Strategic Change Director

Job summary

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is seeking an exceptional Strategic Change Director to join its Executive Team. Reporting directly to the Chief Executive, you will be accountable for delivery of the Agency portfolio and change objectives, ensuring programmes, projects and portfolios are prioritised, governed, resourced and successfully delivered in line with DVLA and wider government priorities.

This is a brand-new role within DVLA's Executive Team, created to give strategic change the dedicated leadership it needs as the Agency embarks on its next phase of transformation. You will have real scope to define how the function operates and to build the team, governance and culture around it from the ground up.

Job description

As Strategic Change Director, you will provide visible leadership across DVLA's transformation and strategic change agenda, acting as the architect of the organisation's change portfolio. You will translate strategic ambition into an integrated, prioritised and sequenced programme of change that improves customer outcomes, colleague experience and organisational resilience.

You will:

• Lead and own DVLA's end-to-end strategic change and transformation portfolio, ensuring activity is prioritised, aligned to strategic objectives and delivers value for money.
• Shape and deliver large-scale organisational, operational and service transformation, ensuring change is user-centered, effectively governed and successfully embedded across the Agency.
• Lead and develop a diverse, multi-disciplinary workforce, building the leadership, capability and capacity required to deliver DVLA's long-term ambitions.
• Foster an inclusive, high-performing culture that promotes accountability, collaboration, continuous improvement and a "One DVLA" approach to transformation and change.
• Provide strategic advice and assurance to the Chief Executive, Board and Executive Team on portfolio performance, risks, dependencies, benefits and organisational readiness for change.
• Act as a corporate leader of DVLA, contributing to enterprise-wide decision-making and collective accountability for organisational performance and outcomes.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Strategic Change and Transformation Portfolio Leadership - Proven experience leading and owning a large-scale change or transformation portfolio within a complex organisation, and translating organisational strategy into a coherent, prioritised programme of work that delivers measurable outcomes and value for money. This experience may come from central government, wider public sector, regulated industries or private sector organisations of comparable scale and complexity.

• Prioritisation, Governance and Assurance - Significant experience establishing and leading portfolio governance, assurance and decision-making frameworks, providing executive oversight of risks, dependencies, benefits, performance and resource allocation across complex change environments.
• Leading Large-Scale Organisational and Service Transformation - A strong track record of leading complex organisational, operational and service transformation, ensuring change is successfully designed, delivered and embedded, with genuine attention to user and customer outcomes.
• Executive Leadership and Organisational Influence - Demonstrable experience operating at or near executive level within a large and complex organisation, leading senior leaders and multi-disciplinary teams, building organisational capability and contributing to corporate decision-making and strategic outcomes.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience applying recognised governance, assurance or professional standards to control and improve the quality of transformation programmes.
• Experience building a change or transformation function from an early stage, including establishing new governance, ways of working or team structures.
• Experience of Board-level governance and sector accountability structures, for example working with or reporting to a Board, Minister, non-executive body or equivalent senior governance structure in a large public or private sector organisation.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £90,000, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency contributes £26,073 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).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

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

Application

To express your interest in the role, you will need to email [email removed] you will then receive an email with further instructions of how to apply. This must be before Monday 14th September 2026.

Expected Timeline

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for assessments or interviews. You are therefore asked to note the below timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process, in order to meet the dates given. Please note that these dates may be subject to change.

The anticipated timetable is as follows:

Advert Closing Date – 23:55 Monday 14th September 2026

Longlist – Friday 18th September 2026

GR Interviews – 22nd – 30th September 2026

Shortlist – W/C 5th October 2026

Assessments - W/C 12th October 2026

Final Interviews – W/C 19th October 2026

If your application is successful but you have been dismissed from the Civil Service, your application could be removed at the pre-employment checking stage depending on the nature of the dismissal.

Applicants 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 applicant’s 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 carr