Defence Digital Foundry

The Foundry is an alliance of teams which provides digital services to help people in Defence get things done.

What the Foundry does

The Foundry provides user-facing digital services, enabling tools and platforms to help teams across Defence deliver better and faster.

We are building an effective and scaled software delivery organisation that exploits modern ways of working.

Our mission is to provide strategic advantage and capability for Defence through rapid and effective software delivery, based on clear prioritisation and agile practices.

Our purpose is to drive business and battlespace outcomes that are enabled by software delivery and data exploitation.

We will achieve our vision through a federated capability that harnesses the power of Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) talent and techniques to maximise the UK’s strategic agility in an era of persistent threat and global competition.

How we work

With the digital teams of the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force and wider supporting Ministry of Defence (MOD) teams such as Defence Equipment and Support Digital, the Foundry pioneers new ways to exploit Defence’s data. This includes how to harness artificial intelligence and other game-changing technologies.

The Foundry will make it easier to scale new ideas across Defence and meet users’ needs.

We’ll achieve this through:

  • digital services and enabling platforms which are user-centric and Secure by Design
  • empowering multidisciplinary teams, sharing tools and patterns
  • leveraging the best of industry’s techniques and technology

What the Foundry offers

The Foundry is rapidly developing what we offer to users, sponsors and delivery teams in Defence.

We provide:

  • the ability to build user-facing digital services, with various projects for MOD and UK Armed Forces users being developed
  • common low-code platforms, which make it easy for delivery teams across Defence to build and deploy business apps at scale
  • a software development platform for delivery teams to develop and deploy their apps, including appropriate security assurance
  • a Defence Data and Analytics Platform, with multiple defence use-cases in production or development, including those which exploit Machine Learning
  • access to digital expertise and support on recruitment and development of skilled people
  • a home for cross-cutting communities for digital practitioners, giving these disciplines a place to grow, learn and share
  • teams and functions with help to quickly get what they need

You can find out more about what the Foundry is doing on the Defence Digital blog.

Working in the Foundry

We are seeking flexible, capable people who can quickly bring value to a mutually supportive team.

You’ll be taking on an exciting and demanding role, working alongside military and civilian personnel to make a real difference for Defence users, supporting 21st century military operations and solving critical problems.

We recruit through Civil Service Jobs. Our digital delivery roles are recruited against the Digital, Data and Technology Profession Capability Framework. We also employ people in other roles such as leadership, programme management, finance, commercial and business support.

The Foundry is a part of Defence Digital, which works on some of our leading IT projects and programmes, supporting the UK Armed Forces in current and future operations.

Defence Digital provides digital and technology services to our armed forces, ensuring they can operate securely by radio, satellite and the internet. Operating at scale, with an annual budget of more than £2 billion and a diverse team of 2,500 colleagues, we’re aiming to make our armed forces some of the most technologically advanced in the world.

The structure of the Foundry

The Foundry is split into:

  • Software products - teams providing user-facing digital products
  • Digital integration services - teams providing common underpinning platforms to enable delivery at scale and pace
  • Technology and futures - technical leadership across the Foundry

The Foundry also supports the Defence Artificial Intelligence Centre (DAIC), which aims to accelerate the use of artificial intelligence to achieve strategic defence outcomes.

You can find out more about the Foundry and how to build secure digital services.

More information

The Digital Strategy for Defence outlines how the Defence Digital Function will enable access to data through a secure, singular, modern Digital Backbone.

The Defence Artificial Intelligence Strategy outlines the UK MOD’s vision to become, in terms of AI, the world’s most effective, efficient, trusted and influential defence organisation for our size.

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