Senior Operational Leader

Job description

Job summary

DWP helps people lift themselves out of poverty and to stay out of poverty, through work, saving and support. This is a hugely important public service, and our challenge is bigger than ever. As part of the Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt Directorate (CFCD) you will be at the heart of DWPs front line operations, helping to change peoples lives and supporting CFCD's purpose of fighting fraud in the welfare system.

As Senior Operational Leader, you will role model excellent senior management leadership, taking responsibility for the flexible, effective, personalised delivery of customer service, quality, and performance. You will provide transformational leadership to a geographically diverse team - leading through others, driving people engagement, and inspiring colleagues to deliverobjectives.

CFCD is a great place to work where the leadership team are passionate about attracting the best talent whilst nurturing and valuing new and existing colleagues to be the best they can be. We are looking for people who can demonstrate our values and commitment to leadership which are based around collaboration, resilience and inclusivity. We look for emotionally aware leaders who enable teams to be innovative, adaptable and flexible. We want you to be comfortable challenging the norm and finding daring and dynamic solutions that support our values and enable colleagues to shine in whatever role they do.

Job description

As a Senior Operational Leader, you will:

• Report directly to the Grade 6, being fully accountable for the management of a large, geographically diverse, team of Senior Executive Officers (SEOs) setting strategic business priorities for your areas of responsibility and driving performance against key objectives.
• Lead performance within your business area, undertaking regular face-to-face performance reviews with your direct reports, identifying risks to performance achievement, and driving forward continuous improvement.
• Be at the forefront of overseeing business change; leading others through the implementation, and embedding, of new policies and procedures.
• Work alongside multiple senior representatives from other government departments / external bodies, building strong, collaborative relationships which enhance our reputation and achieve excellent outcomes.
• Provide visible, effective leadership through regular site visits, taking a personal lead in engaging with and communicating key messages with clarity and passion to obtain buy in.
• Motivate teams to operate flexibly, seeking feedback, listening and acting on this, setting performance standards and personalising services for our customers.
• Encourage creative thinking and collaborative working between teams and directorates to drive innovation and service improvements.
• Contribute to people planning activities, ensuring appropriate and effective deployment of people and resources within and between sites.
• Develop a holistic grasp of all customer types enabling you to lead, design and manage new business roles and processes that continuously improve the quality of customer experience.
• Ensure all matters are dealt with promptly and sensitively, in line with DWP policies and procedures, and legislative frameworks, managing risk exposure by overseeing compliance.

Frequent travel between sites and overnight stays will be required depending on business needs.

Person specification

What we are looking for in our leaders:

• Have strong and effective leadership experience, with the ability to lead through others and make sound business decisions at pace.
• Can communicate with clarity, conviction and enthusiasm with colleagues,partnersand stakeholders to drive positive outcomes.
• Have experience and knowledge of leading diverse teams, through effective coaching and mentoring, to improve service delivery.
• Can drive and monitor performance improvement through proactive management of processes and ensuring compliance with performance management policies and procedures.
• Have sound analytical skills, and the ability to effectively interpret and use management information to deliver against performance objectives while maintaining quality.
• Be proactive inidentifying,and have the resilience to overcome, difficulties taking ownership for resolving and driving issues forward.
• Understand and engage with change. Inspire and obtain buy-in from colleagues by encouraging discussion, initiative, and ideas in support of the long term DWP vision.
• An ability to empower and encourage your diverse workforce,providing real opportunities for peopleto develop their strengths and innovate.
• Have strong interpersonal skills, witha high levelof emotional intelligence and the ability to remotely manage staff.
• Are honest, with integrity and probity, and have a personal demeanour that inspires confidence and loyalty.
• Have excellent presentation and communication abilities.
• Hold a solid understanding of equality and diversity, and how itimpactsupon service delivery.
• Have excellent, planning, delegation, and organisational skills, as well as strong negotiating and influencing skills.
• Have excellent interpersonal skills, in order to collaborate in national multi-agency meetings, requiring strategic decisions.

Webinar event

We will be holding a webinar event to let you know more about these roles.This will take place on 25/08/2026 between 12 noon and 1pm.

Please follow the link to register for the session. Grade 7 Senior Operational Leader

** If the webinar page does not open, please check that pop-ups are enabled on your browser**.

Those who attend may be contacted following the event for evaluation purposes to improve our service.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Changing and Improving

Benefits

Alongside your salary of 57,946, Department for Work and Pensions contributes 16,786 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (prorata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 years continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Womens Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence
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 (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

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

**Ensure that you read the full information about the selection process before starting your application. Please note the closing date for your full application (test, and written statement is 23:55 on 01st September 2026**

Stage 1 Application Form

Please complete the application form with your basic information, which includes your personal details, eligibility to apply and any reasonable adjustments required.

