Director of Digital, Data & Technology

Save the Children UK is part of a global movement and works to ensure every child survives, learns, and is protected, delivering life-changing impact across the UK. As one of the most recognisable charities in the UK with over 600,000 supporters, we’ve fought for children in this country since our establishment in 1919. We support children to transform their lives by putting their rights at the core of all our work, and are committed to making a positive, lasting difference for children.

At the heart of this mission, our Digital, Data and Technology function powers the systems, data and platforms that enable impact at scale across programmes, partners and internal operations. As part of a new strategy, Save the Children UK is entering a new phase in the evolution of its DDaT function. Our newly designed Director of DDaT role will lead this next stage of development, with a clear focus on stabilising a demand-led technology environment, strengthening core foundations, and resetting the long-term digital and technology strategy.

This is a critical turning point for our organisation, and your success in post will ensure that this newly designed role sits at a critical turning point for the organisation and has been shaped to reflect current organisational priorities: ensuring DDaT is fully aligned to mission delivery; operating with the right level of resilience and capability of a best-in-class DDaT function and positioned to support future transformation across our organisation

• Provide strategic leadership for DDaT, stabilising the environment while rebuilding capability, morale, trust and delivery confidence; act as a trusted advisor to Executive and Board, translating technical complexity into clear business insight; and build stakeholder confidence through visible leadership and consistent delivery of value from digital investment;
• Lead and develop the DDaT team, fostering a high-performing culture of accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement; and build alignment across Save the Children UK and the wider international movement through strong stakeholder engagement and digital champions;
• Define and deliver a coherent technology strategy and road map aligned to organisational priorities, translating these into clear, practical digital, data and technology delivery plans;
• Develop compelling business cases for change, securing investment and stakeholder commitment for complex digital, data and technology transformation programmes;
• Lead the delivery of strategic DDaT transformation initiatives, aligning technology investment with business priorities to improve service outcomes, efficiency and organisational resilience, and delivering measurable organisational and mission impact;
• Build organisational and systems capability for future digital transformation, establishing scalable technology platforms, modern architectures and sustainable operating models;
• Provide technical leadership across enterprise architecture, service management, platforms, data and systems change; strengthen governance, operational discipline and service management standards; and oversee systems, suppliers, integrations and technical debt to ensure resilience, performance and value for money;
• Lead the development of data maturity, strengthening governance, foundations and insight capability to enable evidence-based decision-making across strategy, operations and service delivery;
• Strengthen cybersecurity, risk management, governance and compliance across all digital and technology services; enable safe adoption of emerging technologies (including AI); and drive simplification, standardisation and optimisation of business processes to improve efficiency and service effectiveness;
• Embed user-centred, service-led design and lead and advocate organisational change and adoption to ensure digital, data and technology investments are successfully embedded and deliver sustained benefits, supported by clear benefits realisation and value measurement.

This is a rare opportunity to both fix the foundations and shape the future, combining immediate stabilisation of core services with long-term transformation that directly improves outcomes for children. If you are a calm, credible and experienced DDaT leader who thrives in complex environments and wants to combine immediate impact with long-term transformation, this is a chance to undertake a role that genuinely matters.