Transformation Lead

Job summary

Transformation Lead

X2 positions available

Full time / Part time

Salary: £57,815 - £65,021 with potential for further progression to £73,211 with our pay progression scheme.

Location: Hybrid

Contracted to our Wilmslow office. Our Wilmslow office will be relocating to Manchester city centre from 28 September 2026. Once the move takes place your contracted office will be Circle Square, Manchester. Through hybrid working we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities and there will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need.

Why work for the ICO?

• Pay progression scheme.
• Hybrid and flexible working options.
• 25 days paid holiday per year, plus privilege and public holidays.
• Flexi leave (up to 26 additional days leave per year).
• Pension (employer contribution around 28.9%).
• Online discount scheme to save money at major supermarkets, retailers, gyms, restaurants, insurance providers and many more.
• Health Cash Plan.
• Fantastic development opportunities to learn and progress.

Further details can be found on the benefits section of our website .

Job description

The Transformation Lead drives interventions and initiatives that deliver meaningful, sustained transformation of how the ICO regulates and operates. They will have a clear focus on public value and our purpose, using this to facilitate teams to work together to design and deliver transformation and change.

They will lead interventions and initiatives that transform end-to-end ways of working, build the capability and culture for continuous improvement and shift mindsets to support and improve delivery against our purpose. They will actively use data throughout their work, ensuring that changes are based on evidence.

The Transformation Lead is a hands on role working across teams to challenge the status quo, embed new behaviours and capabilities, increase efficiency and effectiveness, and enable teams to own and sustain their transformation journeys.

The role holder will be required to work independently, interacting confidently with large groups and senior leaders with minimal support. They will need the ability to quickly understand complex issues in a range of different contexts.

Whilst the role holder will not hold direct line management responsibilities, they will be expected to matrix manage cross-cutting teams when needed and to work collaboratively with a broad range of key stakeholders, including business analysts, change managers, programme managers and business partners in People Services, Finance and DDaT.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end design, development and delivery of strategic transformation initiatives across the organisation.

• Facilitate teams to redesign how they work across silos, functions and services to improve outcomes for our customers and against our purpose.

• Coach and influence teams and leaders to adopt new ways of thinking, working and learning.

• Apply best practice transformation methodologies, to support adoption, engagement and sustained impact.

• Build confidence and capability in teams to identify opportunities, run experiments, learn from feedback, and continuously evolve their ways of working.

• Work with stakeholders at all levels to align on shared outcomes, remove barriers and co-create meaningful change.

• Support teams to define success measures, capture learnings, and adapt approaches in real-time based on evidence and insights.

• Drive the identification of opportunities for efficiencies, including cost savings.

• Work systematically and systemically to ensure change is sustainable and evidence-based.

• Participate actively in relevant corporate initiatives, including the business planning process, and undertake a senior management role in matter such as internal investigations.

Person specification

Person specification

Essential criteria assessed at application stage:

• Significant and diverse transformation design and delivery experience in complex organisations.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence and build trust at all levels.
• Experience of working across organisational boundaries and challenging the status quo.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver measurable improvements in outcomes and efficiency.
• Significant experience of facilitating diverse groups of people who hold different perspectives and expectations.

Essential criteria assessed during interview:

• Strategic thinking and analytical skills, with the ability to connect the ‘big picture’ to operational detail
• Ability to work with ambiguity, build trust quickly and influence without formal authority.
• Excellent facilitation, coaching and storytelling skills.
• Deep understanding of systems thinking and organisational culture.
• Skilled at embedding data-driven decision making.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £57,815, Information Commissioner's Office contributes £16,749 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Please visit ico.jobs for full details, including salary and benefits.

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

Equality, diversity, and inclusion

The ICO is committed to promoting and enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion. We are focused on developing a workforce that is representative of the communities we serve and together we are building an inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference. We are championing this through our Equality Diversity and Inclusion Board together with a number of staff networks. Read more about our commitment on our website.

Candidates with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy will be invited to interview as part of the ICO’s commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme.

As part of the ICO’s commitment to our EDI objectives and creating a workplace that represents the communities and societies we serve, we guarantee an interview to candidates who declare they identify as belonging from an ethnic minority background and who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy

If you are disabled or have an impairment and require an alternative application method, please email the HR team at recruitment@ico.org.uk

Closing Date

Please submit your CV and cover letter by 23:59 on Sunday 31st May 2026 Your cover letter should be no more than 1,000 words and should clearly demonstrate how you meet the essential criteria for the role.

We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. To ensure your application is considered, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application, please contact us at recruitment@ico.org.uk.

In the event of a high volume of applications, we may not be able to invite all candidates who meet the minimum criteria to interview. However, we encourage you stay in touch and apply for future roles that match your interests.

All candidates who meet the minimum criteria and apply in-line with our guaranteed interview scheme for disabled and ethnic minority applicants will be interviewed.

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.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.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

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 : recruitment@ico.org.uk
• Email : recruitment@ico.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@ico.org.uk