Deputy Director, Product Design App & Agentic Services
Description
- Job grade: SCS Pay Band 1
- Contract type: Permanent
- Business area: GDS - Products & Services
- Type of role: Digital, Information Technology
- Working pattern: Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time, Compressed hours
- Number of jobs available: 1
Location
About the job
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:
- joining up public sector services
- harnessing the power of AI for the public good
- strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
- elevating leadership and investing in talent
- funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
- 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
As Deputy Director Product Design for the Products & Services directorate within GDS Digital Products, your mission will be to lead a team in designing and developing the strategic products that shape the experience between citizen and government across our App and AI experiences. This is a hands-on design role at the centre of digital government, and the teams responsible for delivering next generation digital services.
You will use your significant design experience, digital expertise and innovation leadership to influence, shape, and deliver frontier experiences across the App, while leveraging established products in their next lifecycle phase to meet these new channels.
You will drive new user experiences for app and AI chat interfaces and agentic experiences, as part of multi-channel services and personalised experiences. You will think about the design experience of a range of cohorts, including the next generation of users. You will be working with new design roles within government and ways of working that encompass these new paradigms.
You will be a great collaborator who can rapidly understand and meet user needs, context, and constraints, breaking down perceived barriers to design-led progress.
Critically, this role harnesses two significant design challenges - designing new experiences and developing patterns that do not currently exist for eg, agents for government, alongside developing and delivering user experiences that amplify the next stage of established products like the App. The immediate outcomes include designing the high volume nation scale driving experiences across app, the next phase of Chat including testing of agentic tech with the significant challenge of trust as brand new patterns, alongside designing user experiences in data sharing spaces that are, again, new in government.
Person specification
We’re interested in people with:
- demonstrable experience of developing scaled, citizen facing products leveraging AI and/or Agentic technology
- demonstrable experience of developing and iterating nation scale apps
- demonstrable experience of taking complex strategies into pilot user experiences and beyond into deployment, securing the ongoing sponsorship of very senior stakeholders
- demonstrable ability to design, grow and develop high performing design teams, and lead ways of working, in the context of emerging technologies and pattern development, that enable prolific output
- experience in working alongside senior leadership within Legal, Procurement, InfoSec, Cyber and Policy professions to implement innovative designs, at nation scale
- in-depth understanding of design principles, methodologies, and their application at scale in complex digital environments
- a demonstrable track record of delivering and a shipping-mindset
- a systems thinking approach evidenced by an ability to quickly grasp design challenges facing other government departments and support them in devising user-centred strategies that will work for their users/context
- a natural growth mentality and be looking for ways to grow the adoption of design principles and practices across government
- bold leadership with an ability to see disruption opportunities where others only see constraints or legacy approaches
- an analytical approach to prioritisation, comfortable making difficult decisions that progress rapid development and delivery of design-led solutions
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
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
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 cover letter of up to 750 words and a URL to your portfolio . Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
- a 105 minute video interview, which will include a task as part of the interview process
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:
- demonstrable experience of developing scaled, citizen facing products leveraging AI and/or Agentic technology
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:
- leadership
- making effective decisions
- communicating and influencing
- delivering at pace
Recruitment Timeline
Sift completion: week commencing Monday 16th November 2026
Panel interviews: starting week commencing Monday 20th November 2026
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.
Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.
For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers.
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.
As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.
Security
See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
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
Working for the Civil Service
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).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : [email protected]
- Email : [email protected]
Recruitment team
- Email : [email protected]
Further information
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission by email: [email protected] Or in writing: Civil Service Commission, Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ.
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