About the job

Job summary

Are you enthusiastic, resilient, a good team player and motivated to make a difference to public policy and develop in a public sector setting? Then look at this exciting opportunity to join the Safer Greener Buildings Group, established in response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017. Our Group is ground-breaking, fast-paced and a great opportunity to develop yourself and widen your experience dealing with complex and challenging delivery, stakeholder, programme and policy activity. The aim of the Group is to deliver an ambitious system of reform, as well as a historic cladding remediation programme, with the aim of ensuring high-rise buildings are safe, and that residents feel safe in them, now and in the future. Our work involves a high level of Ministerial engagement, public and media interest.

We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work

Job description

We have two great roles on offer that sit in the centre of the work of the Group. The roles sits within the Building Performance Division, a happy, inclusive team with a strong focus on professional growth. We are seeking candidates to fill the two positions, if suitable you are encouraged to apply for both roles. 

Head of Net Zero Buildings Policy 

The Department for Levelling up Housing and Communities makes a significant contribution to the government’s work on net zero with a particular focus on people’s homes. The net zero buildings team leads the department’s engagement on all matters relating to net zero, liaising with teams across the department to develop coherent policy positions and collaborating with other government departments.

The team sits within the Building Performance Division which is part of the Safer Greener Buildings Group. The team’s work ranges from briefing ministers and answering parliamentary questions to working across government to introduce new policies. The work is wide ranging and complex, covering all aspects of climate change mitigation and adaption. The Head of Net Zero Buildings Policy leads a team of five in a fast-paced role which combines day-to-day ministerial business with longer term projects to develop new policies. This is a demanding leadership position which requires collaboration with net zero and climate change colleagues throughout government.

• Lead and manage a team of 5 policy officials
• Act as the department’s primary lead for matters relating to net zero buildings, climate change and adaptation
• Provide advice relating to departmental and pan-government net zero and climate change policies to ministers and senior officials
• Coordinate and supervise the answering of parliamentary questions relating to departmental net zero policies
• Liaison with other government departments and external stakeholders on matters relating to net zero, climate change and adaptation
• Provide assurance to ministers relating to the relevance, appropriateness and effectiveness of departmental net zero policies

Head of Building Assurance

The Department for Levelling up Housing and Communities is responsible for setting and monitoring standards for our new homes and buildings. These standards are set out in the Building Regulations framework. The Building Assurance team lead on government policies relating to all aspects of these regulations and sits within the Safer Greener Buildings Group.

The team’s work ranges from briefing ministers and answering parliamentary questions to working with the Building Safety Regulator to introduce new or amended regulations or guidance. The regulations cover all aspects of construction including subjects such as fire and structural safety, ventilation, water usage and accessibility. The Head of Building Assurance leads a team of eight within the Building Performance division. This is a fast-paced role which combines day-to-day ministerial business with longer term projects to introduce new legislation. This is a key leadership role which also involves dealing with a diverse range of external stakeholders who have an interest in our built environment.

• Lead and manage a team of 8 policy officials
• Act as the department’s primary lead for matters relating to building regulation policy
• Work with the Building Safety Regulator to provide technical advice about the building regulations to ministers and senior officials
• Coordinate and supervise the answering of parliamentary questions relating to building regulations
• Liaison with other government departments and external stakeholders on matters relating to building regulations
• Work with the Building Safety Regulator and other key stakeholders to provide assurance to ministers relating to the relevance, appropriateness and effectiveness of building regulations

Person specification

Essential criteria:

• Experience of leading and developing a team in a fast-paced and demanding environment
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to support ministerial briefings and parliamentary business
• Experience of how government policies are developed and managed
• Experience in net zero, climate change or adaptation policy areas (Head of Net Zero Buildings Policy) 
• Cross government experience and the ability to collaborate effectively with a diverse range of colleagues (Head of Net Zero Buildings Policy)
• Some experience of the construction sector and the building regulations would be helpful (Head of Building Assurance)
• Ability to deal diplomatically with a range of stakeholders, not all of whom will be supportive (Head of Building Assurance)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,599, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £16,631 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

We are for everyone

At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation. 

We would strongly recommend that applicants get in touch with the vacancy manager to find out more information about this role.

We are for everyone

CV and Cover Letter Declaration

We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment.

Please remove references to your:

• name/title
• educational institutions
• age
• gender
• email address
• postal address
• phone number
• nationality/immigration status

You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter.

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors.

At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing:

Behaviours 1: Communicating and Influencing 

Behaviours 2: Leadership

Experience 

In your CV and covering letter, please include: Which role you are applying for. 1. Head of Net Zero Buildings Policy or 2. Head of Building Assurance

Your covering letter should be no more than 1000 words referencing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description.
a. why you are interested in the role;
b. how you meet the essential skills and experience required

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of experience, behaviour and strength based questions as listed in the advert. The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

Behaviours:  Communicating and Influencing, Leadership, Making Effective Decisions 

In full the campaign will test the below Success Profile Elements:

Experience: Yes - Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description

Strength: Yes 

Behaviours: Communicating and Influencing, Leadership, Making Effective Decisions 

We do not consider direct CV applications – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs:

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign

Grade 6 salary

• The salary for this role is £61,599 (National).
• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges.
  
  

Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.  

Benefits

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018:

Any move to DLUHC from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.

For further information about the benefits available to DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack.

Location

• Leeds
• Manchester
• Wolverhampton
• Darlington*

*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service. 

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack.

At present, a minimum of 60% of your working time will be spent in your contractual office location. Requirements to attend other office locations or off-site meetings will be counted towards this. You will be asked to express a location preference during the application process. There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis, if you are successful for the role.

Sift and Interview dates
Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 18/03/2024 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.

Reserve List

In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the DLUHC candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules

Candidate Pack Information

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information.

Internal Fraud Database

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned.The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.

For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.