Service Owner

Job summary

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:

1. joining up public sector services
2. harnessing the power of AI for the public good
3. strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
4. elevating leadership and investing in talent
5. funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
6. 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. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

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

Job description

We need your skills to embed transformative technology and effective use of it around the UK Public Sector. In this role you can help central and local government, the NHS, Police, as well as 400+ agencies and other bodies. By enabling the development of strategies, principles, standards and identifying best practice, as well as supporting the adoption and embedding of these into the public sector, you’ll help your 26,000+ digital and data colleagues in these organisations deliver transformational change.

As a Service Owner you will be a key part of a team that includes Digital and Data technologists and you will need to operate at scale connecting business areas and stakeholders while taking responsibility for governance and budget for the team.

• Work with principal technologists to design, develop and implement a digital technology observability strategy for HMG
• Improving priority services - partnering with digital, policy and operational delivery colleagues across government to improve specific services and test new ideas.
• Designing inclusive services - exploring how to make services available work for all users who need them and support those that unable to access them online.
• Local government - extending the digital centre’s expertise and support to local authorities alongside MHCLG and other departments to join up central and local government

What you will do

As a Service Owner, you’ll be accountable for several initiatives, taking a portfolio view and leading multiple multidisciplinary teams. For example:

1. Take responsibility with the Principal Technologist for an intent and strategy for the field you are aligned to, and gain endorsement across government for this
2. Ensure governance over the principles, standards and best practice published by your team and ensure these are life cycle managed
3. Lead the team’s agile working practices and come up with innovative ways of delivering your outcomes, including through technology vendors
4. Own the budget, successful operation and improvement of the products and services your team provides
5. Develop business cases to secure funding and land commercial deals to ensure the operational delivery of your planned products and services, iterating to improve the efficiency of your team’s operations
6. Work with senior stakeholders across HMG to develop, implement and maintain collaborative digital working practices, championing the sharing of data for the benefit of the public sector.

Person specification

This role requires skills including:

• presenting to senior stakeholders, both technical (such as CTOs across Government) and non-technical (including ministers)
• learning should be embedded in the way you approach your working week, and you should be keen to share your learning with those around you
• understanding of design, technology and data principles
• thinking of new and innovative ways of working to achieve the right outcomes while leading your team using agile and lean practices
• experience managing budgets, developing an agile business case and experience working with budgetary constraints
• using User Centred insights to anticipate problems, defending against them at the right time, and understanding how the problem fits into the larger picture
• developing long term plans while taking a discerning and metrics based approach to focussing on what is most important and most relevant
• applying strategic thinking to provide the best service for the end user
• planning for, and implementing, change beyond immediate team, working with stakeholders to instil collaborative working practices and data sharing across the service life cycle that benefits HMG

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 to answer two application questions.
• a 60 minute video interview which will feature a scenario based presentation. Details of which will be shared with invited candidates prior to the interview.

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.

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is: Please tell us about a time when you have been accountable for a complex technical delivery that involved multiple organisations? Please answer using the STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) format.

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:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• 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 Owner role:

• Adapting to Delivery Methodologies
• Applying User Centred Insights
• Operational Management
• Strategic Ownership

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

Recruitment Timeline

Sift completion: 26/1/26

Panel interviews: Week commencing 2/2/26

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.

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 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.

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.