Stage 2 Online Test

After submission of your application, you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Work StrengthsTest. Please complete the online test as soon as possible (within 24 - 48 hours is recommended). You will need to allow at least one hour to complete the test, plus time to complete your written application (see below for details). Guidance and a practice test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the Civil Service Jobs website.

The closing date for the test and written application is23:55 on 01/09/2026.If you fail to complete all aspects of your applicationbefore the deadline, your application will be withdrawn.

Online tests maintenance - Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance on Sunday 23rd August, 4pm - 7pm and Sunday 30th August 2026, 4pm midnight. There will be a period during this time where candidates will not be able to access online tests.

If you are in the middle of a test when the maintenance begins, your progress will be paused. You will be able to resume your test from where you left off via your application centre once the downtime has ended. Please note that you will not be able to launch any new tests while the system is offline.

You will be directed to the Talogy - True Talent Scheduled Maintenance Window Webpage for online tests during an outage.

**IMPORTANT :After the test deadline, we will look at all candidate scores to decide what the jobs pass mark will be. We will consider the impact on protected groups and the number of invitations to the next stage. We may decide to raise the pass mark for the job - if so, you will be informed, and you will be told if you have passed or failed at the raised standard. Meeting the minimum test requirements for a job level is no guarantee of an invite to continue the selection process.

Stage 3 - Curriculum Vitae (CV)

You will be asked to complete a CV with details of your job history, previous skills and experience.You are not required to upload your personal CV.

In the previous skills/experience section you should detail your employment and/or education history relevant to this vacancy(we recommend a maximum of 500 words).

The CV will also cover your work history (we recommend you include up to the last 3 roles of employment history, plus any others that you feel are relevant).

Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement. Your CV will be used to add context to your personal statement.

Stage 4 Personal Statement and Sift

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a personal statement detailing the relevant skills and experience you can bring to the role. In no more than 1250 words, please carefully consider the statements below. You should address these when constructing your personal statement. You do not need to answer each individually as one example of evidence may cover all of the statements. You should also consider both the job description and person specification details above when providing your evidence.

• Experience in leading diverse teams through a major change or a high-profile area of work within a tight deadline(Lead Statement).
• Engaging with various stakeholders to achieve a common goal.
• Experience of using a wide range of data to make a difficult decision and empowering your team to do the same.

Your personal statement needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the requirements set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirements needed. You dont have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead statement. If so, we will sift on:

• Experience in leading diverse teams through a major change or a high-profile area of work within a tight deadline (Lead statement).

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to an interview.

**Please note the closing date for your full application (test and written application) is 23:55 on 01/09/2026**

The sift is scheduled to be held from 02/09/2026 to 18/09/2026.These dates may be subject to change.

Following completion of the sifting period above, results will be collated, and candidates will receive confirmation of the outcome and successful candidates will be invited to interview.

No feedback will be provided at this stage.

Stage 5 - Interview

If you pass the written application sift with the required score you will be invited to a blended interview and will receive an electronic notification to your Civil Service Jobs account.If high application volumes are received, the benchmark / score for candidates to proceed to the interview stage may be raised.

The interviews will be conducted face to face. We are currently planning for the interviews to take place in Glasgow, however candidates may be expected to travel to an alternative location as required.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend a face-to-face interview, please ensure you state those on your application form when asked to do so.

Interviews are scheduled to take place from 19/10/2026, please note that this date is only indicative at this stage and could be subject to change. Interviews will be scheduled Monday to Friday, between 09:00 to 17:00.

Communications will be electronic and/or by SMS/telephone therefore it is important that you check your Civil Service Jobs account regularly, as well as your spam/junk email folder. Telephone calls may show as a withheld number, it is important that you answer so that your interview can be confirmed. If you wish to opt out of SMS messages, please email this address, including the vacancy reference and your candidate ID [email protected] . As part of our commitment to improving the candidate experience, you may be contacted during the recruitment process to provide feedback.

Preparing for the Interview

The interview will take approximately 40 to 45 minutes and will consist of behaviour and strength-based questions. A blended interview aims to be more of a conversation offering a more inclusive approach.The questions explore what you, the candidate, can and have done, but also your potential.

Behaviours

You will be assessed against the Civil Service Behaviours listed at Grade 7 Level 4. An example of a behavioural question would be How did you lead by example to inspire and motivate your teams?.

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:

• WHO - Whatit was?Howyou approached the work/situation? What theOutcomeswere, what did youachieve? or
• STAR - What was theSituation? What were theTasks? WhatActiondid you take? What were the Results of your actions?

Strengths

It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role.While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this.

If you withdraw your application at any stage, it will not progress further.

