Director Modernisation, Field Army

Leading a mixed military and civilian team of circa 30-40 people to integrate the ~£42Bn of new capabilities due for delivery under the Army's Programme of Record over the 'decade of delivery' in addition to designing and building a rapid capability development organisation within the British Army. You will oversee a broad portfolio of work and will be a key advisor to the Army's Executive Board driving the Army's Optimisation agenda initially to 2027 and creating an enduring approach for the Army beyond this., The current responsibilities of the role include:
+ To drive tangible increases in the lethality of the Army's fielded force, at pace.
+ Build effective relationships and influence key stakeholders including internally to the Army and Defence as well as across industry to drive successful delivery and integration of outcomes into relevant operating environments.
+ Effectively guide peers and senior colleagues through the change and transformation process - ensuring their actions support the future state of the organisation - while maintaining the required pace of execution.
+ Set a clear approach to incentivise and mainstream behaviours and culture that support embedding capability outcomes across the Army and Defence to ensure they can be integrated and exploited effectively and quickly in support of strategy. Identify and overcome common barriers and challenges to transformation and innovation, handling risks as they arise and keeping stakeholders focused on the agreed change outcomes and benefits.
+ Drive a creative mindset across the function and the skills to solve challenges and provide challenge to emerging concepts.
+ Be willing to experiment and create an environment of innovation, continuous improvement, collaboration and learning so that opportunities for exploitation and improvement are identified and rapidly adopted.
+ Develop and deliver a strategic engagement strategy and engage extensively with stakeholders within and outside Defence to ensure transformation and innovation activity is coherent.
+ Ensure the Army has a full understanding of emerging innovation and technology and implementation best practice to articulate the Army's innovation and transformation requirements into future capability strategies, Spending Reviews and financial planning rounds clearly., + A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
+ A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) explaining how your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role.
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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
External candidates who join the MOD and are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.
For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.
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
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window).
See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Critical to this role will be exploiting and advocating the Integrated Procurement Model; taking a spiral development approach to drive pace into delivery of capability by identifying requirements through readily accessible supply routes or building on existing capabilities to meet demands. You will need to be an advocate for emerging game-changing technology alongside being an inspirational, innovative and empowering leader, with a proven ability to work with an array of stakeholders in large, complex organisations in pursuit of change and transformation., + Extensive Board level experience and proven track record of using your knowledge and experience to create and contribute to a culture of innovation, risk management and long-term improvement, using evidence-based strategies to evaluate the full range of options, understand the impacts and get the right solution.
+ Proven experience in leadership roles and leading organisational change which have required them to develop a vision that drives forward the organisation's work and its future; motivating, enabling and empowering teams to deliver. The post holder will also need to demonstrate an ability to lead and energise outside their immediate line management responsibilities.
+ A credible, persuasive and innovative professional who will command the trust and confidence of a range of Senior stakeholders including Ministers and Senior Officials, and support Board-level investment decisions. Displays professional courage with the confidence and authority to articulate, challenge, influence and justify decisions to stakeholders whilst remaining resilient in the face of extraordinary pressure.
+ Excellent interpersonal skills, with a proven track record of building a strong network of working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, delivery partners and other organisations. Someone with a curious mindset who seeks out new ways of doing and delivering things.
+ A highly effective and impactful individual who is comfortable leading in volatile and complex environments, where there is constant uncertainty and continual change. A strategic thinker with an ability to make decisions and setting direction without having the full picture and can re-focus as detail emerges, applying sound judgement, knowledge and experience to reduce ambiguity and embed such change.

Alongside your salary of £100,000, Ministry of Defence contributes £28,970 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
+ 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%