Design, Improvement and Change Lead

Salary: £72,436.28 and £4,613.61 London Allowance if based in London per annum

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract | 23 months

Location: Any of our main hubs – Birmingham, London, Cardiff, Manchester, Leeds, or Glasgow

Type of Working Arrangement: Blended approach of home and office‑working is available

Hours: This is a full‑time role (37 hours per week)

The Opportunity

British Transport Police (BTP) is the national police force for the rail network throughout Great Britain. We are the ‘Guardians of the Railway,’ putting passenger safety at the heart of what we do. Our values are simply: We Care, We Do the Right Thing, We Strive to Be Better Every Day, We Are One BTP, and We Are Proud to Protect. Join us and help create an environment where we can all be our best every day.

British Transport Police is bringing together its design, improvement and business change capability under one senior lead – a deliberate decision to strengthen how the organisation improves, prioritises and adapts in an increasingly complex and resource‑constrained environment. We are seeking an experienced Design, Improvement and Change Lead to join our senior Strategy & Transformation team on a fixed‑term basis. This role is not about delivering every change personally, nor about leading innovation programmes. It is about creating the conditions for effective, well‑adopted and value‑driven change across the Force – ensuring that limited time, funding and capability are focused on the activity that delivers the greatest operational and public benefit. You will play a central role in ensuring that improvement and change activity is clearly linked to the Force Strategy and blueprint, and that the benefits of change are realised, sustained and demonstrable.

What you will be doing

• Lead and develop an integrated Design, Improvement and Change function with a clear purpose, operating model and service offer
• Ensure the function is visible, credible and consistently utilised across the Force, with senior leaders understanding when and how to engage it
• Work with services to align design, improvement and change activity to the delivery of the Force Strategy and blueprint
• Strengthen how change and improvement activity is commissioned, prioritised and governed, focusing on outcomes, adoption and return on investment, not just delivery
• Drive organisational design and continuous improvement activity that improves effectiveness, efficiency and financial sustainability
• Build improvement and change capability across services, increasing ownership and reducing long‑term dependency on central teams

The challenges of the role

• Integrating distinct disciplines – bringing together organisational design, continuous improvement and business change into one coherent, trusted and high‑performing function
• Establishing credibility and demand – building a service that is known, respected and actively sought out by leaders across the Force
• Operating with finite capacity – balancing high demand and competing priorities while ensuring focus on activity that delivers the greatest strategic value
• Driving adoption and value realisation – ensuring changes are embedded in practice and deliver measurable benefits, rather than stopping at implementation
• Influencing without owning delivery – shaping outcomes through senior leaders and services rather than controlling all activity directly
• Sustaining progress in a changing environment – delivering impact while national priorities, operational pressures and financial constraints continue to evolve

Success will require sound judgement, resilience and the confidence to make and stand by difficult trade‑offs, while maintaining trust and credibility with senior stakeholders.

The anticipated impact of the role

• A single, recognised Force‑wide function providing clear, consistent support for design, improvement and change activity
• Stronger alignment between strategic priorities and the change activity taking place across services
• Improved adoption of change initiatives, with benefits clearly realised and sustained
• More confident, evidence‑led decision‑making about where to invest limited resources
• Increased organisational maturity, resilience and efficiency without reliance on growth in establishment

Ultimately, success in this role will be demonstrated by a Force that is better equipped to improve, adapt and deliver value – while continuing to protect the travelling public and support frontline policing.

What you will bring to the team

We are looking for someone who brings credibility, judgement and pragmatism to the role.

• Significant senior‑level experience delivering complex change in policing, the public sector or comparable environments
• A strong track record of leading large‑scale, multi‑disciplinary change or improvement activity
• Experience of organisational design and improvement interventions that deliver sustained, measurable outcomes
• Proven experience of delivering efficiencies and demonstrating return on investment
• Experience designing or operating commissioning, prioritisation or demand‑management frameworks

Essential skills

• Excellent leadership, stakeholder engagement and influencing skills
• Clear, confident communication
• The ability to present complex information concisely
• Strong analytical capability and systems thinking
• Resilience, self‑motivation and the ability to operate effectively under pressure and ambiguity

What we offer

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing to 30 days after 5 years.
• Family‑friendly policies, including up to 26 weeks paid maternity and adoption leave.
• Bespoke benefits platform and Blue Light Card access.
• Salary sacrifice options for cycles, home technology, gym membership, and electric vehicles.
• Access to the Transport Benevolent Fund for health, welfare, and financial support.
• Development opportunities, including fully funded apprenticeships.
• Excellent Pension scheme: BTP GPP Police Staff Pension Scheme, administered by Royal London. This group personal pension plan is available to all police staff and is a defined contribution scheme. It provides the flexibility to vary your pension contributions from 4.4% to 12% of your salary.

Vetting

Successful applicants will be required to pass Recruitment Vetting (3 years minimum UK residency required), including a full background and financial disclosure.

Medical

We’ll ask for relevant health and medical history details to support employee wellbeing.

References

We’ll ask for references to cover the past 5 years. Completed applications must be submitted by 11:59pm, Monday 27th April 2026.

Inclusion & Diversity

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and lived experiences. Diversity strengthens our teams, improves our services and helps us better represent and support the communities we serve. We are proud to be an inclusive employer and strive to create a workplace that is fair, respectful and accessible to all. We actively work to challenge discrimination, remove barriers and ensure equity throughout our recruitment and employment practices. If you need any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment or selection process, please let us know – we are happy to support you. Your talent, your potential, and your unique perspective matter here.

For further information, please contact our Resourcing Team - RecruitmentTeam@btp.police.uk.