Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework

Learn about the digital, data and technology roles in government, and the skills you need to do them.

Last updated 30 September 2026 — See all updates

Contents

How to use this framework

Anyone can use this framework to:

  • learn what the different digital and data roles do in government
  • understand what skills are needed at each role level

Professionals in Government Digital and Data can use this framework to:

  • identify skills that they can develop
  • assess their current skill levels in preparation for performance and development conversations
  • learn about the typical responsibilities and skills of their colleagues

Line managers and team leaders in government can use this framework to:

  • identify skill gaps in their teams and opportunities for development
  • inform development goals and conversations
  • forecast their organisation workforce needs, to make sure they have the right skills to achieve objectives

Hiring managers in government can use this framework to:

  • create effective and consistent job adverts
  • assess the suitability of a candidate during interview

Skills in this framework

Each role level (such as junior business analyst or senior business analyst) in this framework includes a list of required skills. Each skill is assigned one of 4 skill levels, reflecting the required proficiency: awareness, working, practitioner or expert.

As you progress from one role level to the next, the proficiency required for each skill will typically increase (other than in instances where leadership positions no longer require day-to-day use of the skill).

You can see the full list of skills and their definitions in the Skills A to Z.

Skill level definitions
Skill level definitions What the level means

Awareness

Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels.

You can:

  • describe the fundamentals of the skill
  • demonstrate basic knowledge of some of the skill's tools and techniques

Working

Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels.

You can:

  • apply the skill with some support
  • adopt the most appropriate tools and techniques

Practitioner

Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels.

You can:

  • apply the skill without support
  • determine and use the most appropriate tools and techniques
  • share knowledge and experience of the skill

Expert

Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels.

You can:

  • lead and guide a team or organisation in the skill's best practice
  • teach the skill's advanced tools and techniques

Skills for chief digital and data roles

Chief digital and data roles (such as chief technology officer or chief data officer) do not have role levels and so their skills do not have levels. Instead, each skill lists digital and data requirements together with examples of leadership needed to be effective in a Senior Civil Service role.

Job grades in this framework

Most levels of a role include one or two Civil Service job grades. These are the most common grades that the role level is performed at, based on government workforce data.

The grade displayed is not mandatory for jobs at that role level across government. You can learn more about Civil Service job grades in this framework.

Support

The Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework is maintained by the Government Digital Service.

If you have a question or need support with using the framework, email the Capability Framework team at digitaldatacapabilityframework@dsit.gov.uk.

You can also:

If you have a question about the wider Government Digital and Data profession, you can:

Capability assessments for Government Digital and Data professionals

Capability assessments for pay allowances are managed separately by each organisation. For support with your assessment, you will need to contact the internal team who manage the process for your organisation.

If you are implementing or managing the Government Digital and Data Pay Framework in your organisation, you can contact the Digital Pay and Reward team at GDS for support:

The name of this guidance changed on 1 December 2023. Previously its name was ‘Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Profession Capability Framework’. This change reflected the launch of the Government Digital and Data brand.

Architecture roles

Chief digital and data roles

Data roles

IT operations roles

Product and delivery roles

Quality assurance testing (QAT) roles

Software development roles

User-centred design roles

Further resources

Updates

Published 23 March 2017

Last updated 30 September 2026

30 September 2026

The domain name of the site has changed to better reflect the name for the profession and meet government standards for service domains. The site is now found at 'understand-digital-data-roles-skills.service.gov.uk' instead of 'ddat-capability-framework.service.gov.uk'.

28 August 2026

Agile coach has been added to the framework.

Business analyst has updated skills.

Business relationship manager has a new role level of 'head of business relationship management', and an updated lead level.

Data ethicist has been renamed 'data and artificial intelligence (AI) ethicist'. 2 new levels have been added to the role and all role level descriptions have been updated to reflect this change. Some skills required by this role have been updated so that the 2 new levels can require them.

The skills 'change, benefits and adoption analysis’ and 'coaching in an agile environment' have been added to the Skills A to Z.

The skill 'enterprise and business architecture (business analysis)' has been removed from the Skills A to Z.

