Strategy Lead - SC Cleared

Digital Employee Experience Strategy Lead

📍 Location: Reading (Hybrid - 2-3 days on-site per week)
📅 Contract: 6-Month Rolling Contract
💷 Rate: £95-£104 per hour (Inside IR35)
🔒 Clearance: Active SC Clearance (Essential)

The Opportunity

We're looking for an experienced Digital Employee Experience Strategy Lead to define and deliver an enterprise-wide Digital Employee Experience (DEX) strategy within a secure Defence environment.

This is a strategic consultancy role focused on shaping how technology, processes, data and support services come together to create a productive, secure and engaging employee experience. You'll work closely with Digital, Security, HR, Communications and Business stakeholders to establish a future-state vision, define governance and deliver a transformation roadmap aligned with business growth and operational excellence.

Key Responsibilities

Lead the assessment of the current Digital Employee Experience across the employee lifecycle, including Joiners, Movers and Leavers (JML), collaboration, learning and productivity.
Review existing platforms including Microsoft 365, Teams, SharePoint, ServiceNow, Power Platform, SAP and Identity & Access Management.
Identify pain points and opportunities to improve productivity, engagement and service quality.
Benchmark organisational maturity against recognised Digital Employee Experience frameworks and industry best practice.
Develop an enterprise-wide Digital Employee Experience Strategy, including vision, principles, governance, operating model and success measures.
Design the future-state Digital Employee Experience architecture and service model.
Produce a prioritised roadmap covering short, medium and long-term transformation initiatives.
Work collaboratively across IT, HR, Security and Business functions to drive strategic change.
Champion employee-centred design and continuous improvement.

Deliverables

You'll be responsible for delivering:

Current State Assessment Report
Employee journey mapping
Digital platform and service assessment
Maturity benchmarking
Digital Employee Experience Strategy
Future-state operating model and governance framework
Experience architecture and capability map
Prioritised transformation roadmap (0-6, 6-18 and 18-36 months)

Essential Experience

You'll have demonstrable experience of:

Defining and delivering enterprise-wide Digital Employee Experience or Digital Workplace strategies.
Leading digital workplace transformation programmes within large, complex organisations.
Delivering cross-functional initiatives across IT, HR, Security, Service Management and Business functions.
Implementing and optimising Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams and enterprise collaboration platforms.
Establishing governance, standards and strategic roadmaps for digital workplace transformation.
Applying employee-centred design and service design principles.
Influencing senior stakeholders and driving strategic change.

Essential Requirements

Active SC Clearance (mandatory).
Proven experience delivering within UK Defence and/or Aerospace environments.
Experience supporting MOD, Defence Digital or other highly secure organisations.
Ability to work 2-3 days per week on-site in Reading.

Contract Details

6-month rolling contract
£95-£104 per hour
Inside IR35
Hybrid working (2-3 days per week on-site in Reading)
Only candidates based in UK and eligible to work in UK are allowed