Design, Improvement and Change Lead

Job Introduction

Salary: £72,436.28 and £4613.61 London Allowance if based in London per annum

Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract | 23 months

Location: Any of our main hubs - Birmingham, London, Cardiff, Manchester, Leeds, or Glasgow

Type of Working Arrangement: Blended approach of home and office-working is available

Hours: This is full-time role (37 hours per week)

British Transport Police (BTP) is the national police force for the rail network throughout Great Britain. We are the ‘Guardians of the Railway,’ putting passenger safety at the heart of what we do. Our values are simply: We Care, We Do the Right Thing, We Strive to Be Better Every Day, We Are One BTP, and We Are Proud to Protect. Join us and help create an environment where we can all be our best every day.

The Opportunity:

British Transport Police is bringing together its design, improvement and business change capability under one senior lead — a deliberate decision to strengthen how the organisation improves, prioritises and adapts in an increasingly complex and resource‑constrained environment.

We are seeking an experienced Design, Improvement and Change Lead to join our senior Strategy & Transformation team on a fixed‑term basis.

This role is not about delivering every change personally, nor about leading innovation programmes. It is about creating the conditions for effective, well‑adopted and value‑driven change across the Force — ensuring that limited time, funding and capability are focused on the activity that delivers the greatest operational and public benefit.

You will play a central role in ensuring that improvement and change activity is clearly linked to the Force Strategy and blueprint, and that the benefits of change are realised, sustained and demonstrable.

What you'll be doing:

In this role, you will:

• Lead and develop an integrated Design, Improvement and Change function with a clear purpose, operating model and service offer 
• Ensure the function is visible, credible and consistently utilised across the Force, with senior leaders understanding when and how to engage it 
• Work with services to align design, improvement and change activity to the delivery of the Force Strategy and blueprint 
• Strengthen how change and improvement activity is commissioned, prioritised and governed, focusing on outcomes, adoption and return on investment, not just delivery 
• Drive organisational design and continuous improvement activity that improves effectiveness, efficiency and financial sustainability 
• Build improvement and change capability across services, increasing ownership and reducing long‑term dependency on central teams 

The challenges of the role:

This is a senior, high‑impact role operating at pace in a complex policing environment. Key challenges include:

• Integrating distinct disciplines — bringing together organisational design, continuous improvement and business change into one coherent, trusted and high‑performing function 
• Establishing credibility and demand — building a service that is known, respected and actively sought out by leaders across the Force 
• Operating with finite capacity — balancing high demand and competing priorities while ensuring focus on activity that delivers the greatest strategic value 
• Driving adoption and value realisation — ensuring changes are embedded in practice and deliver measurable benefits, rather than stopping at implementation 
• Influencing without owning delivery — shaping outcomes through senior leaders and services rather than controlling all activity directly 
• Sustaining progress in a changing environment — delivering impact while national priorities, operational pressures and financial constraints continue to evolve 

Success will require sound judgement, resilience and the confidence to make and stand by difficult trade‑offs, while maintaining trust and credibility with senior stakeholders.

The anticipated impact of the role:

The Design, Improvement and Change Lead will significantly strengthen how British Transport Police delivers its Strategy and blueprint.  The anticipated impact includes:

• A single, recognised Force‑wide function providing clear, consistent support for design, improvement and change activity 
• Stronger alignment between strategic priorities and the change activity taking place across services 
• Improved adoption of change initiatives, with benefits clearly realised and sustained 
• More confident, evidence‑led decision‑making about where to invest limited resources 
• Increased organisational maturity, resilience and efficiency without reliance on growth in establishment 

Ultimately, success in this role will be demonstrated by a Force that is better equipped to improve, adapt and deliver value — while continuing to protect the travelling public and support frontline policing.

What you'll bring to the team:

We are looking for someone who brings credibility, judgement and pragmatism to the role.

Essential experience:

• Significant senior‑level experience delivering complex change in policing, the public sector or comparable environments 
• A strong track record of leading large‑scale, multi‑disciplinary change or improvement activity 
• Experience of organisational design and improvement interventions that deliver sustained, measurable outcomes 
• Proven experience of delivering efficiencies and demonstrating return on investment 
• Experience designing or operating commissioning, prioritisation or demand‑management frameworks 

Essential skills:

• Excellent leadership, stakeholder engagement and influencing skills 
• Clear, confident communication 
• The ability to present complex information concisely 
• Strong analytical capability and systems thinking 
• Resilience, self‑motivation and the ability to operate effectively under pressure and ambiguity

What we offer:

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing to 30 days after 5 years.
• Family-friendly policies, including up to 26 weeks paid maternity and adoption leave.
• Bespoke benefits platform and Blue Light Card access.
• Salary sacrifice options for cycles, home technology, gym membership, and electric vehicles.
• Access to the Transport Benevolent Fund for health, welfare, and financial support.
• Development opportunities, including fully funded apprenticeships.
• Excellent Pension scheme:  We offer the BTP GPP Police Staff Pension Scheme, administered by Royal London. This group personal pension plan is available to all police staff and is a defined contribution scheme. It provides the flexibility to vary your pension contributions from 4.4% to 12% of your salary. For more information, visit the Royal London dedicated pension page or email us at Pension-Queries@btp.police.uk. Note: If you are an existing member of Police Staff in the RPS, your pension will not be affected.

Further information about this vacancy can be found in the attached job description.

Vetting: Successful applicants will be required to pass Recruitment Vetting (3 years minimum UK residency required), including a full background and financial disclosure. For more information and Top Tips, please see attached document.

Medical: We’ll ask for relevant health and medical history details to support employee wellbeing.

References: We'll ask for references to cover the past 5 years.

Applications will be via an up-to-date CV and online application form, as part of this application please outline how your skills and experience demonstrate your suitability for the role.  AI can be a useful tool to spark ideas or help you organise your thoughts, but when it comes to your application, we want to hear from you, not an algorithm. What truly stands out to us are genuine stories, personal insights and the experiences that have shaped who you are. Authenticity matters - it helps us understand your motivations, your strengths and how you’ll contribute to our team. So, use AI if it helps you get started, but let your own voice lead the way.

Completed applications must be submitted by 11:59pm, Monday 27th April 2026.

Inclusion & Diversity: 

We are committed to building a workforce where everyone feels they belong. 

We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and lived experiences. Diversity strengthens our teams, improves our services and helps us better represent and support the communities we serve. 

We are proud to be an inclusive employer and strive to create a workplace that is fair, respectful and accessible to all. We actively work to challenge discrimination, remove barriers and ensure equity throughout our recruitment and employment practices. 

If you need any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment or selection process, please let us know - we are happy to support you. Your talent, your potential, and your unique perspective matter here. 

For more information on Inclusion or the Disability Confident Scheme, please click the links Inclusion & Diversity Disability Confident Scheme

Join Us:
Ready to take the next step in your career? At BTP, you’ll have the opportunity to grow, make a real impact, and be part of something extraordinary.

Find out why BTP could be the perfect fit for you - About Us - British Transport Police

Curious about what life at BTP is really like? Hear directly from our people and discover what makes working here so rewarding. Explore real stories on our blog: Our Stories - British Transport Police

For further information, please contact our Resourcing Team - RecruitmentTeam@btp.police.uk.

The above advert, Job description and Application process is available through the medium of Welsh - if requested.