Head of Strategy & Transformation
| Posting date: | 23 June 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £66,045 to £71,295 per year |
| Additional salary information: | GPA is also committed to recognising and rewarding where our staff hold the “Gold Standard’ accreditation relevant to their Specialism and offer a £5000 non-pensionable allowance to staff who have achieved this. There is also a £10000 recruitment & retent |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 18 July 2025 |
| Location: | Manchester |
| Company: | Government Recruitment Service |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 412400/5 |
Summary
We are transforming the way the Civil Service works by creating great places to work, leading the largest commercial office programme in the UK, working towards halving carbon emissions from government offices, and achieving greater value for taxpayers. And we are looking for innovative, solutions-focused people to join our team.
Representing the best covenant in the UK – His Majesty’s Government – we are leading transformational programmes such as the Government Hubs Programme, Whitehall Campus Programme and Net Zero Programme, as well as delivering modern, cost-effective real estate service solutions.
Innovation and progress are at the heart of our behaviours. We foster a culture of lifelong learning, where curiosity and self-improvement are encouraged. And we’re dedicated to becoming a leading, inclusive employer both in the external market and throughout the Civil Service. Our strong emphasis on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) is not just about driving inclusion across our organisation, it is also about ensuring our services meet the needs of government departments and the civil servants who use our spaces.
Join our dynamic and diverse team that leads with purpose, improving sustainability, nurturing social value, driving inclusivity and flexibility, and kickstarting economic growth. We are driven by purpose, and you can be part of it too: where you make a meaningful impact; where you influence; where your voice really matters; where you help to shape our future direction.
The GPA is committed to representing the communities we serve by making Diversity, Equality and Inclusion part of everything we do.
To ensure that we are always recruiting and retaining a diverse mix of talent, we are particularly inviting applications from candidates who are disabled, ethnically or gender diverse, and people who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community.
The Chief Digital & Information Office is on a mission to create a transformed, more efficient digitally enabled organisation that provides better outcomes for everyone by 2028, and this role has the opportunity to help spearhead our Digital & Data strategies and ongoing transformation.
To date, Digital & Data have had a significant role to play, in supporting the GPA’s 2030 vision of a transformed, shared, sustainable and value for money government estate, rapidly moving the organisation from a startup to scaleup organisation.
Going forward as part of the Government Spending Review process we have a pivotal opportunity to influence and shape our future, to focus on prioritised areas to better respond to our clients, customers and GPA teams. Taking a paradigm shift towards developing services that are even more fit for purpose to support the next stage in GPA’s evolution, scale and innovate our services to be more efficient and effective over a longer period, supporting innovation and growth.
This is a pivotal leadership role at the heart of the Government Property Agency’s digital and data transformation journey. As Head of Strategy & Transformation, you will work closely with the Chief Digital and Information Officer (CDIO) to support the delivery of Digital & Data strategies and help drive a cohesive vision, embedding a data-driven culture, and leading the change required to modernise services, improve decision-making, and support the GPA’s mission to deliver smarter, better, greener estate. In parallel, the role will stay connected to Government wide Digital, Data & Ai strategies to ensure strategic alignment.
This is a high-impact role requiring strategic thinking, technical expertise, strong stakeholder engagement, and change leadership. Acting as a senior advisor on digital and data items, providing strategic direction for digital transformation programmes and data maturity improvement across the GPA.
The Head of Strategy & Transformation plays a critical leadership role in helping shape and drive the GPA’s digital and data vision alongside peers in the team. This individual will be responsible for leading the strategic direction and transformation agenda across the agency, bringing together people, data, technology & process to ensure digital capabilities and data-driven insights are effectively harnessed to deliver better outcomes for GPA and its stakeholders.
From a digital & data perspective, this role will lead our innovation workstream and work with the business, business analysts and other resources to help develop innovative solutions as necessary to continue to improve the delivery of GPA outcomes and improving client, customer and GPA experiences. Therefore, specifically to the business plan, this role will also help lead on areas of digital innovation and end to end processes reviewing business plan objectives and working with owners to unlock opportunities to transform, automate or optimise the delivery. This could be enabling specific functionality in one of our digital services such as Ai, it could be looking at other services such as predictive analytics or machine learning, improving the use of existing systems or it could be helping to better embed change.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
- Support the CDIO with the implementation of GPA’s Digital and Data Strategies ensuring a cohesive and structured approach.
- Ensure digital & data delivery objectives align with the strategies and strategic goals.
- Provide strategic direction for the digital & data transformation programmes.
- Provide expert advice to senior leaders and ensure alignment with wider government Digital, Data & Ai strategies.
Change Leadership
- Lead the end-to-end digital and data transformation agenda, driving cultural and organisational change across GPA.
- Establish seamless change assessments which regularly capture digital & data outputs which can be aligned to GPA strategic goals, Digital & Data Strategic goals, benefits and business outcomes.
- Establish and champion a strategic change roadmap to enable digital and data maturity.
- Identify, initiate, and embed change initiatives across the business, ensuring readiness, engagement, and sustainable impact.
- Work closely with Corporate Performance, communications, and other functions to develop and deliver change management strategies that support transformation goals.
Digital Transformation
- Drive the design and delivery of digital services and solutions that enhance operational performance and Client and Customer experience.
- Support the Head of Corporate Systems to introduce scalable, secure, and user-centred technologies, in line with GPA principles and more broadly with GDS & CO.
- Lead the innovation workstream, pilots and horizon-scanning to keep GPA at the forefront of digital capability.
Data Strategy & Governance
- Support the Head of Bi & Data with delivering the Information, Data & Ai Strategy.
- Support with data governance, quality, and architecture standards.
- Oversee the implementation of standards and frameworks to enable data-driven decision-making.
- Ensure compliance with data legislation and risk mitigation protocols.
Stakeholder Engagement
- Act as a trusted partner to senior stakeholders within GPA, Cabinet Office, and other departments.
- Lead change management initiatives to support adoption of new digital and data practices across the agency.
- Build and maintain strong networks across the Civil Service digital and data community.
- Represent GPA at cross-government digital and data forums.
Leadership & Capability Building
- Support with developing a high-performing multidisciplinary team of digital & data professionals.
- Cultivate a collaborative, agile, and inclusive working environment.
- Promote a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning within the team and the wider organisation.
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