Senior Project Manager – Active Directory Service Consolidation

Job summary

Defra is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people's day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink.

Digital, Data, Technology and Security (DDTS) is the trusted team for digital across the entire Defra Group.

We have around 1000 colleagues across DDTS and our ambition is to make it easier and faster than ever for people to interact with Defra. If you are ready to drive innovation and push boundaries, we want to hear from you. Join us and together we will create a great place for living, and a green and healthy future for all.

Find out more about DDTS:

Defra digital, data and technology blog

LinkedIn

Defra Jobs

We are Government Digital and Data Candidate Information Pack V3 - 1

Job description

Join us as a Senior Project Manager – Shape the Future of Defra’s underpinning Technology!

We’re looking for someone who thrives on variety, enjoys solving complex problems, and wants to make a real difference in how people work across the Defra Group.

Our Digital, Data, Technology and Security (DDTS) function is at the heart of delivering smarter, more connected workplaces across the Defra Group. We’re looking for a Senior Project Manager to join our dynamic GIO Delivery Portfolio Team and drive innovation in a fast-paced, high-profile portfolio. The proposed resource will operate in a Project Manager capacity, providing end to end accountability for delivery, managing interdependencies, proactively addressing risks and maintaining alignment across stakeholders and delivery teams.

This work requires a Senior Project Manager to be accountable for:

• Complex multi-supplier negotiation (removing rights from incumbent suppliers through commercial changes to contracts)
• Holding new AD Management Supplier to delivery outcomes and fixed price costs
• Withdrawal of privileged access across legacy contracts
• Designing and embedding Tiered Administration boundaries
• Ensuring readiness for live service (SDRB, SKMS, ServiceNow, CMDB)
• Co-ordinating Active Directory recovery rehearsals. Defra currently has no specific supplier responsible for Active Directory backup and restores. This work would place a responsibility on the new supplier to do this AND to evidence this on an annual basis
• Technical, security and operational leadership across a deeply federated supplier landscape

All of this forms part of continuous service lifecycle management within a complex, multi supplier environment.

To deliver success in this role the project manager will need to identify the dependencies across the existing supplier services and work across this complex environment, often with complicated relationships, challenging ownership externally as well as internally to define workable solutions whilst ensuring best value for Defra.

Benefits delivered by this role:

This role will deliver the establishment of Active Directory as a secure, governed and accountable enterprise service, with clear ownership, defined operating model and assured recovery capability.

• Establish Active Directory as a formal Defra service for the first time.
• Appoint a single Service Owner
• Transition to one accountable supplier
• Enforce a Tier0/Tier1/Tier2 administration model.
• Eliminate excessive privileged access across five suppliers.
• Implement consistent security patterns, immutable backups, and authoritative forest recovery
• Deliver 100% domain controller telemetry into SOC.
• Provide a secure and standardised operating model for AD.
• Ensure BAU readiness, CMDB/SKMS updates and ServiceNow integration.

Person specification

Responsibilities:

• Complex multi-supplier negotiation (removing rights from incumbent suppliers through commercial changes to contracts)
• Holding new AD Management Supplier to delivery outcomes and fixed price costs
• Withdrawal of privileged access across legacy contracts
• Designing and embedding Tiered Administration boundaries
• Ensuring readiness for live service (SDRB, SKMS, ServiceNow, CMDB)
• Co-ordinating Active Directory recovery rehearsals. Defra currently has no specific supplier responsible for Active Directory backup and restores. This work would place a responsibility on the new supplier to do this AND to evidence this on an annual basis

Delivery & Control:

• Lead delivery of complex IT infrastructure projects across multi-supplier environments
• Manage delivery to agreed tolerances, including formal exception and change control
• Ensure robust planning, scheduling, and critical path management

Governance & Reporting:

• Establish and lead project governance in line with Defra and Project Delivery Profession standards
• Produce high-quality highlight reports, RAID logs, and financial forecasts
• Chair or support Project Boards and governance forums, ensuring clear decision making and escalation

Risk, Issues & Dependencies:

• Proactively manage risks and issues using structured approaches (cause → risk → impact → mitigation)
• Identify and actively manage cross-project dependencies within the wider portfolio
• Escalate risks early with clear mitigation strategies

Commercial & Supplier Management:

• Act as an intelligent client, managing multiple suppliers and delivery partners
• Ensure alignment with contracts, Statements of Work, and change control processes
• Manage commercial risks, including cost pressures and scope changes

