Job Description

Head of Digital Workplace

Salary: £70,752-£78,614 per annum
Band: UKRI Band G
Contract Type: Open ended
Hours: Full-time/ Part Time (Minimum 0.8 FTE)
Location: Swindon, Polaris House - Hybrid working available

Closing Date: Monday 6th April 2026

About the role

To provide visionary leadership to shape UKRI’s Digital Workplace strategy, ensuring technology-enabled transformation that enhances organisational agility, cross council collaboration, and employee experience. You will also act as a senior change leader within Technology Services, influencing decision-making across the UKRI executive, councils, and partners to ensure Digital Workplace initiatives contribute directly to strategic organisational outcomes.

This role will drive cultural and behavioural change across UKRI to maximise the value realised from Digital Workplace investments, ensuring adoption, engagement, and alignment to organisational modernisation ambitions.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Key Responsibilities

• Setting the long-term vision and multiyear strategy for the Digital Workplace, ensuring alignment with UKRI mission, workforce transformation priorities, and Group CIO strategic direction.
• Leading cross-UKRI strategic engagement to influence how digital tools shape future ways of working, productivity outcomes, and organisational culture.
• Acting as a senior advisor to UKRI leadership on modern workplace trends, future collaboration models, and digital employee experience strategy.
• Driving enterprise level adoption and behaviour change to embed Digital Workplace capabilities in UKRI’s operating environment.
• Representing Digital Workplace at internal and external forums.
• Providing inspirational leadership, developing a high-performing, outcomes focused Digital Workplace organisation that role models modern ways of working.
• Championing the continued adoption of communities relevant to areas of responsibility.
• Ensuring alignment with the security and architecture teams with respect to implementation of security controls and architectural principles.
• Deputising for Deputy Director Technology Services as required.
• Assessing emerging technologies and strategically positioning UKRI to benefit from digital innovation.
• Developing effective networking with peer group, UKRI Group IT colleagues, DSIT and wider agency community.
• Accountable for engaging the senior stakeholder community with outputs from the Balance Scorecard & KPI dashboard functional reporting.
• Determining strategic, operational and financial plans for area of responsibility.
• Leading commercial strategy, contract frameworks, and supplier governance for all Digital Workplace services.
  

Technology & Process Experience and Delivery

• Providing strategic oversight of asset and lifecycle management, delegating operational execution to appropriate delivery partners.
• Diverse experience in collaboration technologies & services.
• Experience of delivering process automation through digital change initiatives.
• Strategic leadership experience guiding the design and implementation of enterprise scale Digital Workplace ecosystems, ensuring modern, secure, user centred services delivered through effective operating models.
• Strong experience of Information security principles & best practice.
• Experience of delivering improved business productivity / efficiency from the effective exploitation of collaboration services.
• Experience of a federated IT delivery model.
• Proactively identify technology related risks, taking appropriate action to mitigate or resolve.
• Define, develop and iterate standard operating procedures, policy & processes that support the Digital Workplace function and wider Group IT.
• Demonstrate a proactive commitment to continual improvement.

Personal Specification

The below criteria will be scored during Shortlisting (S), Interview (I) or both (S&I).

Essential

• Strong understanding of digital workplace technologies and enterprise collaboration platforms (S&I).
• Experience of delivering & leading a technology orientated function, servicing multiple locations in a public, or private sector setting (S&I).
• Experience of budget management in excess of £3m (S).
• High level of professional credibility with the influencing skills required to develop strong alliances and partnerships both internally and externally (I).
• Working with strategic delivery partners to drive value and performance with respect delivery of enabling technology related services (S&I).
• Proven procurement and commercial skills (S).
• Proven change delivery, transforming the digital workplace experience and driving business value (S&I).

Benefits

We recognise and value our employees as individuals and aim to provide a favourable pay and rewards package. We are committed to supporting employees' development and promote a culture of continuous learning!

A list of benefits below:

• An outstanding defined benefit pension scheme.
• 30 days' annual leave in addition to 10.5 public and privilege days (full time equivalent).
• Employee discounts and offers on retail and leisure activities.
• Employee assistance programme, providing confidential help and advice.
• Flexible working options.
  

Plus, many more benefits and wellbeing initiatives that enable our employees to have a great work life balance!

For further information on our benefits please see:

Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Please apply online, if you experience any issue applying, please contact recruitment@ukri.org

Please note, if you will require sponsorship to work in the UK, as part of your sponsorship application, you and any dependants travelling with you, will be required to pay costs directly to The Home Office for the application before you start your role with us. UKRI is normally able to reimburse some, or all of these fees after you have become an employee and this can be discussed with the Hiring Manager. For more information, please visit https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/how-much-it-costsor contact recruitment@ukri.org

UKRI - UK Research and Innovation

UKRI is an organisation that brings together the seven disciplinary research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Together, we build an independent organisation with a strong voice and vision ensuring the UK maintains its world-leading position in research and innovation.

Supporting some of the world’s most exciting and challenging research projects, we develop and operate some of the most remarkable scientific facilities in the world. We are pushing the frontiers of human knowledge through fundamental research and delivering benefits for UK society and the economy through world-class research, skills and business-led innovation.

More information can be found at www.ukri.org

Choosing to come to work at UKRI means that you will have access to a whole host of benefits from a defined benefit pension scheme, excellent holiday entitlement, access to employee shopping/travel discounts and salary sacrifice cycle to work scheme. For more details, visit benefits of working for UKRI

How we support EDI in the workforce

At UKRI, we believe that everyone has a right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to be provided with equal opportunities to thrive and succeed in an environment that enables them to do so. We also value diversity of thought and experience within inclusive groups, organisations and the wider community. For further information, please visit ‘How we support EDI in the workforce’.

Disability Confident Employer

As users of the disability confident scheme, any candidate who opts into the scheme and best meets the essential criteria, will be shortlisted for interview. We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

How to apply

Online applications only preferred for this role. Please submit a CV and covering letter which clearly outlines how you fulfil the criteria specified along with your motivation for UKRI and the role. Ensure that the job reference number is included in the filename description of each document uploaded. Note that failure to address the above criteria or submit an application without a covering letter may result in the application not being considered. Assessment will only be based upon the content of your submitted covering letter and CV and not the ‘experience’ section of the application.

UKRI seeks to ensure it creates and maintains a system of openness, fairness and inclusion – a collaborative, trusted environment, which is attractive to and accessible to everyone who is interested in developing their career with us.

As part of the pre-employment checks there is a requirement to undergo Baseline Personnel Security Screening. BPSS is a pre-condition of employment and failure to achieve it may mean that the employment offer is rescinded. UKRI reserves the right to run, or re-run, security clearance as required during the course of employment.