Assistant Head, Strategy Development

UK Ministry of Defence; Lichfield; On-site; GBP 55,000 - 68,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Civil Service Pension

Annual leave up to 30 days

Learning & development

Flexible working

Defence Discount Service

Employee discounts

Job summary

UK Ministry of Defence is seeking an Assistant Head of Strategy Development within the Defence Housing Service to translate strategic priorities into actionable outputs.

You will lead a small strategy team, collate evidence from diverse stakeholders, and guide cross-cutting projects aligning Defence Housing Strategy with operational delivery, ensuring Service Personnel and families remain at the heart of reforms.

Qualifications

• Strategic thinking with a track record of strategy development and delivery.
• Strong leadership and the ability to unite diverse teams.
• Experience in project or programme management, including governance and risk.
• Line management experience and building high-performing teams.
• Ability to analyse evidence, evaluate options and make strategic recommendations.
• Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills.

Responsibilities

• Support delivery of key DIO strategies to provide a clear vision and deliverable outputs.
• Bring together stakeholder perspectives to support decision making against strategy deliverables.
• Lead monitoring and reporting against Defence Housing Strategy recommendations, identifying risks.
• Lead and line-manage a small Strategy team to align with development and delivery.
• Lead high-profile cross-cutting projects on behalf of senior leaders to drive strategy recommendations.
• Provide strategic outputs that influence operational and policy change for Service Personnel and families.
• Ensure implementation plans have owners and governance to maintain momentum and manage risk.
• Build strong working relationships with internal DIO teams, MOD colleagues, external partners and families.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Leadership

Project management

Line management

Stakeholder management

Analytical thinking

Job description

This role can be based at London SW1A 2HB, Whittington WS14 9PY, Andover SP11 8HJ, Wyton PE28 2EA or Bristol BS34 8QW.

About us :

Do you want to work on one or the most exciting transformation projects in the public sector?

The Defence Housing Service (DHS) is being created through the Armed Forces Bill to deliver a step-change in housing for the UK’s Armed Forces and their families following the publication of the Defence Housing Strategy on 3 November 2025, which marked the most significant change to Armed Forces housing in over 50 years. DHS will bring a dedicated focus to improving the homes, communities and lived experience of Service personnel, placing families firmly at the heart of everything it does.

This is one of the most ambitious housing transformation programmes in the UK today. Backed by a £9.2 billion investment, DHS will modernise tens of thousands of homes, introduce a more proactive and customer-focused approach to maintenance, and unlock new opportunities to develop housing on Defence land. DHS will have the focus and agility to deliver change at pace, combining public service values with greater flexibility to build the skills, systems and partnerships needed for the future.

This is a rare opportunity to be part of shaping its culture, influencing how it works, and helping deliver lasting improvements for Service families across the UK.

The Defence Housing team is currently part of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), who respond to the evolving needs of our military personnel, and the ways in which they live, work, train and deploy. We are proud to be the expert partner Defence needs for all their infrastructure requirements. From large scale infrastructure projects such as runways for the F35 fighter jets to net carbon-zero accommodation for our Service families, our activities focus relentlessly on our customers, and our outputs are unique in the UK and across the globe!

DIO , What we deliver every day.

The future delivery model for this team is currently under review and may change as part of potential organisational developments. This could include the team or function transferring to a different employer or organisational structure in the future. Should activities transfer out of the Ministry of Defence existing employees transferring with those activities will maintain the same, or substantially the same, terms and conditions of employment.

About the role:

As Assistant Head, Strategy Development, you’ll will work closely with the Deputy Head of Strategy, cross-cutting stakeholders and experts, to translate strategic priorities into clear, deliverable outputs.

You’ll bring together evidence, insight and a range of perspectives, to tackle complex cross-cutting strategy challenges, whilst enhancing business capabilities and driving performance. You’ll lead on a variety of interesting strategic areas, which are likely to include the Corporate Strategy, Annual Report and bespoke cross-cutting projects, that ensure Service Personnel and their families are at the heart of defence development activities.

You’ll need to hit the ground running, with strong strategic thinking, leadership capabilities and a track record of seeing the bigger picture, turning complex issues into clear, practical recommendations. You’ll be passionate about building strategy from the ground up and dedicating time and resources to develop team capability, to make DIO Accommodation Strategy a great place to work.

What you’ll be doing:

• Support delivery of key DIO strategies, such as the Corporate Strategy, to provide a clear vision, evidence-based objectives and deliverable outputs for the organisation.
• Bring together stakeholder perspectives, to address gaps and opportunities to support clear decision making, against Strategy deliverables.
• Lead monitoring and reporting against The Defence Housing Strategy recommendations, identifying key risks and areas for improvement.
• Lead and line-manage a small Strategy team, providing guidance and mentorship as required, to ensure alignment with strategy development and delivery.
• Lead high-profile, cross cutting projects on behalf of senior leaders, to help drive forward delivery of Defence Housing Strategy recommendations and wider organisational priorities.
• Provide clear strategic outputs that influence tangible operational and policy change, putting Service Personnel and their families at the heart of areas for improvement.
• Ensure recommendations from strategic projects have clear owners and implementation arrangements to drive successful delivery; establishing project structures, plans and governance to maintain momentum, managing risk and dependencies to deliver high-quality outcomes.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders including internal DIO teams, wider MOD colleagues, external partners and serving personnel/families and their representatives.

About you:

You’ll need:

• Demonstrable experience of strategic thinking, strategy development and delivery.
• Strong leadership capabilities, able to work with and bring together a wide range of individuals and teams to work on shared objectives.
• Experience of project and/or programme management, including structure, governance and risk management.
• Line management experience, including building capability and developing high performing teams.
• Able to demonstrate ability to analyse evidence, evaluate options and make strategic recommendations.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, able to build strong working relationships, to influence and deliver objectives.

What makes us great!:

Alongside your salary of £61,630, Ministry of Defence contributes £17,854 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role with a dedicated minimum of 5 days per year.
• 25 days paid annual leave rising (by 1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of five years’ service.
• Ability to roll up to 10 days annual leave per year.
• In addition to eight public holidays per year, you will also receive leave for HM The King’s birthday.
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%.
• Parental and Adoption Leave.
• Discounts on a range of services within and external to the civil service – Defence Discount Service, Civil Service societies for Sports and Leisure, Healthcare, Insurance, Motoring, Company discounts with Virgin, Vodafone, and Microsoft Office.
• In year rewards and ‘thank you’ schemes such as vouchers and gift cards
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

Equality and Diversity

Our people are at the heart of everything we do. It’s vital that our workforce reflects the diversity of both our audience and the wider society in the UK, so we’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer and we actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds and communities. We also recognise the importance of a good work life balance, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including part-time and job shares for all our roles. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process if this is something you want to explore.