Manchester Digital Campus, Programme Director transformation

The Government Property Agency is the largest property holder in government, with more than £2.1 billion in property assets and over 55% of the government’s office estate. We are transforming the way the Civil Service works by creating great places to work, leading the largest commercial office programme in the UK, working towards halving carbon emissions from government offices, and achieving greater value for taxpayers. We are looking for innovative, solutions-focused people to join our team.

Our four core values are at the heart of everything we do. They shape our culture and guide how we work, lead and grow together:

• Striving for excellence - We always aim to deliver great results
• Empowering through respect - We insist on fair treatment for all, always
• Acting with integrity - We consistently do the right thing
• Succeeding together - We rely on each other to achieve success

We are committed to representing the communities we serve by making Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) part of everything we do. Our strong emphasis on EDI is not just about driving inclusion across our organisation, it is also about ensuring our services meet the needs of government departments and the civil servants who use our spaces. To ensure that we are always recruiting and retaining a diverse mix of talent, we are particularly inviting applications from candidates who are disabled, ethnically or gender diverse, and people who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Join our dynamic and diverse team that leads with purpose, improving sustainability, nurturing social value, driving inclusivity and flexibility, and kickstarting economic growth. We are driven by purpose, and you can be part of it too: where you make a meaningful impact; where you influence; where your voice really matters; where you help to shape our future direction.

JOB SUMMARY

The MDC team are all expected to have a significant presence in Manchester (averaging at least 2 days a week). Regular travel is expected to attend GPA offices and partner locations. The Manchester Digital Campus (MDC) is part of the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP), and is an exciting transformation across multiple Government departments, with significant ministerial, public, industrial and media interest. A central Manchester brownfield development site will become the vibrant workplace for well over 8,000 people (including ministers) from the digitally focused departments. The new, bespoke buildings will be designed to support the transformation objectives, collaborative working across government and with industry, academia and the community. MDC will strengthen HMG’s skills, innovation and enable multi-department careers, whilst learning from and contributing to the exciting digital/AI sector in Manchester and the North West. It will directly support economic growth, skills, Civil Service reform (PAS) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

MDC is overseen by its policy sponsors (including Places for Growth and Government Digital/Data – in CO and DSIT), together with the Departmental Partners transforming to use the new site. Having completed our Outline Business Case approval, and approaching our RIBA3 milestone (design complete), we are expanding the dedicated MDC team to match the growing workload. The MDC team is multi-disciplinary, matrix-managed from the GPA Directorates, and wider Government, but all dedicated to and passionate about our amazing programme. We pride ourselves on our inclusivity, curiosity to explore and solve problems, our openness to challenge and our commitment to delivering what’s needed for the Civil Service’s future. MDC is GPA’s biggest delivery programme yet.

Specific security requirements have been set for MDC, and will be discussed with you during the recruitment process. SC is the minimum vetting requirement to start in MDC posts. MDC may subsequently offer the opportunity to sponsor your DV application in specific roles.

As the Transformation Programme Director for the Manchester Digital Campus (MDC) you will be working with all the departments involved to change the way Government works, removing the barriers to collaboration and creating career pathways to address the systemic challenges that the MDC departments face. You’ll focus on ensuring we maximise benefit to the UK from MDC, and supporting the journey for each individual involved; that spans everything from social value to interoperability through to transition into service. It’s a role that works collaboratively, on behalf of all the departments involved, reaching across boundaries to shape vision, policy and tangible delivery.

You will oversee stakeholder management and communication, ensuring the very broad set of people and organisations involved have the information and connection they need, when they need it. You will oversee and develop a central view of MDC’s risks, issues, opportunities and dependencies, using the Programme board to ensure action is taken to treat, terminate or an active choice to tolerate. You will manage these, in part, as the interface between the programme and the Business. You will maintain focus on maximising system benefits to the UK as a whole, ensuring the whole programme is aligned around benefit realisation; that will include following through on the Ministerial/Perm Sec set strategic priorities for MDC.

With your PMO, you will support the SRO in putting appropriate delegations and programme controls in place, ensuring accountability for performance and aligned incentives. You will be instrumental in developing the Full Business Case (Summer 2027), with the GPA CIO team, obtaining agreement through the Programme Board, SRO, cross-government ministers and HMT.

WAY OF WORKING

SRO and programme deliver for the whole system, part of all the departments involved; Collective, transparent delivery; Maximise HMG and UK Benefit; Digital and innovative by default; Psychological safety in all we do; and Robust, proportionate foundations. The programme is structured into seven Lines of Development, ensuring focus is not overly dominated by the high cost elements. These need to maintain ambiguity whilst policy develops and coheres across the departments, whilst also forming into a structured delivery programmes that engages the local community.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

You will oversee the programme, setting up the Lines of Development, ensuring coherent and appropriately timely action to collectively deliver in 2032. You will focus on benefit realisation, and specifically the Ministerial/Perm Sec set priorities for the programme, ensuring the strategy is matured, opportunity maximised and concepts proven before Full Business Case. You will mature and oversee central governance, both that which is bespoke to MDC, and its connection into the wider business across multiple departments (and multiple Accounting Officers). You will advise on any adaption needed as Project RESET and as the revised GMPP governance (including freedoms) mature. You will support the SRO with NISTA, NAO and GIA audits, and drive the FBC approval through. You will develop the single source of truth across Risk, Opportunities, Issues, Dependencies and Stakeholder mapping, using the Programme Board to ensure timely action is taken. You will work closely with finance and commercial colleagues (with matrixed specialist support) ensuring appropriate delegation, spend controls and that the financial contributions to MDC from across government materialise, so the enterprise is in balance, working closely with the SRO. You will be instrumental in developing the Full Business Case, working closely with the GPA CIO and wider team. You will be part of the MDC Exec working together across all the pillars, embedding the MDC Delivery Principles (and GPA Values).