Head of Secretary of State’s Delivery Unit in Newcastle upon Tyne

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world‑leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people's day‑to‑day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink.

The Strategy Directorate is a fast‑paced, dynamic, and challenging environment. Our purpose is to give a high quality and timely service to Ministers and the Permanent Secretary, and to ensure that Defra group is able to achieve its strategic objectives. We work in support of Defra’s strategic objectives, look at how we can join up with other initiatives across the organisation to get things done, support each other to deliver excellent work, help Defra to make good decisions and we identify and unblock barriers to change.

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from under‑represented groups.

This role can be based at any Main Defra Policy Hub. You will be expected to attend your contractual office 60% of the time.

Defra’s Delivery Unit (DU) was set up in January 2023 as a new, powerful capability at the heart of Defra to drive forward the department’s ambitious agenda. Defra’s DU focuses on delivery of the Secretary of State’s (SoS) highest priorities. The unit works very closely with SoS, her wider Ministerial team, the Permanent Secretary and Director Generals to drive forward tangible progress.

In your role as joint Head of the Unit, you will oversee two main functions. Firstly, a traditional Delivery Unit operating model where you will work to define and drive priorities, testing the strength of delivery plans, monitoring performance, assessing delivery confidence and supporting policy teams to tackle challenges. You will drive progress in the department through delivery routines and sharp, actionable advice. This includes leading SoS Delivery Stocktakes and authoring monthly Delivery Notes.

Secondly, leading small mixed teams to deliver time‑limited sprints commissioned by the political team, the Perm Sec or other senior officials. Recent examples of this have included red‑team ing Defra’s reforms of its largest farming fund, a deep dive into the challenges of the flood insurance market and shaping a new taskforce to monitor infrastructure delivery by the water sector.

You will work in close collaboration with the DU’s Head of Analysis, leading joint or individual projects, and ensuring the DU’s service to the department is continually improving and adapting. This is a demanding and intellectually stimulating role, providing an opportunity to combine your ability to rapidly structure problems, with an ability to influence the most senior decision makers in Defra. While leading on a particular area, the successful candidate will also need to respond nimbly to other priorities – while the Unit will be very focused on delivering key elements of the SoS’s agenda, we want to ensure we can help bring rigour and support to other policy and delivery challenges.