Digital Improvement Partner

Do you want to work on one or the most exciting transformation projects in the public sector?

The Defence Housing Service (DHS) is being created through the Armed Forces Bill to deliver a step-change in housing for the UK’s Armed Forces and their families following the publication of the Defence Housing Strategy on 3 November 2025, which marked the most significant change to Armed Forces housing in over 50 years. DHS will bring a dedicated focus to improving the homes, communities and lived experience of Service personnel, placing families firmly at the heart of everything it does.

This is one of the most ambitious housing transformation programmes in the UK today. Backed by a £9.2 billion investment, DHS will modernise tens of thousands of homes, introduce a more proactive and customer-focused approach to maintenance, and unlock new opportunities to develop housing on Defence land. DHS will have the focus and agility to deliver change at pace, combining public service values with greater flexibility to build the skills, systems and partnerships needed for the future.

This is a rare opportunity to be part of shaping its culture, influencing how it works, and helping deliver lasting improvements for Service families across the UK.

The Defence Housing team is currently part of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), who respond to the evolving needs of our military personnel, and the ways in which they live, work, train and deploy. We are proud to be the expert partner Defence needs for all their infrastructure requirements. From large scale infrastructure projects such as runways for the F35 fighter jets to net carbon-zero accommodation for our Service families, our activities focus relentlessly on our customers, and our outputs are unique in the UK and across the globe!

DIO , What we deliver every day.

The future delivery model for this team is currently under review and may change as part of potential organisational developments. This could include the team or function transferring to a different employer or organisational structure in the future. Should activities transfer out of the Ministry of Defence existing employees transferring with those activities will maintain the same, or substantially the same, terms and conditions of employment.

Are you passionate about improving services, solving complex operational challenges and using digital technology to deliver better outcomes for customers?

We are seeking an experienced Digital Improvement Partner to lead the design and delivery of transformative improvements across Defence Housing Services (DHS). This is an exciting opportunity to drive meaningful change, combining continuous improvement, digital innovation and service design to enhance customer experience, operational performance and value for money.

Taking ownership of improvement opportunities from initial problem through to implementation and benefits realisation, you will work closely with operational teams, stakeholders and suppliers to develop practical, data-driven solutions to complex service challenges. Using customer insight and evidence to identify root causes, you will design and deliver improvements that create measurable benefits for Service personnel and their families.

A key aspect of the role is driving digital innovation, including improving existing systems, processes and services, while identifying opportunities for automation, self-service, workflow improvements and data-enabled solutions. You will challenge existing ways of working, influence stakeholders across the DHS operating model and supply chain and support the successful delivery and adoption of service improvements.

Reporting to the Head of Customer Experience & Insight, you will play a key role in improving service performance, operational effectiveness and customer outcomes. Experience within housing, accommodation or property services, particularly in supplier-led environments, would be advantageous, as would familiarity with digital housing platforms such as HomeHub or similar technologies.

What you’ll be doing

Leadership and Team Management

• Lead and support the SEO Improvement Support Officer, setting priorities and embedding effective, user-centred ways of working (e.g. agile, user-centred design) that enable improvements to be delivered at pace.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement across the Customer Experience & Insight function and wider Defence Housing Services (DHS).

Continuous Improvement Delivery

• Lead the delivery of improvement initiatives from problem identification through to implementation and benefits realisation.
• Use data, customer insight and operational evidence to identify root causes, develop solutions and improve service performance, efficiency and customer experience.
• Design, test and implement sustainable improvements to services, processes, systems and ways of working.
• Manage and prioritise a pipeline of improvement activity, focusing on customer impact, operational value and strategic priorities.
• Lead pilots and test-and-learn activity where this provides a proportionate means of validating proposed improvements.

Digital Improvement and Solution Delivery

• Identify opportunities to use digital technology, automation and data to improve housing services and operational performance.
• Translate business and customer needs into practical digital solutions, working closely with technical teams, product specialists and suppliers.
• Assess and enhance existing digital services while driving the development of new technology-enabled solutions where required.
• Use performance data and user feedback to continuously improve digital services and maximise benefits.

Supplier and Housing Sector Collaboration

• Work with accommodation and service delivery partners to improve performance and deliver better outcomes across the housing supply chain.
• Build strong relationships while constructively challenging performance, processes and service delivery where improvements are needed.
• Drive initiatives that improve collaboration between DHS, suppliers and customers, reducing inefficiencies and enhancing the end-to-end customer experience.

Customer Insight and Governance

• Collaborate with insight, analytics and portfolio teams to ensure improvement activity is informed by robust evidence and aligned to organisational priorities.
• Support the development of performance measures and governance arrangements that demonstrate the impact of improvements.

Performance and Assurance

• Monitor the effectiveness of improvements, using data, benchmarking and customer feedback to identify further opportunities for optimisation and innovation.

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)

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

Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:

At sift stage, applicants will be required to provide:

• A CV in the Job History section, ensuring it clearly demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. We encourage you to use specific evidence from your experience to illustrate your suitability for the role.
• A personal statement (no more than 500 words) providing specific examples of how you meet the two most critical criteria for the role. Further guidance is given within the Personal Statement section of the application.

Applications will be assessed against the essential criteria, with each criterion scored on a scale of 1 to 7. An overall score will then be calculated using the average of all criterion scores. To progress beyond the sift stage, applicants must achieve a minimum score of 4 on every essential criterion. This means that even if your overall average score is 4 or higher, you will not progress if you score below 4 on any individual essential criterion.

Please note that, in the event of a high volume of applications, the selection panel reserves the right to increase the overall pass mark.

At interview, you will be assessed against the following Behaviours and Technical Skills:

Behaviour #1: Managing a Quality Service

Behaviour #2: Working Together

Technical Skill #1: Adaptability to change (practitioner)

Technical Skill #2: Operational leadership and management (practitioner)

Technical Skill #3: Data and insight (working)

Job Families and Role Clusters - Operational Delivery Profession (Business Management and Operational Support, Business Management role)

In the event of a tied score at interview, the order of merit will be distinguished based on the ranking of the assessed behaviours/technical skills below:

1st: Managing a Quality Service

2nd: Working Together

3rd: Adaptability to change (practitioner)

4th: Operational leadership and management (practitioner)

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for interviews or assessments.

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