Are you driven to turn ideas into impact? As Customer Innovation Lead at the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), you will play a key role in shaping how we deliver smarter, more effective services for farmers, land managers and rural communities. The RPA is an executive agency of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). We deliver over £2 billion in payments each year to farmers, traders and landowners across England, supporting sustainable agriculture and thriving rural communities. We are seeking an experienced and inspiring Operational Delivery leader to drive the successful delivery of key schemes and services across our Operational Delivery teams within the Service Delivery directorate. You will be accountable for performance, ensuring high‑quality service delivery to tight deadlines, meeting KPIs, and championing a culture of continuous improvement. You will play a pivotal role in securing excellent outcomes for our customers, working collaboratively with colleagues across the team and wider Agency to drive innovation and support the delivery of operational commitments. Our 5-year strategy sets out our ambition to modernise delivery by adopting digital solutions and operating models that streamline customer journeys. This will support customers to get it right first time and provide greater self-serve opportunities. Our ambition to develop easy-to-use, tailored services with self-serve options, harnessing modern technology. We will streamline customer journeys through a whole farm approach, providing consistent, tailored support. These changes will enable our people to spend more time on priority, impact focused activities. Responsibilities Develop and deliver plans and activities that support wider strategic priorities, clearly communicating and influencing to help shape future direction Champion innovation across services, encouraging the use of new technologies and drawing on best practice from across government and industry Use customer insight and evidence to shape service improvements and enhance the overall service offer Lead confidently through ambiguity and change, supporting teams to adapt and deliver at pace Provide senior leadership across geographically dispersed teams working across multiple Service Delivery business areas Create an empowering, inclusive, and high‑performing culture through effective leadership, coaching, and people development Travel regularly to engage with and support dispersed teams and stakeholders across locations Lead on people management and HR responsibilities at team, directorate and agency level Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme Disability Confident About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident .