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 UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government. 

We’re 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, you’ll be working with some of the world’s 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 nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need 

This role is in GDS’ multidisciplinary IDEA Unit, made up of data scientists, economists, and evaluation specialists. The team leads and supports analysis for the Digital Transformation Directorate, producing analysis that impacts departments across Government.  

Job description

As a Senior Digital and AI Evaluator in the Government Digital Service (GDS), you will play a key role in embedding evaluation across the lifecycle of digital and AI-enabled services. You will develop and deliver robust approaches to assessing performance, safety, transparency, and public value. This role sits at the heart of GDS’s expanding capability in impact and evaluation, ensuring that data and evidence are central to digital transformation. 

As a Senior Digital and AI Evaluator you’ll: 

• embed impact evaluation into design and delivery from the outset of AI and digital product development, ensuring evaluations align with government standards and are proportionate to risk and complexity
• develop and deliver evaluation strategies and theories of change, working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams to define success measures and learning objectives
• apply advanced evaluation techniques, including process, impact, and economic evaluation, experimentation, and quasi-experimental methods, to assess effectiveness and efficiency
• collect, assure, and analyse quantitative and qualitative data, integrating multiple sources to generate reliable and actionable insights
• communicate analysis and insight clearly and persuasively to senior stakeholders, translating complex findings into meaningful recommendations
• manage and assure evaluation quality, ensuring that data, methods, and outputs meet high analytical standards and comply with ethical and privacy requirements 
• support evaluation across government, helping teams adopt consistent and effective approaches to measuring digital and AI impact

Person specification

We’re interested in people who: 

• have a background in a relevant analytical discipline (economics, social or behavioural science, statistics, operational research, a related field, or relevant work experience)
• can demonstrate strong analytical and critical thinking skills, including the ability to evaluate digital services using some appropriate techniques including process evaluation, impact evaluation, ‘theory of change’, experimentation and economic evaluation, using quantitative or qualitative data
• ensure plans for monitoring and evaluation of products and services are appropriate and proportionate and influence stakeholders to secure resources for an evaluation project
• are experienced at setting up a system to get data ready for use, including specifying how data should be cleansed and prepared
• can communicate relevant, compelling insights using the most appropriate medium 
• can make complex recommendations at a tactical and strategic level 

Benefits

£56,850 - £68,570

The base salary of this grade is £61,620 for London and £56,850 for Bristol and Manchester

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for the King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

Any move to Government Digital Service 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 https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk 

Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home). 

Things you need to know

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

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• a 60 minute video interview which will feature a presentation, details of the presentation will be shared to invited candidates prior to the interview

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is: can demonstrate strong analytical and critical thinking skills, including the ability to evaluate digital services using some appropriate techniques including process evaluation, impact evaluation, ‘theory of change’, experimentation and economic evaluation, using quantitative or qualitative data

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• working together
• seeing the bigger picture
• communicating and influencing
• delivering at pace
• making effective decisions 

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework for the Senior Digital Evaluator role:

• evaluation delivery
• evaluation planning and strategy
• communicating analysis and insight
• quality assurance of data and analysis
• product and service monitoring
• data ethics and privacy 

Want to know more about who Government Digital and Data are? Click Here

Recruitment Timeline

Sift completion: 1st September 2026

Panel interviews: Starting from 8th September 2026

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

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 and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

Sponsorship

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

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

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.

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.

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).

Apply and further information

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 :gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Email :gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email :gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact gds-complaints@dsit.gov.uk in the first instance.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission by email: info@csc.gov.uk Or in writing: Civil Service Commission, Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ.

Apply now