undergo a Social Media Check. A Social Media Check is a review of your publicly available online activity, typically across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and others. The purpose is to identify any public posts or content that could raise concerns for employers, such as:

• Hate speech or discriminatory behaviour
• Threats or acts of violence
• Illegal activity or substance misuse
• Sexually explicit material
• Extremist views or affiliations

Importantly, this check does not involve hacking into your accounts or accessing private messages. It only considers content you have chosen to make public. Employers use this kind of screening to help ensure their workplace remains safe, inclusive, and aligned with company values. It’s not about judging your personality or lifestyle - it’s about checking for potential red flags that might affect the role or company culture. If you have questions or concerns about the social media check, we would be happy to explain in more detail what’s being looked at and how your data is handled securely and fairly.

Feedback

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

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 : Beth Gordon
• Email : beth.gordon@activetravelengland.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : DFTrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel 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 Government Recruitment Services via email: dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website Here

Attachments

Senior Delivery Manager - Advert Opens in new window (docx, 125kB)G7 Senior Delivery Manager - Role profile Opens in new window (docx, 90kB)