Head of Agile Delivery - Planning Inspectorate - G6

Thank you for your interest in this exciting opportunity at the Planning Inspectorate. As we expand our Digital and Data team, we’re looking for a dynamic Head of Agile Delivery to help drive transformation and support the UK Government’s Growth Mission. 

The Planning Inspectorate plays a vital role in shaping England’s built environment, ensuring that decisions on land use, housing, and infrastructure are fair, transparent, and in the public interest. As we modernise and embrace digital innovation, we need a strategic leader to guide agile delivery across our organisation. 

The Planning Inspectorate has a long and proud history in ensuring a fair planning system for England. The work we do has a significant impact on people’s lives, the communities where they live and the economy.

We want our colleagues to be able to work more flexibly and more collaboratively, exploring new and innovative ways to improve the way we provide services. 

This senior role within the Digital and Data Unit is essential to improving service performance and delivery. Leading multidisciplinary teams, you will ensure smarter, faster, and more user-focused services that meet the evolving needs of citizens, developers, and government. This is a unique opportunity to shape delivery culture, influence strategic direction, and lead a dedicated community of agile professionals committed to excellence. 

We are looking for a motivated leader to enhance and evolve our agile delivery capability. In this high-impact role, you will be responsible for driving delivery momentum, fostering a culture of continuous improvement, and empowering teams to deliver value efficiently and effectively. You will work closely with Service Owners, Managers, the Executive Team, and key stakeholders to ensure optimal service delivery. As part of the Office of the Chief Digital and Information Officer, you will play a crucial role in advancing our strategic ambitions and ensuring our services meet the highest standards. 

If you are passionate about agile leadership, public service, and driving meaningful change, we would love to hear how your skills and experience can help shape the future of planning. 

For further information on the Planning Inspectorate, please visit our careers page at Civil Service Careers

Job description

We are looking for a strategic leader with a passion for agile transformation and a proven track record of delivering complex digital programmes at scale. 

You will enjoy working enjoy working as part of a supportive and collaborative team who are all motivated to achieve great outcomes for our users. 

In this role you, the activities you will undertake include:

• Maintain delivery momentum by optimising team workflows, removing blockers, and championing innovative solutions to complex delivery challenges.
• Lead a continual planning process across a dynamic and interdependent portfolio, identifying cross-service dependencies and aligning delivery with strategic priorities.
• Bridge the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders, confidently managing expectations and facilitating constructive dialogue around high-risk or time-sensitive issues.
• Champion agile and lean practices, experimenting with new ways of working to enhance delivery outcomes and embed a culture of learning and adaptability.
• Foster high-performing teams, resolving organisational blockers and supporting collaboration across departments to ensure alignment and shared success.
• Oversee supplier relationships, acting as the escalation point for high-risk commercial issues and ensuring value for money and accountability in digital and data partnerships. 

Salary 

New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. Internal rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest. 

This role is being advertised at Grade 6 which has a salary range of £76,505 - £84,043. 

 Working hours: 

Standard working week is 37 hours, flexible working hours policy available

Part time at 30 hours or above, flexible working hours policy available 

Office Attendance 

This role is contractually based at Temple Quay House, Bristol which is currently out of use due to undergoing refurbishment work. In the interim, we have the use of alternative office space in very close proximity to Bristol Temple Meads railway station. We recognise and value the mutual benefits of hybrid working and have a flexible approach to in person attendance, which can vary dependent on the requirements of individual business units - the details of which can be discussed with candidates if invited to attend an interview.

Person specification

We will assess your application against the Essential Criteria listed:

Essential Criteria  

• Experience of maintaining delivery momentum, optimising the delivery flow of teams and using innovative ways to unblock issues
• Experience of leading a continual planning process in a complex environment and identify dependencies in plans across services and co-ordinate delivery
• Ability to manage stakeholder expectations and moderate difficult discussions about high risk and complex topics, even within constrained timescales
• Experience of experimenting with new and innovative ways of working to improve delivery across the organisation
• Experience of solving and unblocking issues within teams or departments at the highest level
• Experience in managing Digital and Data suppliers and being the escalation point resolving large or high-risk commercial management issues
• For further details, please see the Programme Delivery Manager profession capability framework: ddat-capability-framework.service.gov.uk 

Experience

• See Essential Criteria

For guidance on how to structure your application please visit:  About the application process , Civil Service Careers

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing