Certification and Assurance Lead

GDS

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:

1. joining up public sector services
2. harnessing the power of AI for the public good
3. strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
4. elevating leadership and investing in talent
5. funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
6. 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 UKs geospatial strategy and activity.

We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

Were 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, youll be working with some of the worlds 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 nations highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.

The Role and Our Team

This role is critical to enabling GOV.UK One Login to progress with confidence in a complex and regulated environment. Certification against the UK digital verification services trust framework underpins its delivery, trust, and ability to operate as intended.

As Certification and Assurance Lead, you will be responsible for planning, coordinating and overseeing certification activity across a busy programme with multiple technical teams and suppliers. You will bring structure to complex assurance requirements, ensuring they are understood early, built into delivery plans and managed in a clear, proportionate way alongside other priorities.

The focus of this role is making assurance deliverable: managing dependencies, clarifying ownership, strengthening governance and helping teams navigate complexity without slowing delivery. By bringing together commercial, technical and delivery teams, you will ensure certification against a demanding framework is consistently maintained, senior stakeholders have confidence in outcomes, and trust in the service is protected for users, departments and ministers.

Key Responsibilities

As a Certification and Assurance Lead, you will:

Plan and deliver certification for GOV.UK One Login, GOV.UK Wallet and related products, ensuring services remain compliant with the Trust Framework.

Project‑manage all audits end to end, including annual reviews and re‑certification - coordinating preparation, audit activity and follow‑up actions.

Identify and manage risks, keeping programmes and senior stakeholders informed of issues, options and delivery impacts.

Work closely with commercial and delivery teams to ensure Trust Framework and certification requirements are built into contracts, supplier plans, and ongoing governance.

Manage external auditors and assessors, including contracts, scheduling, performance and issue escalation, maintaining constructive and professional relationships.

Act as the main point of contact with Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA), the Trust Framework owners, staying up to date with guidance and explaining what changes mean for delivery teams.

Improve how we prepare for audits, helping teams keep evidence organised, reduce duplication, and build an audit‑ready by default approach across services.

As a line manager, you will be responsible for working with your members of staff to define their objectives, as well as managing their development and performance.

Essential Criteria

Were interested in people who have:

Experience project managing certification, assurance or compliance activity (for example Frameworks, standards, or regulatory programmes) in a complex organisation.

A working knowledge of, or the ability to get up to speed quickly with, new technical or complex information (for example, digital or other complex thematic areas), to understand requirements and work effectively with specialists.

Experience working with commercial, product and legal teams, helping to embed assurance or compliance requirements into contracts and delivery plans.

Strong communication skills, with the ability to turn complex or technical information into clear updates, reports and evidence for auditors and senior stakeholders.

Confidence managing external partners, such as auditors, regulators or assessors, and handling issues in a pragmatic and professional way.

Proven ability to work across teams and organisations, influence without formal authority, and deliver in fast‑moving or high‑profile programmes.