Service Transition & Operational Readiness:

• Ensure effective transition of solutions into live service
• Support operational readiness, service acceptance, and business continuity requirements
• Deliver change into live, business-critical environments with minimal disruption

Stakeholder Engagement:

• Build strong relationships with Domain Leads, Service Owners, Commercial teams, and suppliers
• Maintain clear, consistent communication with stakeholders at all levels

Leadership and Deputising:

• Act as a deputy to the Portfolio Lead (G6) when required, ensuring continuity of delivery and decision-making
• Provide oversight across multiple projects, supporting prioritisation, risk

Skills and Experience:

• Technical, security and operational leadership across a deeply federated supplier landscape
• Deep experience in identity/security delivery
• Delivery of AD domain remediation and decommissioning experience
• Experience handling multi-supplier federated environments.
• Proven capability in SIEM/SOC onboarding, RBAC, KRBTGT, AD recovery
• Strong stakeholder communication across technical and non technical communities
• Ability to obtain SC clearance and sensitive systems delivery history
• Prince2, APM, PMP or relevant project management qualification or equivalent experience.

Dependant on the project you are assigned to you must already hold or be willing and eligible to apply for SC security clearance. SC security clearance requires 5 years UK residency immediately prior to application. For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

Behaviours

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

• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together

Technical skills

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

• Active Directory

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,375, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £16,331 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 leave (rising to 30 days over 5 years) plus bank holidays.
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A day off per year for the King's birthday.
• Access to a range of retail discounts (these include supermarket, tech, gym, holiday, phone and more).
• Flexible working options such as condensed hours, part-time and flexi time.
• 3 paid volunteering days per year.
• Funding for professional membership of a recognised professional body.
• Learning and development tailored to your role and budget for training or qualifications.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Health cash plan to help you manage health costs for a reduced monthly fee.
• Access to the Employee Assistance Programme open 24 hours, 7 days a week, that provides support to you during any times of stress or difficulty.
• Free access to Headspace for wellbeing.
• Season ticket loan for public transport.

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, Experience and Technical skills.

The Civil Service marks each element of the selection process on a merit basis. You can visit the gov.uk website for further information on the Civil Service rating scale.

Ensure you have tailored your CV and Personal Statement to the 'skills and experience' section of the job advert by providing examples on how you are suitable for the role using the STAR method.

Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your personal statement, how you meet these requirements, as the information you provide will form a key part when the panel is scoring your application.

For further information on STAR, you can check out our Hints and Tips document.

Application process

As part of the application process, you will be assessed on your experience. This will be evaluated by looking at your CV and personal statement, so please provide the following and ensure your experience is clearly demonstrated:

A CV

A 750-word Personal Statement: Referring to the 'skills and experience' sections of the job advert, please demonstrate how you are suitable for the role by providing relevant examples.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Sift

Sift will begin shortly after the advert closes.

Should there be a large number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted using your personal statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment or interview.

Interview

If successful at sift, you will be invited to an interview where you will be assessed on the Behaviours and Technical Skills listed below, as well as Experience.

As part of the recruitment process you will be required to do a presentation. Full details will be provided later within the process.

Interview dates are to be confirmed. Please note that these may be subject to change.

Interviews will be held virtually on Microsoft Teams.

For further information on Success Profiles, you can visit the links below and watch our videos on DefraJobs.

Behaviours

Experience

Technical Skills

Location

As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).

Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.

Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

Reserve list

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Near miss

Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions in Defra which may be at a lower grade, but have a potential skills match.

Merit Lists

Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be posted in merit order by location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application.

Salary

Existing Civil Servants moving on level transfer will retain their current salary or move onto the pay range minimum, whichever is the higher. Staff moving on promotion will have their pay increased by 10% or move onto the pay range minimum, whichever is the higher. As a general rule allowances and supplements will not be recognised.

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 Government Recruitment Service via defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as 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.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'contact point for applicants' section.

Higher Security Clearance

All of these posts require the successful candidate to hold SC security clearance. Job offers to these posts are made on the basis of merit. Security vetting will only take place after the receipt of a job offer.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website. Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to DEFRA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

Internal Fraud Database Check

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.

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

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 : DDTSonPayrollRecruitment@defra.gov.uk
• Email : DDTSonPayrollRecruitment@defra.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : defrarecruitment.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: defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: here

Attachments

DDTS CIP Opens in new window (pdf, 2858kB)