Senior Operational Leader - Wales

DWP helps people lift themselves out of poverty and to stay out of poverty, through work, saving and support. This is a hugely important public service, and our challenge is bigger than ever. As part of the Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt (CFCD) Directorate you will be at the heart of DWPs front line operations, helping to change peoples lives and supporting the CFCD purpose of fighting fraud in the welfare system.    

As Senior Operational Leader, you will role model excellent senior management leadership, taking responsibility for the flexible, effective, personalised delivery of customer service, quality, and performance.  You will provide transformational leadership to a geographically diverse team - leading through others, driving people engagement, and inspiring colleagues to deliver objectives.    

CFCD is a great place to work where the leadership team are passionate about attracting the best talent whilst nurturing and valuing new and existing colleagues to be the best they can be. We are looking for people who can demonstrate our values and commitment to leadership which are based around collaboration, resilience and inclusivity. We look for emotionally aware leaders who enable teams to be innovative, adaptable and flexible. We want you to be comfortable challenging the norm and finding daring and dynamic solutions that support our values and enable colleagues to shine in whatever role they do.

As a Senior Operational Leader, you will:    

• Report directly to the Grade 6, being fully accountable for the management of a large, geographically diverse, team of Senior Executive Officers (SEOs) setting strategic business priorities for your areas of responsibility and driving performance against key objectives.   

• Be a self-starter, able to use your own initiative and make sound, complex decisions at pace.   

• Be able to quickly instil technical knowledge and use initiative to seek solutions to problems; making interpretative judgements where circumstances fall outside of available guidance.   

• Lead performance within your business area, undertaking regular face-to-face performance reviews with your direct reports, identifying risks to performance achievement, and driving forward continuous improvement.   

• Be at the forefront of overseeing business change; leading others through the implementation, and embedding, of new policies and procedures.   

• Work alongside multiple, senior representatives from other government departments/external bodies, building strong, collaborative relationships which enhance our reputation and achieve excellent outcomes.   

• Provide visible, effective leadership through regular site visits, taking a personal lead in engaging with and communicating key messages with clarity and passion to obtain buy in.   

• Motivate teams to operate flexibly, seeking feedback, listening and acting on this, setting performance standards and personalising services for our customers.   

• Encourage creative thinking and collaborative working between teams and directorates to drive innovation and service improvements.   

• Contribute to people planning activities, ensuring appropriate and effective deployment of people and resources within and between sites.   

• Develop a holistic grasp of all customer types enabling you to lead, design and manage new business roles and processes that continuously improve the quality of customer experience.   

• Ensure all matters are dealt with promptly and sensitively, in line with DWP policies and procedures, and legislative frameworks, managing risk exposure by overseeing compliance.  

Frequent travel between sites and overnight stays will be required depending on business needs. 

Key criteria

What we are looking for in our leaders:

• Have strong and effective leadership experience, with the ability to lead through others and make sound business decisions at pace (Lead Criteria).
• Can communicate with clarity, conviction and enthusiasm with colleagues, partners and stakeholders to drive positive outcomes (Second Lead Criteria).
• Have experience and knowledge of leading diverse teams, through effective coaching and mentoring, to improve service delivery.
• Can drive performance improvement ensuring compliance with policies and procedures.
• Understand and engage with change. Inspire and obtain buy-in from colleagues by encouraging discussion, initiative, and ideas in support of the long term organisational vision.
• Have excellent collaboration skills, particularly as a representative in national multi-agency meetings, requiring strategic decisions.

Desirable skills

• The ability to speak Welsh is always welcomed. In the event that candidates are tied on scores, the ability to speak Welsh may be used as a tiebreaker. It will not be used as part of the selection criteria for appointment in any other circumstances.

Webinar event

We will be holding a webinar event to let you know more about this role. This will take place on 16/06/2026 between 3pm and 4pm.

463875 - Grade 7 Senior Operational Leader - Wales

Please follow the link to register for the session. ** If the webinar page does not open, please check that pop-ups are enabled on your browser**. Those who attend may be contacted following the event for evaluation purposes to improve our service.