Associate Director for Digital

DBS was established under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 on 1 December 2012, working

from two sites, which are Liverpool and Darlington. We operate on behalf of government

delivering Disclosure functions in England, Wales, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, and

Barring functions for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. We function within a framework of

legal and regulatory requirements and that includes work with a range of external organisations

including other government departments, regulators, and trade bodies.

We provide a service that enables organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to

make better informed, safer recruitment and other decisions. We do this by providing information

to enable them to determine whether individuals are unsuitable or unable to undertake certain

work, particularly with occupations involving regular contact with vulnerable groups, including

children.

Our Strategy

Our current Strategy sets out our purpose, vision, and the impacts we want to achieve. Our

strategy was co-created with our staff and has been supported by insight from our various

partners, and throughout, you will find our ambitions to be achieved. Everything that we do within

DBS, from developing our strategic intent, to the day-to-day operational delivery of our services,

is underpinned by constant considerations of safeguarding, quality, sustainability, value for

money, and diversity and inclusion. Our strategic objectives aim to enhance our effectiveness,

influence, and customer satisfaction while fostering a supportive environment for everyone.

Equality, Diversion, and Inclusion at DBS

DBS is committed to fostering an environment that values individual differences and ensures fair

treatment to unlock the full potential of staff and better support customers. Equality, diversity,

and inclusion (EDI) are core to driving organisational success and we have developed specific

equality objectives for DBS.

Every decision and activity will be considered through an EDI lens, aiming to build an inclusive

culture, improve policies and practices, gain external assurances, and become a leading voice of

good practice in EDI.

Read More

For further information, please see below for a collection of DBS strategies and business plans:

• DBS strategies - GOV.UK
• DBS business plans - GOV.UK

Job Purpose:

The Associate Director of Digital will provide senior leadership for digital services across DBS,

ensuring services are designed around user needs, delivered to the Digital by Default Service

Standard, and continuously improved through evidence, data and user insight.

The role will act as the organisational lead for digital by design, user-centred design and user

experience, building the capability, culture and governance required to ensure DBS services

are simple, inclusive, accessible, reliable and outcome-focused.

Working closely with operational, policy, technology, commercial and transformation leaders,

the postholder will hold end-to-end accountability for the strategy, design, delivery, live

operation and continuous improvement of digital services, ensuring priorities align to

organisational strategy, operational need and the future Target Operating Model.

As a senior leader within Technology and Innovation, the postholder will shape digital maturity

across DBS, lead multidisciplinary teams, influence executive decision-making, and ensure

digital services deliver value for money, public trust and measurable benefits for users, staff

and partners.

Key responsibilities include:

• Lead digital by design across DBS, ensuring services, products, policies and processes

are shaped around user needs, accessibility, inclusion, evidence and measurable

outcomes.

• Lead and mature the User-Centred Design function, strengthening user research,

service design, interaction design, content design and accessibility capability.

• Set and communicate a clear digital service vision, securing alignment across senior

stakeholders on priorities, trade-offs, risks, opportunities and outcomes.

• Take accountability for service performance, resilience, compliance and continuous

improvement across the full service lifecycle, from discovery through to live service.

• Use performance data, user research, operational insight and delivery evidence to

improve services and realise measurable benefits.

• Embed governance and assurance that require user insight, accessibility, testing, value

for money and continuous improvement as standard.

• Lead high-performing multidisciplinary teams, creating a culture of accountability,

collaboration, agility and continuous learning.

• Influence at executive level, ensuring user needs and digital service outcomes shape

strategic decisions, investment choices and transformation roadmaps.

Corporate Duties:

• Play an active part as a member of the directorate management team (DMT), leading

the organisation and undertaking corporate duties on behalf of DMT.

• As an Associate Director of Digital within the DBS Corporate Leadership Team (CLT)),

take a lead role in developing the organisation, ensuring a continued focus on VFM.

• Fully engage and participate in the change programme.
• Support the DBS Board and its committees as required.
• Work as part of a wider directorate management, bringing together skills

and expertise into a single, coherent and enabling directorate.