10 skills have been updated to improve accuracy, clarity and consistency with the rest of the framework:

  • analysis and synthesis for data and AI ethics, previously 'analysis and synthesis (data ethics)'
  • applied social sciences
  • applied empathy and inclusivity, previously 'empathy and inclusivity'
  • business modelling
  • business and user acceptance testing, previously 'testing (business analysis)'
  • managing decisions and risk
  • data and AI ethics communication, previously 'communication (data ethics)
  • data and AI ethics product management, previously 'product ownership (data ethics)
  • ownership and initiative
  • user experience insight analysis, previously 'user experience analysis'

The most common Civil Service job grades included in 34 role level descriptions have been updated. These changes reflect the latest data on the most common grades for jobs at these role levels across government.

29 May 2026

Content designer has a new list of skills.

Data engineer has an updated list of skills.

The skill 'content management and architecture’ has been added to the Skills A to Z.

8 skills have been updated to improve accuracy, clarity or consistency with the rest of the framework:

  • data innovation
  • design communication
  • designing for everyone
  • designing strategically
  • designing together
  • evidence-based design
  • iterative design
  • leading design

5 skills have been removed from the Skills A to Z as they are no longer required by any role:

  • agile working (content design)
  • content concepts and prototyping
  • stakeholder relationship management (content design)
  • strategic thinking (content design)
  • user focus (content design)

28 November 2025

Business analyst has updated skills.

Data engineer has updated skills.

Test engineer has an updated role description and role level descriptions.

Test manager has an updated role description and role level descriptions.

The skill 'data compliance and security’ has been added to the Skills A to Z.

6 skills have been updated to improve accuracy, clarity and consistency with the rest of the framework:

  • business modelling
  • data development process management
  • data integration design
  • digital and data systems analysis, previously ‘systems analysis’
  • defining and managing user and business needs, previously ‘requirements definition and management’
  • programming and build (data and analytics engineering), previously ‘programming and build (data engineering)’

10 October 2025

Roadmap page published. This page explains what's been recently delivered, what the Capability Framework team is working on now, and what’s coming up next.

29 August 2025

Business analyst has updated skills.

Business relationship manager has updated skills, role description and role level description.

Chief digital and information officer has been added to the framework.

Data analyst has updated skills, role description and role level descriptions.

Quality assurance test analyst has updated role description and role level descriptions.

The skills 'context, problem and option analysis’, ‘delivering business impact through data’, ‘ensuring resilience of digital, data and technology (Senior Civil Service)’, ‘financial management for digital, data and technology (Senior Civil Service)’, ‘leading digital products and services (Senior Civil Service)’, ‘making strategic performance-led change (Senior Civil Service)’, ‘managing a data project’, ‘optimising technology and data architecture (Senior Civil Service)’ and ‘shaping the direction of organisational strategy through digital, data and technology (Senior Civil Service)’ have been added to the Skills A to Z.

The skills ‘project management’ and ‘business analysis’ have been removed from the Skills A to Z.

4 skills have been updated to improve accuracy, clarity and consistency with the rest of the framework: 'capability building for digital, data and technology (Senior Civil Service)’, ‘innovation in digital, data and technology (Senior Civil Service)’, ‘service focus’ and ‘strategic thinking’.

The most common Civil Service job grades for 20 role levels have been updated. These changes reflect the latest data on the most common grades for jobs at these role levels across government.

25 July 2025

Civil Service job grades page published. This page is linked from every role level to provide more information about the grades they include, for example, explaining that grades are not mandatory and how they are calculated.

Download framework content page published. It offers links to download CSV files containing role descriptions, skill descriptions and change notes.

30 May 2025

Business analyst has updated skills.

Data analyst has updated skills.

Digital evaluator has been added to the framework.

Quality assurance testing (QAT) analyst has been renamed quality assurance test analyst. All 4 role levels have been renamed to reflect this change. The role has updated skills.

Test engineer has updated skills. The role level 'tester (test engineer)' has been renamed associate test engineer.

Test manager has updated skills.

Service owner has an updated role description, role level description and skills.

