Following Melville's departure from Gloucester Rugby in 2005 Ryan was appointed to the head coach role, which he held through the 2008–09 season.
However, Ryan stated that he was committed to his role at Gloucester Rugby and had not considered leaving as he believed that he had not yet finished his work at the club.
On 17 April 2013, Dean Ryan was appointed director of rugby at Worcester Warriors, replacing Richard Hill.
Warriors achieved promotion back to the Premiership at their first attempt, beating Bristol in the playoffs thanks to a last minute Chris Pennell try and Ryan Lamb conversion.
The club made a number of high-profile signings in Francois Hougaard, Donncha O'Callaghan and Wynand Olivier and finished the season in 10th position.
In August 2016 he joined the Rugby Football Union (RFU) as England’s Head Of International Player Development.
His remit included working closely with academies and national-team coaches to share best practice and consistency from the Under 16 age group going through to the senior team.