Change and Benefits Manager

Government Recruitment Service; West of England; On-site; GBP 58,000 - 71,000; Full time

Job summary

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is seeking a Change and Benefits Manager to lead organisational change initiatives and ensure benefits justify investment across Defra and its Arm’s Length Bodies. You will partner with programme teams and business users to implement new ways of working and embed sustainable change.

Based in Bristol or remotely as part of Defra's policy hubs, the role requires strong stakeholder engagement, governance, and delivery excellence.

Qualifications

• Experience delivering organisational change programmes and benefits realisation.
• Ability to engage stakeholders and embed change across Defra and ALBs.

Responsibilities

• Lead and shape change initiatives across Defra and ALBs.
• Collaborate with delivery partners to ensure outcomes are achieved.

Job description

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.

Change Directorate

We are seeking a Change and Benefits Manager to join the Change Directorate. We have a strong appetite to ensure that as an organisation we deliver policy and services, enable the department to modernise and change ways of working, live within our means, become high performing, and be valued by our customers.

This is a central Change Directorate aimed at bringing about critical organisational change to deliver Defra’s priority Outcomes Framework and shape the future of the organisation. You will be working on a high profile, fast paced area of work across areas of Defra including its Arm’s Length Bodies.

We work in a programmatic way, prioritising work to ensure we’re focusing on the right things at the right time. This means that our teams can pivot onto new projects and programmes when these conclude, or if circumstances change and they are reprioritised.

Encouraging diverse applicants

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 underrepresented groups.

Location

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

Currently, the Geospatial Enabling Programme is a key priority for Defra Group and will be the first Programme that the Change and Benefits Manager will support.

Decisions we make now and over the next 25 years about land use in England will materially impact our ability to manage biosecurity risks, support growth to the economy, enhance our food security and allow nature to thrive. We deliver these in partnership with farmers, land managers and other key stakeholders, and our decisions on how and where to make interventions and fund schemes make significant differences to economic growth and the environment. Spatial (land) data is a critical asset for Defra as it provides insight into land use to inform policy decisions that can be distributed effectively to maximize economic growth whilst supporting nature recovery. The Geospatial (Land) programme can enable delivery of better policy making and better use of our limited budgets to deliver our priorities, by resolving issues within the geospatial data landscape and developing the spatial targeting capability.

The vision of the Geospatial (Land) Programme is: To unlock the power of geospatial capability by creating a clear single access point for authoritative, up-to-date foundational land data across England - putting easily accessible insights into the handsof new downstream business users across Defra and its Arms Length Bodies. This will:

• Deliveran authoritative source of land data for Englandthrough the Defra Land Model,generated from Defra’s insights and other 3rdparties'datasets and underpinned by aBasemap (master reference layer) of land.

• Development and delivery of acommon geospatial data standard framework and data modelin collaboration with DDTS andChiefDataOfficer(CDO)to enable sharing of data across Defra Group and externally.This will underpin the Defra Land Model and basemap:

• WillestablishaCentre of Excellenceto equip teams with the skills to exploit the Defra Land Model and support the use of geospatial capability to solve operational needs and policy

Job Description

As a Change and Benefits Manager you will proactively prepare the business for the impact of organisational change while ensuring the benefits justify investment are identified, quantified, tracked and realised across Defra and it’s Arm’s Length bodies. You will act as a bridge between your Programme Team teams and business users, supporting effective implementation, stakeholder engagement and sustainable change adoption.

You will work with the delivery partner and provide leadership, guidance and assurance across the programme and ALBs to ensure that intended outcomes are achieved and embedded successfully.

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

Change and Benefits Manager

Company: Government Recruitment Service Salary: £58,207 to £71,178 a year Hours: Full-time Location: Bristol Job type: Permanent Posting date: 19 Oct 2026 Closing date: 30 Oct 2026

Summary

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.

Change Directorate

We are seeking a Change and Benefits Manager to join the Change Directorate. We have a strong appetite to ensure that as an organisation we deliver policy and services, enable the department to modernise and change ways of working, live within our means, become high performing, and be valued by our customers.

This is a central Change Directorate aimed at bringing about critical organisational change to deliver Defra’s priority Outcomes Framework and shape the future of the organisation. You will be working on a high profile, fast paced area of work across areas of Defra including its Arm's Length Bodies.

We work in a programmatic way, prioritising work to ensure we’re focusing on the right things at the right time. This means that our teams can pivot onto new projects and programmes when these conclude, or if circumstances change and they are reprioritised.

Encouraging diverse applicants

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 underrepresented groups.

Location

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

Currently, the Geospatial Enabling Programme is a key priority for Defra Group and will be the first Programme that the Change and Benefits Manager will support.

Decisions we make now and over the next 25 years about land use in England will materially impact our ability to manage biosecurity risks, support growth to the economy, enhance our food security and allow nature to thrive. We deliver these in partnership with farmers, land managers and other key stakeholders, and our decisions on how and where to make interventions and fund schemes make significant differences to economic growth and the environment. Spatial (land) data is a critical asset for Defra as it provides insight into land use to inform policy decisions that can be distributed effectively to maximize economic growth whilst supporting nature recovery. The Geospatial (Land) programme can enable delivery of better policy making and better use of our limited budgets to deliver our priorities, by resolving issues within the geospatial data landscape and developing the spatial targeting capability.

The vision of the Geospatial (Land) Programme is: To unlock the power of geospatial capability by creating a clear single access point for authoritative, up-to-date foundational land data across England - putting easily accessible insights into the handsof new downstream business users across Defra and its Arms Length Bodies. This will:

Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme

About Disability Confident

Disability Confident is a government scheme. It encourages employers to recruit and retain disabled people and those with long term health conditions.

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