The skills 'adapting to delivery methodologies’, ‘applying statistical and analytical tools and techniques’, ‘applying test types and techniques’, ‘data ethics and privacy’, ‘data preparation and linkage’, ‘designing and executing tests’, ‘developing code for analysis’, evaluation delivery’, ‘evaluation planning and strategy’, ‘leading performance and benefits’, ‘managing, reporting and resolving defects’, 'monitoring and evaluation across the product life cycle', ‘product and service monitoring’, ‘test and quality planning’ and ‘test engineering’ have been added to the Skills A to Z.

The skills ‘analysis and synthesis (data analyst)’, ‘business process testing’, ‘data quality assurance, validation and linkage’, ‘data regulation and ethics’, ‘ethics and privacy’, ‘ethics and privacy (data science)’, ‘functional testing’, ‘Government Digital and Data perspective’, ‘IT and mathematics’, ‘logical and creative thinking’, ‘non-functional testing’, ‘product ownership’, ‘statistical methods and data analysis’ and ‘technical breadth' have been removed from the Skills A to Z.

The skill ‘verification and validation of data and analysis' has been updated and renamed 'quality assurance of data and analysis'. This is to better reflect the requirements of the skill and for consistency across the framework.

8 skills have been updated to improve accuracy, clarity and consistency with the rest of the framework: 'business process improvement’, ‘communicating analysis and insight’, ‘data visualisation’, ‘financial ownership’, governance and assurance’, ‘operational management’, ‘test analysis’ and ‘quality assurance of data and analysis’.

28 February 2025

Product manager has an updated role description, role level descriptions and skills.

The skills 'applying user-centred insights', 'creating value for money', 'managing product outcomes', 'product leadership' and 'product management' have been added to the Skills A to Z.

The skills 'working within constraints' and 'stakeholder relationship management (business analyst)' have been removed from the Skills A to Z.

The skill 'life cycle perspective' has been renamed 'life cycle management'. This is to better reflect the requirements of the skill and for consistency across the framework.

6 skills have been updated to improve accuracy, clarity and consistency with the rest of the framework: 'Agile and Lean practices', 'communicating between the technical and non-technical', 'data management', 'life cycle management', 'strategic ownership' and 'stakeholder relationship management'.

Analytics engineer, business architect, digital portfolio manager, machine learning engineer and solution architect now display Civil Service job grades that reflect how each role level is commonly graded across government. This information is taken from the Digital and Data Workforce Planning Commission and is indicative only, different departments may use different grades.

30 November 2024

Graphic designer has updated skills.

Interaction designer has updated skills.

Service designer has updated skills.

The skills 'design communication', 'designing for everyone', 'designing strategically', 'designing together', 'evidence-based design', 'iterative design', and 'leading design' have been added to the Skills A to Z.

The skills 'coding and scripting (infrastructure engineer)', 'communication', 'community collaboration (front-end developer)', 'consultancy (business analysis)', 'data standards (data architect)', 'development process optimisation (management)', 'IT infrastructure (network architect)', 'problem resolution (data)', and 'systems integration (network architect)' have been merged with similar skills and removed from the Skills A to Z.

The skills 'digital perspective', 'evidence-and-context-based design', 'prototyping in code', 'tools and software' have been removed from the Skills A to Z as they are no longer required by any role.

Updated the content of 20 skills to improve accuracy, clarity and consistency with the rest of the framework: 'applied social sciences, (previously applied knowledge of social sciences)', 'asset and configuration management', 'availability and capacity management', 'coding and scripting', 'community collaboration', 'consultancy', 'cyber incident management (previously 'cyber incident strategy and management)', 'data engineering (previously data engineering and manipulation)', 'data standards', 'data visualisation', 'development process optimisation', 'information security', 'IT infrastructure', 'modern development standards (previously modern standards approach)', 'problem management', 'security technology', 'service management framework knowledge', 'IT service reporting (previously 'service reporting), 'service support', 'systems integration'.

22 October 2024

Data governance manager has had an error corrected in the indicative job grade displayed for the 'data governance manager' role level.

User researcher has had an error corrected in the skills required for the 'senior user researcher' role level.

7 October 2024

Chief data officer was added to the chief digital and data role group.

