Head of Experimentation and Openness (G6)
| Posting date: | 21 January 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £69,308 per year |
| Additional salary information: | Minimun £69,308 (National); £73,690 (London) |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 04 February 2026 |
| Location: | Glasgow |
| Company: | Government Recruitment Service |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 445260/1 |
Summary
In CSSU we ensure that priority, cross cutting reform initiatives are developed, prioritised, delivered and scaled. With a direct link to the Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and liaison with Ministers, we have the ability to champion reform issues at the highest levels of government. This is an ambitious role looking at all aspects of the Civil Service, it is focusing on how we can radically improve our people, organisation, and digital use in departments, functions, professions and public bodies. We are a delivery-focused "think-and-do" tank where you can iterate, test, and fail fast, learning lessons on the way to find what truly works. CSSU has been newly reshaped in order to be more agile to the key strategic issues. The Directorate consists of around 40 staff, located across the UK, who work together to deliver high quality strategic advice.
This is a pivotal and high-impact leadership opportunity for a creative and influential professional to drive the PAS (Productive and Agile State) agenda. As the Experimentation and Openness team’s leader you will be confident in bringing together and brokering between multiple interested parties. You’ll have energy and pace and you drive potentially abstract ideas into practical experiments.
You will be responsible for leading a team of 7 FTE to shape and deliver four key workstreams: PAS experimentation, international engagement, innovation, and Open Government. You will play a central role in generating robust evidence for scalable reforms, fostering a culture of transparency and collaboration, and ensuring the Civil Service learns from best practices, both domestically and internationally.
- Lead PAS Experimentation & Innovation: Lead the design and delivery of a series of experiments to test delivery ideas, identify bottlenecks, and validate new ways of working. This includes overseeing the innovation pipeline, from initial concept to evidence generation.
- International: Lead the strategic development and delivery of the team’s international engagement, with a particular focus on partners like the OECD and the Open Government Partnership, but with the aim of getting international best practice fed into reform work.
- Open Government Workstreams: Drive the team's Open Government agenda by championing new approaches to transparency, accountability, and citizen participation, and both shaping and driving tangible progress through the National Action Plan process (which requires significant input from civil society).
- Strategic Leadership & Team Management: Lead and manage a multidisciplinary team of 7 FTE, including 3 G7 direct reports. Set a clear strategic vision for the team, foster a high-performing and collaborative culture, and ensure all workstreams are aligned with the overarching PAS agenda.
- Senior Stakeholder Engagement: Build and maintain effective working relationships with a wide range of senior stakeholders across government and with international partners. Use these relationships to secure buy-in for experiments, share insights, and influence the broader reform agenda. This will include No.10 and very senior officials across Whitehall, as well as Ministers.
Communication & Dissemination: Translate complex insights and evidence from experiments and international engagement into clear, compelling, and actionable recommendations for senior leaders.
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