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Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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Delivery Manager

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Description

  • Job grade: Grade 7
  • Contract type: Fixed term
  • Length of employment: 17th August 2028
  • Business area: DEFRA - DGCS - Finance
  • Type of role: Finance
  • Working pattern: Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time
  • Number of jobs available: 2

Location

National

About the job

Job summary

East Midlands, East of England, London, North East, North West, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber.

We're looking for a Delivery Manager to lead the successful delivery of Finance digital initiatives, ensuring teams are focused on delivering valuable outcomes through agile and user-centred approaches.

You'll work at the heart of multidisciplinary teams, bringing together business stakeholders, technical specialists and users to turn ideas into deliverable solutions. The role requires someone who can manage priorities, remove blockers, facilitate effective decision-making and maintain momentum across multiple workstreams. You'll champion continuous improvement and help ensure digital products and services are delivered in a way that is pragmatic, efficient and aligned to business needs.

Job description

As a Delivery Manager, you will be responsible for leading the end-to-end delivery of Finance digital initiatives, ensuring work is effectively prioritised, planned and delivered through agile ways of working.

You will act as the primary point of contact between business stakeholders, requestors and technical teams, managing expectations and maintaining clear communication throughout the delivery lifecycle. Working closely with Business Analysts and technical colleagues, you will help shape and refine requirements, ensuring teams have a clear understanding of scope, priorities and desired outcomes.

A key aspect of the role is supporting discovery activities, facilitating discussions with stakeholders and helping define minimum viable products (MVPs) that maximise value while maintaining delivery pace. You will oversee delivery from initiation through to implementation, coordinating activities, managing dependencies and ensuring risks and issues are identified and addressed early.

You will lead and facilitate agile delivery practices, including planning sessions, reviews, retrospectives and prioritisation activities, helping teams continuously improve the way they work. Working collaboratively across a wide range of stakeholders, you will ensure delivery decisions are evidence-based, priorities remain aligned to business objectives and teams stay focused on achieving outcomes rather than outputs.

The role requires excellent stakeholder management skills, strong organisational capability and the ability to balance competing priorities while maintaining momentum and delivering high-quality results.

Person specification

We are looking for someone with strong delivery management experience and a proven track record of leading digital or business change initiatives within agile environments. You'll be confident working with senior stakeholders, technical teams and end users, ensuring delivery remains focused on achieving measurable business outcomes.

Essential

  • Experience leading the delivery of digital, technology or business change initiatives within agile environments.
  • Strong understanding of agile delivery methodologies, including discovery, sprint planning, reviews and retrospectives.
  • Experience managing work through prioritised backlogs and coordinating delivery across multidisciplinary teams.
  • Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and build consensus.
  • Experience identifying and managing risks, issues and dependencies to support successful delivery outcomes.
  • Strong facilitation skills, with the ability to lead discussions, drive decisions and maintain delivery momentum.
  • Experience producing delivery plans, status updates and forecasts to support effective decision-making.
  • Ability to remove blockers, solve problems and support teams in achieving delivery objectives.
  • Strong organisational and planning skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities effectively.

Desirable (not to be assessed)

  • Experience delivering digital transformation or service improvement initiatives.
  • Knowledge of MVP-based delivery approaches and iterative product development.
  • Experience working with Finance, corporate services or business-focused digital teams.
  • Understanding of governance, assurance, data management or compliance requirements within digital delivery.
  • Experience working within multidisciplinary teams that include Business Analysts, developers and technical specialists.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

  • Making Effective Decisions
  • Delivering at Pace
  • Leadership
  • Changing and Improving

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,207, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £16,862 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
  • Learning and development tailored to your role
  • An environment with flexible working options
  • A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
  • A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97

As a full-time new entrant to the Civil Service, or a Civil Servant on modernised terms and conditions, you will be entitled to 25 days’ annual leave (rising, over 5 years, to 30 days). If you are an existing Civil Servant on pre-modernised terms, these will remain the same.

In addition, you will receive 8 public holidays a year, plus an additional day in May to mark the King’s Birthday.

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV, personal statement and behaviour statements.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Sift

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead behaviour Making Effective Decisions. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Interview

At interview, candidates will be assessed against the relevant behaviours and experience required for the role.

Your interview will either be conducted face to face or by video. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for interview.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

Location

We are flexible on location and welcome applications from candidates based at any Defra office. Birmingham and Bristol are our main hub locations, and regular attendance at either office may be beneficial for collaboration and team engagement.

As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).

Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.

Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.

Salary

New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to DEFRA 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; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Visa Sponsorship Statement

Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.

Merit Lists

Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be appointed in merit order for each location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service /Disclosure Scotland on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email [email protected]

All of these posts require the successful candidate to hold basic security clearance. Candidates posted to London may be subject to a higher level of clearance because of the security requirements for that location. Job offers to these posts are made on the basis of merit. Security vetting will only take place after the receipt of a job offer.

Internal Fraud Database Check

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter

Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs are eligible to apply but will only be considered on loan basis (Civil Servants) or secondment (accredited NDPBs). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

This is a Fixed-term Appointment as a Delivery Manager in the Finance Digital Experience & Service Design (FDESD) Team.

The post is not permanent. It is time limited due to a fixed funding period or as part of a specific project. The fixed term will end when the funding or the project expires.

This post will therefore begin from the candidate's start date and end in 24 months.

Feedback



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 the Civil 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 :
Recruitment team

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact Government Recruitment Services via email: [email protected]
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: here

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