About the role

Why this role matters

Home Office Digital designs, builds and runs the technology and services that deliver, at scale, some of the UK’s most critical and well-used public services.  The engineering capability plays a critical part in every part of the Home Office in delivering its mission from how we secure the border and control immigration to issues passports and reducing and preventing crime, supporting these services that impact millions of people every year.

The Home Office Digital estate consists of more than 600 systems, enabling critical services such as;

• 13 million Electronic Travel Authorisations since launch
• 3 million visa applications annually
• 130 million border checks each year
• 7 million passport applications annually
• 140 million police checks on people, vehicles, and property

The Director: National Policing Systems (NPS) is a member of the Police and Public Protection Technology Portfolio (PPPT) Senior Management Team and is responsible for the strategic leadership, transformation and sustainment of a portfolio of nationally critical policing technology services. These services, including Law Enforcement Data Service (LEDS), Police National Computer (PNC), Police National Database (PND), Law Enforcement Community Network (LECN), Law Enforcement Cloud Platform (LECP), National Identity and Access Management (NIAM), and associated platforms, support over 250,000 users across UK law enforcement, security and intelligence agencies, Border Force and wider government.

The successful candidate will lead the continued modernisation of national policing systems, overseeing the transition from legacy capabilities to secure, scalable and resilient digital services. This includes completing the delivery of the LEDS, sustaining critical national infrastructure, and establishing a unified operating model for national policing technology services.

The role carries overall accountability for strategy, delivery, live service performance, risk management and stakeholder engagement. Reporting to the Director: PPPT, the postholder will lead a large multidisciplinary organisation of civil servants, partners and suppliers, working closely with senior policing leaders, Home Office colleagues and delivery partners to ensure services remain secure, reliable and aligned to operational needs.

As a senior leader within PPPT, the Director: NPS will drive collaboration, standardisation and organisational capability growth, shaping a high-performing product, engineering, delivery and service management function capable of supporting the future evolution of national policing services.

Job description

Key responsibilities:

• Provide strategic leadership and delivery oversight for the National Policing Systems portfolio, ensuring effective governance, risk management, financial control and stakeholder engagement.
• Lead the transformation of legacy policing capabilities into modern, scalable and secure digital services while maintaining service availability and operational resilience.
• Develop and champion coherent product and service roadmaps aligned to policing priorities, user needs and departmental objectives.
• Establish and mature a single service operating model that delivers consistent, end-to-end management, support and observability across the NPS portfolio.
• Lead a large, complex multidisciplinary workforce and supplier ecosystem, fostering a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement and high performance.
• Work with senior policing, Home Office and technology stakeholders to align strategy, architecture, investment and delivery priorities.
• Drive service quality, operational efficiency, resilience and cyber security across nationally critical policing systems and enabling platforms.
• Deputise for the Director: PPPT as required.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

You will have a demonstrable passion for delivery and digital service excellence, with the following skills and strong experience in:

• Proven experience leading complex digital product and service delivery across the full lifecycle, delivering high-quality, user-centred services and new capabilities at scale. Working across system to develop core digital strategies. 
• Proven track record in transforming legacy services into modern, scalable solutions while successfully operating large-scale digital services, balancing service reliability, cyber resilience and continuous improvement
• The ability to build high trust relationships with very senior customers and stakeholders in a political, pressured environment, bridging technical and non-technical divides, with the confidence and credibility to challenge where necessary.
• Leading, managing, and motivating large multi-disciplinary teams, building the capability of delivery professionals, inspiring and empowering teams to perform to a high standard. Leading Transformation across large teams. 
• Strong financial management skills with experience in managing substantial budgets.
• Proven expertise in managing suppliers and contracts within the context of technology change, able to establish and maximise effective working relationships with suppliers to stimulate innovation and guarantee successful delivery whilst delivering value for money from investment.

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