Chief information security officer was added to the chief digital and data role group

Chief technology officer was added to the chief digital and data role group.

Skills for Senior Civil Service roles have been added to the Skills A to Z.

How the first Senior Civil Service roles in the framework were developed (Government Digital and Data blog)

30 August 2024

Analytics engineer was added to the data role group.

Machine learning engineer was added to the data role group.

User researcher has updated skills.

The skills 'agile research practices', 'research management, leadership and assurance' and 'user-centred practice and advocacy' have been added to the Skills A to Z.

The skills 'society and technology', 'strategic insight' and 'user-centred and agile practices' have been removed from the Skills A to Z.

Updated the content of 13 skills to improve clarity and consistency with the rest of the framework: 'business modelling', 'business process improvement', 'business process testing', 'change management', 'continuity management', 'customer service management', 'data maturity', 'leadership and guidance (frontend developer)', 'metadata management', 'stakeholder relationship management', 'user research methods', 'web performance optimisation'.

31 May 2024

Enterprise architect has updated skills.

Solution architect has updated skills.

Technical architect has updated skills.

The skills 'making architectural decisions', 'strategy design' and 'technical design throughout the life cycle' have been added to the Skills A to Z. The 'enterprise and business architecture' skill has been renamed 'enterprise architecture'. The proficiency level descriptions for 'problem definition and shaping' and 'enterprise architecture' have been updated.

The skills 'communicating between the technical and non-technical (technical architect)', 'modern standards approach (frontend developer), 'problem management (data architect)', 'strategy', 'turning business problems into technical design' and 'understanding the whole context' have been removed from the Skills A to Z.

Indicative job grades for 17 roles have been updated according to the latest data on the most common grades for these roles across government.

28 February 2024

Digital portfolio manager was added to the product and delivery role group.

Solution architect was added to the architecture role group.

The skills 'architecture communication' and 'architect for the whole context' have been added to the Skills A to Z.

1 December 2023

Name of framework changed to ‘Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework’. References to ‘DDaT’ changed to ‘Government Digital and Data' across all pages. Name of skill 'DDaT perspective' changed to 'Government Digital and Data perspective'.

28 November 2023

Business architect was added to the architecture role group.

The new skill 'business architecture' was added to the Skills A to Z.

15 September 2023

The design of the Capability Framework has been significantly updated to improve its usability. The update includes new guidance pages and functionality, as well as changes to information architecture and content layouts.

How the DDaT Capability Framework has changed and why it was redesigned (Digital people blog)

31 July 2023

The technical role group was removed. The roles within it were moved into other role groups or removed from the DDaT Profession Capability Framework.

A new software development role group was added.

Development operations (DevOps) engineer was moved to the new software development role group.

Frontend developer was moved to the new software development role group.

Software developer was moved to the new software development role group.

Infrastructure engineer was moved to the IT operations role group.

Specialist infrastructure engineer was removed from the DDaT Profession Capability Framework.

Technical specialist architect was removed from the DDaT Profession Capability Framework.

A new architecture role group was added.

Data architect was moved to the new architecture role group.

Enterprise architect was moved to the new architecture role group.

Network architect was moved to the new architecture role group.

Security architect was moved to the new architecture role group.

Technical architect was moved to the new architecture role group.

31 March 2023

Data governance manager was added to the data role group.

Data architect was updated and moved from the technical to the data role group.

30 August 2022

Accessibility specialist was added to the user-centred design role group.

Data ethicist was added to the data role group.

Enterprise architect was added to the technical role group.

Business analyst has been fully refreshed.

Data scientist has been fully refreshed.

3 December 2020

Frontend developer was added to the technical role group.

7 January 2020

The content in the Digital, Data and Technology Profession Capability Framework has been restructured to make it easier to access the role descriptions and the skills associated with individual roles. Each role is now presented on one page, including all the levels and the skills.

How we restructured the framework to make it more user friendly (Digital people blog)

28 December 2018

Removed information about Civil Service Competencies as these will no longer be used after 6 January 2019.

23 March 2017

The Digital, Data and Technology Profession Capability Framework was first published.

Why and how the framework was originally developed (Digital people blog)