• Demonstrable experience in creating the vision for large-scale cultural change.
• Strong communication, influencing and leadership skills to translate technical concepts

and issues into easy-to-understand propositions and secure buy-in

• Demonstrable evidence of thought leadership in transformation.
• Represent the Directorate, Group and Department as a leader in creating an innovative

place of work to both internal and external audiences and driving forward the positive

public image to all.

Operational Delivery Duties

Digital

• Deliver services which meet and maintain the Digital by Default Service Standard.
• Interpret user insight and performance data to drive service design and iterative

operational improvements for digital and assisted digital service channels.

• Clarify and articulate the diverse requirements of users and delivery partners to support

effective delivery of a service.

• Translate complex aims and needs into clear and manageable plans

and determining resource requirements to support service design and maintenance.

• Support the Director in creating joined up service delivery plans that have positive

impact and are aligned to the DBS’s overarching digital strategy.

• Build and sustain the DBS’s capability to design, build and operate high quality digital

services, bringing in a range of technical, analytical and design skills.

• Identify step changes that quickly transform the flexibility, responsiveness, and quality of

a service, taking quick, confident decisions at a strategic level to move things forward.

• Act as an advocate for the digital transformation of services, promoting the DBS’s

progress and publicising learning; influencing culture change and digital adoption

throughout the organisation.

• Manage the relationship with both the Sponsor Unit and Home Office to ensure

economies of scale are realised; synergies between digital service providers

are exploited; DBS interests and requirements are appropriately understood and

considered.

• Proactively create and maintain a strong network of connections with colleagues across

the department and Digital Service Managers in the wider Civil Service.

• Work effectively across teams to support the department in delivering back-end

technology that enables that delivery of excellent digital public services.

• Gather and report on detailed performance data against key indicators to generate

actionable improvements to the quality of services offered by the DBS.

• Understand the financial position of the service, the DBS and the wider economy and

recognise the impact of this when delivering services; promote and visibly demonstrate a

culture of value for money.

• Make strategic choices on spending and procurement, challenging high risk or costly

options and using cloud-first options.

• Use agile methodologies to maintain a strong focus on delivery priorities, holding others

to account for delivery, and swiftly responding to changing requirements.

• Ensure the organisational structure and resource requirements are designed and

delivered in line with DBS strategic vision.

• Provide leadership, across two sites (Liverpool and Darlington) and remotely.
• Ensure that digital services for the DBS are delivered cost effectively and efficiently,

and in accordance with compliance required and best practice standards, and that a

disaster recovery approach is in place.

• Ensure good management of strategic technology partners, ensuring that their delivery

and service levels match or exceed contractual obligations.

• Identify opportunities and risks for delivering the DBS digital services, including

identification of competitive services, opportunities for innovation, and assessment of

marketplace obstacles and technical hurdles.

• Lead on development and execution of disaster recovery and business continuity plans.
• Communicate and develop the DBS digital strategy to internal and external stakeholders.

Management of Finances:

• They will be accountable for the allocated financial resources of Digital Delivery.

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)

DBS has appointed executive search specialists Gatenby Sanderson to support us with this appointment.

To apply for this please click the link below:

https://dbs.gs-attract.com/

Your application should include:

• A current CV, including your educational and professional qualifications and full employment history (explaining any gaps), with details of budgets and teams managed and highlighting key achievements.
• A covering letter, no more than two A4 pages, explaining why this appointment interests you and how you meet the criteria set out in the candidate profile (please note that references and open-source due diligence checks (including into social media accounts) may be undertaken for all short-listed candidates)

The anticipated timetable is as follows:

Closing Date: 9am on Monday 5 October 2026

Long Listing: Week commencing 12 October 2026

Preliminary Interviews: Weeks commencing 19 and 26 October 2026

Short Listing: Week commencing 2 November 2026

Informal Discussions: Week commencing 9 November 2026

Final Panel: Week commencing 16 November 2026

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.