Senior Digital and AI Evaluator

Job summary

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

1. joining up public sector services
2. harnessing the power of AI for the public good
3. strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
4. elevating leadership and investing in talent
5. funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
6. committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need

This role is in GDS’ multidisciplinary IDEA Unit, made up of data scientists, economists, and evaluation specialists. The team leads and supports analysis for the Digital Transformation Directorate, producing analysis that impacts departments across Government.

Job description

As a Senior Digital and AI Evaluator in the Government Digital Service (GDS), you will play a key role in embedding evaluation across the lifecycle of digital and AI-enabled services. You will develop and deliver robust approaches to assessing performance, safety, transparency, and public value. This role sits at the heart of GDS’s expanding capability in impact and evaluation, ensuring that data and evidence are central to digital transformation.

As a Senior Digital and AI Evaluator you’ll:

• embed impact evaluation into design and delivery from the outset of AI and digital product development, ensuring evaluations align with government standards and are proportionate to risk and complexity
• develop and deliver evaluation strategies and theories of change, working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams to define success measures and learning objectives
• apply advanced evaluation techniques, including process, impact, and economic evaluation, experimentation, and quasi-experimental methods, to assess effectiveness and efficiency
• collect, assure, and analyse quantitative and qualitative data, integrating multiple sources to generate reliable and actionable insights
• communicate analysis and insight clearly and persuasively to senior stakeholders, translating complex findings into meaningful recommendations
• manage and assure evaluation quality, ensuring that data, methods, and outputs meet high analytical standards and comply with ethical and privacy requirements
• support evaluation across government, helping teams adopt consistent and effective approaches to measuring digital and AI impact

Person specification

We’re interested in people who:

• have a background in a relevant analytical discipline (economics, social or behavioural science, statistics, operational research, a related field, or relevant work experience)
• can demonstrate strong analytical and critical thinking skills, including the ability to evaluate digital services using some appropriate techniques including process evaluation, impact evaluation, ‘theory of change’, experimentation and economic evaluation, using quantitative or qualitative data
• ensure plans for monitoring and evaluation of products and services are appropriate and proportionate and influence stakeholders to secure resources for an evaluation project
• are experienced at setting up a system to get data ready for use, including specifying how data should be cleansed and prepared
• can communicate relevant, compelling insights using the most appropriate medium
• can make complex recommendations at a tactical and strategic level

Benefits

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for the King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

Any move to Government Digital Service 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 https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

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

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• a 60 minute video interview which will feature a presentation, details of the presentation will be shared to invited candidates prior to the interview

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before t