Child Maintenance Service - Senior Design Lead

Parklands, Callendar Business Park, Falkirk, FK1 1XT

Pedmore House, Waterfront East, Level Street, Dudley, DY5 1XA

Crown Building, 60 Wellington Street, Leicester, LE1 6DS

Benton Park View, Benton Park Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE7 7NE

Lacuna Place, Havelock Road, Hastings, TN34 1BG

Great Western House, Woodside Ferry Approach, Birkenhead, CH41 6DA

Clearbrook House, Bickleigh Down Business Park, Plymouth, PL6 7TN

Please note that for candidates requesting to work in Newcastle, this role is based at Benton Park View and will relocate to 1 Pilgrim Place in Newcastle city centre by the end of 2027.

Job Summary

As the UK government’s largest public service provider, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policies.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) supports parents who are unable to reach a private financial agreement by ensuring – and when necessary, enforcing – their legal responsibility to contribute to their child’s living costs. Our mission is simple: to get money to children, because it makes a real difference in their lives.

While we’ve made significant progress in transforming our service, we remain ambitious about what more we can achieve for the families who rely on us. CMS is a dynamic and rewarding place to work. Step into any of our service centres and you’ll find passionate, dedicated professionals committed to supporting our customers.

We are proud to foster an inclusive and diverse workforce where everyone can thrive. If you're looking to make a difference, this could be the career for you.

This is a fantastic opportunity to start or grow a fulfilling career in the Civil Service. We offer a flexible work-life balance, along with opportunities for growth, challenge, and personal development.

Job Description

The SEO Senior Design Lead’s main responsibilities are to lead and manage process improvements to both CMS’ business and system (I.T.) processes. Senior Design Leads will be required to deliver at pace, analysing as-is processes and complex data sets to identify opportunities to optimise business processes and performance.

Main Responsibilities / Accountabilities Include:

• Producing actionable recommendations using strong analysis skills, presenting findings to stakeholders with confidence.
• Visible and effective leadership, mentoring and providing guidance to junior business analysts, fostering professional growth and development.
• Engaging effectively and leading the collaboration between multi-disciplinary teams to drive innovation and service improvements.
• Collaborate closely with digital colleagues to support sprint planning activities, including development and testing of changes.
• Planning, development and management of all business requirement gathering activities including the creation of user stories.
• Communicating progress, issues and recommended resolutions to various forums and governance boards.
• Accountable for the management of performance within the team, identifying potential risks to achievement and driving forward continuous improvement.
• Act as a liaison between operational teams and technical teams to ensure alignment and successful delivery of changes.
• Identifying gaps in training/learning products, and working with the Learning & Development community to improve/develop.
• Ensure all security matters are dealt with promptly and sensitively, in line with DWP policies and procedures.
• Line management of small team
  
  

The SEO Senior Design Lead’s main responsibilities are to lead and manage process improvements to both CMS’ business and system (I.T.) processes. Senior Design Leads will be required to deliver at pace, analysing as-is processes and complex data sets to identify opportunities to optimise business processes and performance.

Main Responsibilities / Accountabilities Include:

• Producing actionable recommendations using strong analysis skills, presenting findings to stakeholders with confidence.
• Visible and effective leadership, mentoring and providing guidance to junior business analysts, fostering professional growth and development.
• Engaging effectively and leading the collaboration between multi-disciplinary teams to drive innovation and service improvements.
• Collaborate closely with digital colleagues to support sprint planning activities, including development and testing of changes.
• Planning, development and management of all business requirement gathering activities including the creation of user stories.
• Communicating progress, issues and recommended resolutions to various forums and governance boards.
• Accountable for the management of performance within the team, identifying potential risks to achievement and driving forward continuous improvement.
• Act as a liaison between operational teams and technical teams to ensure alignment and successful delivery of changes.
• Identifying gaps in training/learning products, and working with the Learning & Development community to improve/develop.
• Ensure all security matters are dealt with promptly and sensitively, in line with DWP policies and procedures.
• Line management of small team
  
  

Person specification

Your personal statement will be assessed against the following essential criteria. Please ensure you provide specific, evidence-based examples that clearly demonstrate how you meet each one.

Candidates Should Be Able To Demonstrate:

Excellent Analytical Skills – Proven experience of critically analysing products, processes and management information, using proven application of best practices and methodologies, to draw conclusions and identify opportunities for improvements aligned to strategic objectives. (Lead Criteria)

Leadership – Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams to deliver far reaching, transformative and impactful improvements. Capable of working through complex challenges, motivating and co-ordinating across teams to ensure timely delivery.

Strong Communicator – Adept at delivering complex analysis and recommendations with clarity and confidence to a variety of audiences including senior stakeholders and governance forums. Skilled in influencing decision making through persuasive arguments and well-supported recommendations.

Adaptable and Agile – Can respond to shifting priorities and balancing multiple change initiatives simultaneously, meeting challenging deadlines whilst maintaining

quality.

User and Customer Centric Mindset – Strong commitment to enhancing service delivery for our Customers, focusing on process and improvements that achieves getting more money to children whilst maximising taxpayer value.

Stakeholder Engagement – Experience in building and maintaining strong relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders, promoting a collaborative working environment that drives successful outcomes.

Planning and Organisation – Proficient in managing significant change initiatives with complex requirements, ensuring structured planning, prioritisation and resource allocation to meet objectives within tight timescales.

