Service Owner

Job summary

Who We Are

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

• joining up public sector services

• harnessing the power of AI for the public good

• strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure

• elevating leadership and investing in talent

• funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation

• committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.

Government Digital Enablement

Is the directorate responsible for increasing digital, data and cyber capability across the public sector and providing the platforms, products and guidance to enable service teams to deliver joined-up, simplified and personalised citizen experience. We are recruiting for a service owner in each of:

Accessibility and Digital Inclusion team

As part of the Digital Standards and Inclusive Design group, we work to improve accessibility compliance, digital inclusion and inclusive service design across the public sector. This is a pivotal moment to help shape a new operating model and business case for how accessibility and inclusion support is delivered at scale, cross-government.

GDS Local team

Is an expanding team focused on strengthening collaboration between central and local government to deliver joined‑up digital public services as part of the government’s devolution agenda.

We work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and local government practitioners to make more of GDS’ products and platforms available to local authorities, reform the IT supplier market and unlock data sharing potential. This is an exciting moment as this team mobilises action with teams from across central government to deliver service improvements for citizens.

Job description

Former DSIT recruitment campaigns are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government moves and will ultimately be in one of the new departments. We will provide more information if you are selected for a role. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.

We are hiring a Service Owner into two teams, please find the details of the teams below;

Service Owner for Accessibility and Inclusion:

You will take the reins of a growing a high-profile suite of products, tools and services that help government build digital services everyone can use from assessment tools and inclusive design guidance to practical applications that teams rely on every day.

You will have genuine strategic ownership, setting direction, prioritising investment, tracking performance and proving impact while building a service that is trusted and valued in every department you work with. Playing a key role in influencing change at the highest levels of government, reporting to ministerial boards and partnering with policy colleagues across Whitehall departments to champion these priorities to drive forward a coherent, cross government approach. You will line manage a team and decide when to invest in external research and analysis.

Why this role matters:

Digital public services should work for everyone: This is a unique opportunity to lead services that help make government more accessible and inclusive for everyone. You'll work closely with our current Head of Accessibility to shape the future of inclusion support across government, influence strategic decisions at senior levels and ensure that public services work better for the millions of people who rely on them every day

You will lead the design and delivery of a new operating model that scales our impact across departments at a moment when accessibility and inclusion have never had a higher profile across government.

Service Owner for GDS Local:

You will lead a team coordinating GDS activity to deliver the digital and data commitments of the government's plan to fundamentally rewire the state by shifting power, funding and accountability from Whitehall to local leaders.

You will continue to grow capability in the team, set the operational structures, governance and benefits realisation. Onboarding delivery partners and engaging local government expertise to help you deliver on the ambition to improve digital services for communities across the UK. You will line manage a team and lead the business planning for further investment in the team.

Why this role matters:

To create public services and support systems that work around people and places, we need to provide local leaders with the data, technology and capability to act earlier and join up citizen services.

You will work closely with the new Digital Devolution Programme, to deliver co-designed projects that: enable access to interoperable technology; use collective buying power where it adds value; reduce supplier dependency and lock-in; and make it easier for places to reuse technology.

What you’ll be doing as a Service Owner:

• provide strategic leadership and end to end ownership of a suite of products, initiatives, services and tools including guidance and communities of practice

• be at the forefront of shaping government priorities, engaging directly with ministerial boards and collaborating with DCMS policy counterparts to align policy and digital expertise, turning ministerial ambition into tangible outcomes

• work closely with the subject matter experts and secondees from industry and local government to take on ownership of the service and products, ensuring a smooth, well governed handover of knowledge, relationships and delivery

• design and lead the transitioning to a new operating model that allows the service to scale sustainably and meet growing demand from central and local government

• define success and quality measures for the service, tracking performance metrics and using evidence to drive continuous improvement and demonstrate impact to senior stakeholders

• build and sustain significant stakeholder relationships across government, securing consensus and influence that enables work to progress at pace

• ensure appropriate governance, assurance and funding are in place for the service, acting as an escalation point for risk and investment decisions

• represent the service and its roadmap within the team’s new directorate structure, articulating its value and outcomes to directors and senior leaders, really selling its impact

• create the culture and environment for your team to do their best work, developing an open, trust based and inclusive way of working

• coordinate supplier partners to both guide design of the services and accelerate delivery

• resource, lead and line manage a team of staff to deliver the service to a high standard, including managing and reporting on the workforce plan and team budget

This list is not exhaustive; there may be a need to flex and change for business needs.

Person specification

We are looking for candidates to have experience:

• providing strategic leadership and end to end ownership of a service, product, or suite of products/tools

• building, influencing and managing stakeholder relationships across boundaries and complex organisations

• delivering outcomes through and with others leading and empowering multidisciplinary teams rather than delivering hands on

• using user research, evidence and insights to inform strategic decisions, championing user-centred design and continuous service improvement

• building and maintaining strategic stakeholder relationships, influencing and negotiating with senior leaders to achieve outcomes and resolve complex issues

• ensuring a strategy is in place that delivers the intended vision, outcomes and benefits, prioritising development areas across competing user, business and policy needs

• designing and managing scalable operating models for complex services, leading multidisciplinary teams, bringing together operational, policy, digital and delivery functions to ensure service resilience and manage the escalation of critical service issues

Benefits

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for the King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

Any move to Government Digital Service 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. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

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

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter answering 3 questions
• a 50 minute video interview that will feature a presentation. Details of the presentation will be shared to invited candidates prior to the interviews.

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

While we value the use of AI technology to enhance our daily work, we also value the personal touch and urge applicants to write cover letters without the use of AI to emphasise their own unique experiences.

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is: Q1 - describe how you have led a team to overcome blockers or difficult situations that were preventing delivery

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• leadership
• managing a quality service

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework for the Service Ownerrole:

• strategic ownership
• stakeholder relationship management
• applying user centred insights

Want to know more about who Government Digital and Data are? Click Here

Recruitment Timeline

Sift completion: 16/11/2026

Panel interviews: Starting from 23/11/2026

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

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

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

This role requires BPSS Checks to start, but you must have a willingness to obtain Security Clearance (SC) once in the role. Details on SC Clearance below.

SC clearance normally requires 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers.

Sponsorship

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

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 : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk
• Email : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : gdsrecruitment@dsit.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, you should contact gds-complaints@dsit.gov.uk in the first instance.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission by email: info@csc.gov.uk Or in writing: Civil Service Commission, Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ.