Director General, Digital and Infrastructure

Department for Education; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 180,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

The Department for Education is seeking a Director General for Digital and Infrastructure in the UK. This role involves setting ambitious digital and AI strategies while leading transformation in how education services are delivered. The successful candidate will have extensive experience in digital, data and technology leadership, and will manage significant resources to drive improvements in outcomes for children. This position offers a hybrid working model, and candidates can be based in various UK locations including London and Manchester.

Qualifications

• Ability to set a clear vision and strategy that transforms outcomes across a whole sector.
• Expertise in leading large digital, data and technology functions to improve performance.
• Track record of embedding digital and data into core strategies of large organisations.
• Proven experience in building and motivating high-performing teams.

Responsibilities

• Set an ambitious cross-cutting digital, AI and data strategy plan.
• Lead the transformation of DfE’s digital services into user-centred platforms.
• Unlock the full value of data across the education system.
• Oversee one of the government’s significant estates portfolios.
• Align people, systems, and investment behind a shared vision.

Skills

Digital, AI and data leadership

Proven ability to lead major transformation programmes

Strategic thinking and policy influence

Proven leadership experience

Judgement and risk management

Job description

SCS3 - Director General, Digital and Infrastructure – Hybrid – Up-to £200k

The Civil Service exists to serve the public and at the Department for Education, that mission is felt in every classroom and every community across the country. Today, delivering on that mission depends not only on policy, but on the strength of our digital, data, and infrastructure capability.

The Department for Education is seeking an exceptional individual to take on the role of Director General for Digital and Infrastructure at a pivotal moment for both the department and the wider education system. As expectations of public services evolve, and as digital, data, and AI become fundamental to effective delivery, this role will be central to ensuring the department can operate with the pace, coherence, and insight required to meet those demands.

As Director General, you will lead around 1,800 colleagues, bringing together digital delivery, data and analysis, technology, and education estates into a single, powerful function.

Your task is ambitious: to drive a step-change in how the department, and the wider education and care system, uses digital and data to improve outcomes for children and young people.

You will:

• Set an ambitious cross-cutting digital, AI and data strategy plan that transforms how the department and the sector deliver all their work - embedding digital, AI and data into every major strategy, driving improvements in outcomes for children and learners.
• Lead the transformation of DfE’s digital services into user-centred, resilient, and secure platforms that support millions of users.
• Unlock the full value of data across the education system, creating a clearer, more connected picture to inform decisions and drive improvement.
• Oversee one of the government’s most significant estates portfolios, including major capital programmes such as the School Rebuilding Programme, where judgement and pace are critical.
• Bring coherence and momentum to a complex landscape - aligning people, systems, and investment behind a shared vision. You will exercise exceptional judgement in managing vast surveying and build programmes, making frequent rapid, high-stakes decisions.

This role demands more than technical expertise. It calls for a leader who can operate at scale, navigate complexity, and inspire confidence at the highest levels.

You will bring:

• Expertise in digital, AI and data leadership at scale: Ability to set a clear vision and strategy that transforms outcomes across a whole sector. Experience in leading large digital, data and technology functions to improve performance and ensure cyber security underpins digital and data systems.
• Delivery at pace and scale: Proven ability to lead major transformation programmes across complex delivery landscapes, working in partnership with schools, colleges, local authorities and private sector partners including in the ed tech and construction industries.
• Strategic thinking and policy influence: A track record of embedding digital and data into the core strategies of large organisations or systems, and of developing high quality, influential policies in partnership with decision-makers at the most senior levels.
• Leadership: Proven leadership experience, including through change, with evidence of the ability to build, inspire and motivate teams to great performance within an organisation of similar scale and complexity. Determination to create and maintain excellent, lean, effective teams which bring diversity of thought and take powerful action.
• Judgement and risk management: Exceptional skill in balancing huge opportunities with significant risks, calibrating engagement with a vibrant but under-evidenced and rapidly changing market. Ability to lead and change thinking over time.

You do not need to come from the education sector - but you will need the curiosity and commitment to understand it deeply, and the drive to improve it meaningfully.

This is your chance to lead transformation at national scale, redefining how one of government’s most important departments delivers for the public. Your leadership will shape how services reach and support millions of learners every day and build a more connected, resilient, and effective education system for the future.

You can be based in any of the following DfE locations - Bristol, Cambridge, Coventry, Darlington, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield.