Director General, Chief Operating Officer

Job summary

Welcome from our Permanent Secretary, Susannah Storey

Thank you for your interest in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

I am looking for an outstanding leader who wants to build the new Department, transform our operations to help deliver the change this government wants to see. If you are innovative in your approach, have the skills, capabilities and passion to lead, and are excited by our Department and its agenda, please apply for this role.

DCMS exists to help people and communities connect, create, and thrive across every part of modern Britain, strengthening the security, resilience, and trust that underpin modern life. DCMS has just expanded its remit following a machinery of government change. We are now the digital centre of government and responsible for digital, telecoms and cyber bringing together the digital services people rely on alongside the culture they enjoy, the sport they follow, the media they trust, and the communities they belong to. As a leader at DCMS, you will be at the forefront of driving change and outcomes centered on three strategic priorities:

• Helping people live richer, safer, better connected lives: growing our digital and creative sectors while strengthening national security, online safety, and public services.
• Bringing together the things that define modern Britain: uniting technology, culture, and infrastructure to transform public services and strengthen communities.
• Pride and opportunity in every place: investing in digital infrastructure, skills, and local culture so everyone can build a proud future, wherever they live.

We deliver by growing the economy, enabling participation, connecting places, and keeping people safe.

Job description

As Chief Operating Officer (COO), you will provide strategic executive leadership for a DG Group of circa 500 staff across DCMS’s integrated Corporate Function, encompassing Commercial, DDaT, Finance, Legal and People and Workplace, which includes HR, Property, and Security. Having oversight of the Finance Function you will support the Accounting Officer with the management of the full DCMS budget of circa £11bn and will have a direct budget currently estimated to be around £200m.

Reporting to the Permanent Secretary, you will be responsible for driving civil service reform in DCMS and for delivering an agile, user-focused Department. Following the Machinery of Government (MoG) change, the COO will have a key role in creating the new Department, integrating our services, and setting up the department for long-term capability consistent with our focus on making our organisation better at pace. As part of this work, we want to use the civil service reform programme to drive change in DCMS and to deliver for citizens using digital and technology.

Key Responsibilities

• Chief Operating Officer for our newly formed DCMS, integrating the organisation and driving innovation across our operations and our staff experience
• Leading the transition, embedding new corporate operating models and sponsoring major transformations, including migration to the cross-government NEO shared services platform.
• Provide overarching direction, risk oversight, and assurance across DCMS’s ecosystem of Arm’s-Length Bodies (ALBs).
• Deliver strategic oversight across DCMS corporate services, which includes Finance, People and Workplace, Commercial, and DDaT*; steward multi-million-pound budgets, ensuring value for money, fiscal discipline, and robust governance.
• Foster an inclusive, high-performing culture, driving workforce capability, talent development.
• Serve as principal operations advisor to the Executive Board, Ministers, and the Permanent Secretary, navigating complex political, operational, and reputational risks.

*In light of our recent Machinery of Government the precise areas of responsibility are subject to change.

Person specification

The ideal candidate would have the following key skills and experience, please note that desirable skills will only be used in the event of tied candidates:

Essential requirements:

• Outstanding strategic leadership capability with a track record of delivering at pace and building diverse, high-performing, and inclusive cultures across complex organisations.
• Proven experience driving large-scale organisational modernisation and transformation, including innovative and cutting edge approaches to digital, data, or AI-enabled initiatives, to improve productivity, service quality, and operational delivery and ability to demonstrate innovative approaches to solving operational challenges.
• Executive-level capability in providing strategic oversight and direction across corporate functions, specifically Finance, HR, Commercial, and Digital, Data & Technology (DDaT), ensuring robust systems assurance and coherent cross-functional alignment.
• High-level strategic finance leadership with experience overseeing significant budgets, investment portfolios, and financial settlement negotiations, ensuring value for money and driving long-term strategic impact.
• Exceptional interpersonal, negotiation, and influencing skills, with the resilience to operate at the highest levels of government and sector leadership, building strategic alliances and managing political, operational, and reputational risks with integrity.
• Proven ability to provide strategic direction, assurance, and high-level governance across a diverse ecosystem of independent ALBs; balancing departmental accountability with operational autonomy, while exercising sound judgment to step in decisively and manage risk when performance or operational issues arise.

Desirable skills:

• Proven capability in strategic communications and narrative-setting, with a track record of driving large-scale organisational transformation, embedding new operating models, and inspiring workforce engagement across complex delivery structures.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £135,000, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £39,109 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

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Selection process details

If you have any issues submitting your application please contact [email removed]. All application