Lead Economist - GDS - G7

Manchester Digital; Bristol, Manchester, Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 56,000 - 71,000; Full time

Job summary

A government digital service is seeking a Lead Economist for its Economic Analysis Team. This role involves managing a team of economists, providing strategic economic advice, and developing standards for assessing government digital projects. Candidates should have strong analytical skills, team management experience, and knowledge of governmental practices. This position offers a unique opportunity to contribute to high-priority digital challenges affecting millions of people across the UK.

Qualifications

• Experience in performing high-quality analysis swiftly in a fast moving, high profile environment.
• Experience managing a team of analysts/economists.
• Experience writing and producing analytical papers/reports for a senior audience.
• Strong presentation skills for stakeholders.
• Ability to manage multiple projects and deliver results on time.
• Knowledge of government green book principles.

Responsibilities

• Head up a team of economists developing standards and guidance.
• Provide strategic advice and economic analysis for new ideas.
• Work on planning projects like business cases for Spending Review bids.
• Develop products for appraising government digital projects.
• Act as a keyholder for business cases and assure economic appraisals.
• Build relationships with stakeholders like HM Treasury.

Skills

High-quality analysis

Team management

Analytical writing

Stakeholder presentations

Project management

Knowledge of government principles

Job description

£61,740 - £70,219 (London) and £56,070 - £61,793 (National Locations)
Published on

Full-time (Permanent) £61,740 - £70,219 (London) and £56,070 - £61,793 (National Locations)
Published on 22 December 2025 Deadline 7 January 2026

Location

Bristol, London, Manchester

About the job

Job summary

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

• joining up public sector services
• harnessing the power of AI for the public good
• strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
• elevating leadership and investing in talent
• funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
• committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.

The role of Lead Economist is based in the Economic Analysis Team, which is part of the Product Strategy, Planning and Portfolio directorate, and comprises teams which own performance analysis, strategic planning, product strategy development, and economics. This team is a trusted partner, enabling evidence-based decision making, assuring delivery and coordinating the development on well-informed plans and business cases so that Product Group is able to effectively and efficiently achieve its strategic priorities.

Reporting to the Head of Portfolio Planning and Performance, as the Lead Economist you will head up a team of central economists which is developing a common set of standards, guidance and products for the various development teams within the Product Group to implement into product management ensure best practice in relation to evaluating and evidencing the value delivered by their products for users and government. The role also includes supporting the delivery of planning projects that can emerge such as business cases for Spending Review bids or departmental pivoting for crisis management (e.g. COVID-19 pandemic or EU Exit preparations).

You will be providing expert and strategic advice to the wider business, assurance to the Government Chief Product Officer and their Leadership Team, and utilising economic analysis and modelling to assess the viability of new ideas or evaluating the benefits realisation for existing products. This includes working on a high value programme forming part of the Government Major Projects Portfolio.

The right person will join a well-motivated and dynamic multi disciplinary team working to deliver on our commitments and roadmap. If you care about ensuring vulnerable people can access the services they need, protecting citizens and the public purse against fraud, making it easier and quicker for all of us to get personalised government support and improving policy and service development by harnessing the power of data - this is the role for you.

As a Lead Economist in GDS, you will:

• Design and Develop a set of core products and formats which meet the bespoke needs of appraising government-developed digital products, and the benefits, disbenefits and evidence bases associated with delivering them.
• Produce and own a central, live and authoritative repository forecasted and realised benefits across the entire product suite in Product Group, which currently stands at over 10 different products.
• Act as a central economic “keyholder” for formal business cases produced by product teams, assuring the economic appraisals produced by teams for quality, objectivity and strategic relevance and providing advice to the senior leadership team.
• Provide advice to product teams on monitoring and evaluation, such as by using HMT’s Magenta Book, assuring spending proposals for effective monitoring and evaluation plans, and supporting teams with the development of theories of change.
• Build and maintain a strong working relationships with key external stakeholders, such HM Treasury and other Public Sector organisations, to ensure the plans and benefits of GDS are communicated well, understood, and supported with robust data

Person specification

We’re interested in people with:

• experience in performing high-quality analysis swiftly in a fast moving, high profile environment
• Experience managing a team of analysts/economists
• experience writing and producing analytical papers/reports for a senior audience
• experience in presenting their work and findings to a group of stakeholders, using a range of technologies and methods to do so
• experience of planning and prioritising effectively to meet deadlines, able to manage multiple projects/issues to deliver results at pace
• Knowledge of the government green book principles and experience in applying them in practice