Director, National Policing Systems (NPS) in Police and Public Protection Technology Portfolio (PPPT)

Why this role matters

Home Office Digital designs, builds and runs the technology and services that deliver, at scale, some of the UK’s most critical and well-used public services. The engineering capability plays a critical part in every part of the Home Office in delivering its mission from how we secure the border and control immigration to issues passports and reducing and preventing crime, supporting these services that impact millions of people every year.

The Home Office Digital estate consists of more than 600 systems, enabling critical services such as;

• 13 million Electronic Travel Authorisations since launch
• 3 million visa applications annually
• 130 million border checks each year
• 7 million passport applications annually
• 140 million police checks on people, vehicles, and property

The Director: National Policing Systems (NPS) is a member of the Police and Public Protection Technology Portfolio (PPPT) Senior Management Team and is responsible for the strategic leadership, transformation and sustainment of a portfolio of nationally critical policing technology services. These services, including Law Enforcement Data Service (LEDS), Police National Computer (PNC), Police National Database (PND), Law Enforcement Community Network (LECN), Law Enforcement Cloud Platform (LECP), National Identity and Access Management (NIAM), and associated platforms, support over 250,000 users across UK law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies, Border Force and wider government.

The successful candidate will lead the continued modernisation of national policing systems, overseeing the transition from legacy capabilities to secure, scalable and resilient digital services. This includes completing the delivery of the LEDS, sustaining critical national infrastructure, and establishing a unified operating model for national policing technology services.

The role carries overall accountability for strategy, delivery, live service performance, risk management and stakeholder engagement. Reporting to the Director: PPPT, the postholder will lead a large multidisciplinary organisation of civil servants, partners and suppliers, working closely with senior policing leaders, Home Office colleagues and delivery partners to ensure services remain secure, reliable and aligned to operational needs.

As a senior leader within PPPT, the Director: NPS will drive collaboration, standardisation and organisational capability growth, shaping a high-performing product, engineering, delivery and service management function capable of supporting the future evolution of national policing services.

Key responsibilities:

• Provide strategic leadership and delivery oversight for the National Policing Systems portfolio, ensuring effective governance, risk management, financial control and stakeholder engagement.
• Lead the transformation of legacy policing capabilities into modern, scalable and secure digital services while maintaining service availability and operational resilience.
• Develop and champion coherent product and service roadmaps aligned to policing priorities, user needs and departmental objectives.
• Establish and mature a single service operating model that delivers consistent, end-to-end management, support and observability across the NPS portfolio.
• Lead a large, complex multidisciplinary workforce and supplier ecosystem, fostering a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement and high performance.
• Work with senior policing, Home Office and technology stakeholders to align strategy, architecture, investment and delivery priorities.
• Drive service quality, operational efficiency, resilience and cyber security across nationally critical policing systems and enabling platforms.
• Deputise for the Director: PPPT as required.

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)

Online application

Please follow the Job Advert instructions on the Civil Service Jobs website to apply online by 23:55hrs on 11th October 2026.

You will be asked to provide:

• A CV – (max 2 pages) setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role. Please provide reasons for any gaps within the last two years.​​
• A Statement of Suitability – (limited to 1250) providing examples of how your experience meets the essential criteria.​​ This is your opportunity to give examples and show how your skills and experience fit the job requirements.

When writing a supporting statement, it is important that you:

• Read the job specification so you are clear about the job requirements. Structure your personal statement to reflect the essential criteria listed in the advert.
• Make sure you provide evidence against each of the listed criteria - i.e. ‘experienced in leading high performing and diverse teams and promoting inclusivity.’ When have you led a team, how large, what did you do to promote inclusivity, how did you handle diversity?
• Ensure any evidence you provide demonstrates the impact of your actions in that situation, provide statistical evidence where relevant.

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