Stage 6 Offer

Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Our current plan is that this will be week commencing 09/11/2026. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first. The successful candidates will be notified of a start date following successful pre-employment checks, which is likely to be during December 2026 / January 2027.

Further information

At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

Find out more about working for DWP on the DWP Careers Hub .

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 3 months from which further appointments can be made.

If you are placed on a reserve list but we cannot immediately offer you a post, please note:

• If you are later offered the role you applied for, in a location you have expressed a preference for, and you decline the offer or are unable to take up post within a reasonable timeframe you will be withdrawn from the campaign and removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a contractual part time working pattern cannot be accommodated in the initial role offered or in the case of serious ill health).
• If we make an offer of an alternative role or location to that which you originally applied for, and you decline that offer, you will be able to remain on the reserve list.

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that for these vacancies we recommend that applicants seek specialist advice on their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship (if applicable) when considering whether to apply for any role.We can never guarantee sponsorship; requests will be considered in line with the relevant DWP guidance and Home Office policy in place at the time.

Location

The roles available will be based in one of the following locations subject to space availability at the time of posting:

Ebury House, 12-14 Dee Street, Aberdeen, AB11 6DR.

Wallacetoun House, Strathayr Place, Ayr, KA8 0BX

417 Main Street, Bellshill, ML4 1HU.

Wellgate House, Dundee, DD1 2DB.

Merchiston House, Foundry Street, Dunfermline, KY12 9DF.

Lyndean House, Leith, 199 Commercial Street, Edinburgh, EH6 6QP.

Heron House, 10b Wellside Place, Falkirk, FK1 5SE.

New Reiver House, High Street, Galashiels, TD1 1TD.

8 Coustonholm Road, Newlands, Glasgow, G43 1SS.

955ShettlestonRoad, Glasgow, G32 7NY.

River House, Young Street, Inverness, IV3 5BP.

12 Woodstock Street, Kilmarnock, KA1 2DF.

Units 15/16a/16b Regional Centre Almondvale South, Livingston, EH54 6NQ.

The following locations are restricted to current DWP staff already based in that office only due to estates restrictions at these locations:

Unit 4, Jack Martin Way, Claverhouse Industrial Park East, Dundee, DD4 9FF.

Atlantic Quay, 2nd Floor, Glasgow, G2 8SP.

You should only apply for suitable posts where you can travel to and from your home office location daily within a reasonable time. Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas. Relocation costs will not be reimbursed. Make sure the locations work for you before applying!

Hybrid working

This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office. If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert.Hybrid working will not commence until any training and consolidation period has been successfully completed.

Working pattern

Part-time, part-year, term-time compressed hours and job-sharing working patterns within working hours will be considered but must meet business needs. Wewill do our best to let people with existing part time contracts retain their contracted hours provided they are in line withcurrent business needs. Please note that successful candidates with agreed alternative working patterns may be required to work full timefor specific periods to complete all training and consolidation.

Hours of work

The full-time working week in DWP is 37 hours. You may be required to work at any time between the hours of:

• 7:45am and 8:00pm on any day between Monday to Friday, and
• 8:45am to 5:00pm on Saturday.

Managers will agree working patterns with successful candidates within these business hours and review these asappropriate. You will be given advance notice of your personal schedule.

Disability Confident Scheme

If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.

Reasonable Adjustments

We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact the Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the Reasonable Adjustments section in the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if youre deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for candidates section.

Integrity, Plagiarism and Civil Service Principles

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words.

Examples of plagiarism can include:

• Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own.
• Copying content or answers from an online or published source that is not your own.

Disclosure and Barring Service and Internal Fraud Database Checks

To process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure Scotland on your behalf.However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email [email protected]

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check will be carried out.

Candidates who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any candidates details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department, a criminal record will be carried out.

Salary

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. If you are a current employee and are successful you must be able to be released from your current post within four weeks.

Those on protected TUPE/ COSoP terms and conditions applying on promotion or voluntary permanent level move will adopt DWPs Terms and Conditions and this may have a different impact on pay and allowances. Please review this prior to acceptance of a role.

Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing. Accepting a post will be taken to mean acceptance of revised terms & conditions.

Civil Servants applying on promotion will usually be appointed to the salary minimum or within 10% of existing salary.

Any move to DWP from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may, however, be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at the Childcare Choices Website.

Find out more about working for DWP on the DWP Careers Hub . Click on the Application Guidance link for lots of help and guidance on making your application.

Feedback

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

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)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window) .

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window) .

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window) .

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants
Job contact :

• Name : CFCD RECRUITMENT TEAM
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commissions Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact DWP by email: [email protected]. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission. Click here to visit the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments DWP Terms and Conditions January 2024 Opens in new window (docx, 17kB) Success-Profiles-Candidate-Overview Opens in new window (pdf, 635kB)