Business Analysis Certification – BCS Diploma in Business Analysis (or actively working towards it).

Behaviours

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

• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership
• Delivering at Pace
  
  

Alongside your salary of £44,447, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £12,876 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Working for DWP will include benefits such as learning and development tailored to your role, an environment with flexible working options, a culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.

Annual Leave

23 days annual leave rising with service to 30 days, plus public holidays.

Flexi Time

Access to flexible working hours scheme will be available.

Hybrid Working

This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work.

If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office.

If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert.

Working Hours

The Department’s Contracted Working Hours Are:

• Monday to Friday: 07:45 to 20:00
• Saturday: 08:45 to 17:00
  
  

Employees are contracted to work a set number of hours per week within these timeframes.

• For full-time employees, this is 37 net hours per week (equivalent to 42 gross hours, including meal breaks).
• For part-time employees, the number of hours will be proportionally less, based on their contract.
  
  

Employees are expected to work the full number of hours for which they are contracted.

See the Candidate Pack for more of the benefits available to as a Civil Servant.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Eligibility

Visa Sponsorship

For these vacancies, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply. Please note that while we consider sponsorship requests in accordance with current DWP guidance and Home Office policy, sponsorship cannot be guaranteed.

Location

Applicants should only apply for roles where they can reasonably commute to and from their selected home office location daily.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to submit a CV and 1250-word Personal Statement.

Important Information Regarding Anonymisation

When completing your application form, CV and personal statement you must remove any personal details that could be used to identify you. This includes name and contact details which might usually appear on a CV or personal statement.

Failure to do so will result in your application being withdrawn.

Personal Statement

Write an evidence-based statement demonstrating your suitability for the role, reflecting on the essential criteria outlined in the Job Description.

Your evidence-based statement should be no longer than 1250 words. Avoid generalised claims – focus instead on specific examples that highlight your achievements. For each example, explain the context, the challenges you faced, the actions you took, and the outcomes you achieved.

Sift

The sift panel will assess your evidence-based statement to evaluate your experience, skills, and knowledge against the essential criteria outlined in the job advert. To progress to the next stage of the application process, you must provide clear and sufficient evidence demonstrating how you meet these criteria.

If we receive a high volume of applications, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead criterion: Excellent Analytical Skills – Proven experience of critically analysing products, processes and management information, using proven application of best practices and methodologies, to draw conclusions and identify opportunities for improvements aligned to strategic objectives. Candidates who pass this initial sift may either proceed to a full sift or be invited directly to interview.

CV

Your CV is for reference/context only and is not scored, put the main content of your evidence and skills in your personal statement.

Interview

The interview will assess your behaviours and strengths.

For the purposes of the selection process, the Lead Behaviour will be Changing and Improving.

Your interview will be conducted by video (MS Teams).

See the Personal Statement Guidance and Candidate Pack attachments for full details of the application and selection process.

Approximate Campaign Timeline:

Sift Period: 25 – 28 August 2026

Interviews: 14 – 16 September 2026

Results/Offers: Mid-September 2026

Sometimes we might decide to invite all candidates straight to interview without assessing the written application evidence, therefore sift and interview dates are subject to change.

Provisional Offer of Employment

If you receive a provisional offer of employment, please note that the pre-employment checking process can take up to 8 weeks for external candidates. (Refer to the candidate pack for details regarding the required documentation.)

In some cases, a conditional offer may be made. This means you could begin your role before all checks are completed. However, if any of the outstanding checks are unsuccessful, your employment may be terminated.

Further Information

At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

Find out more about working for DWP on the DWP Careers Hub.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 3 months from which further appointments can be made.

If you are placed on a reserve list but we cannot immediately offer you a post, please note:

• If you are later offered the role you applied for, in a location you have expressed a preference for, and you decline the offer or are unable to take up the post within a reasonable timeframe you will be withdrawn from the campaign and removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a contractual Part Time Working Pattern cannot be accommodated in the initial role offered or in cases of serious ill health).
• If DWP makes an offer of an alternative role or location to that which you originally applied for, and you decline that offer, you will be able to remain on the reserve list.
  
  

Disability Confident Scheme

If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.

Reasonable Adjustments

We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact the Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Integrity, plagiarism and Civil Service Principles

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles.

Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words.

Examples Of Plagiarism Can Include:

• Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own
• Copying content or answers from an online or published source that is not your own
  
  

Disclosure and Barring Service and Internal Fraud Database Checks

To process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service or Disclosure Scotland on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email [email protected]

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department, a criminal record check will be carried out.

Important

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. If you are a current employee and are successful you must be able to be released from your current post within four weeks.

Those on protected TUPE/ COSoP terms and conditions applying on promotion or voluntary permanent level move will adopt DWP’s Terms and Conditions and this may have a different impact on pay and allowances. Please review this prior to acceptance of a role.

Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing. Accepting a post will be taken to mean acceptance of revised terms & conditions.

Civil Servants applying on promotion will usually be appointed to the salary minimum or within 10% of existing salary.

Any move to DWP from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may, however, be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at the Childcare Choices Website.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
  
  

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact :

• Name : Kevin Jackson
• Email : [email protected]
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]
  
  

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact DWP by email: [email protected].

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission. Click here to visit the Civil Service Commission.