About the job

Job summary

The Grants, Risk, Assurance and Fraud team - or GRAFT - is a small, diverse and friendly team of experts that sits within the Finance Directorate in DCMS and was created to provide advice and guidance to ensure the Department and it’s public bodies spend money and manage their risks wisely. 

The assurance team work closely with other professional experts within the department such as governance, project delivery, risk management, commercial and finance to support our policy and delivery teams to provide assurance to the Permanent Secretary and DCMS senior management over the adequacy and effectiveness of our internal control framework.  

The assurance team also manages the relationship with both internal (GIAA) and National Audit Office value-for-money auditors, and supports functional leads to be compliant with the government functional standards.  

Job description

As part of GRAFT, you will be reporting directly to the Senior Assurance Manager.

Some of your responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

• Engage with senior managers and develop assurance maps.
• Engage with senior managers in the annual directors assurance reviews.
• Develop and maintain effective relationships with the internal audit provider, and support the senior assurance manager to manage the service contract with that provider.
• Engage with functional leads to support them in assessing compliance to functional standards.

• Support senior management in managing the relationship with National Audit Office, including facilitating the progress of VfM audits and clearance of reports. 

• Work with Private Office to facilitate the department through PAC hearings including hosting of mock panel sessions.

• Undertake ad-hoc assignments and projects, as needed, to support non-assurance parts of GRAFT.

Person specification

The ideal candidate would have the following key skills and experience:

Essential Requirements:

• An understanding, gained through working experience, of the principles of the 3 lines of assurance and mapping assurance sources. (Technical Skills)
• Proven ability to work with senior leaders to deliver change.
• Proven ability to work as part of a team delivering at pace in a fast-moving environment.
• Be an excellent communicator, able to explain complex ideas both verbally and written at all levels.
• Proven ability to develop and manage diverse stakeholders and their needs.

Desirable Skills:

• Experience of working in an assurance / internal audit capacity as part of a 3 lines of defence risk model.
• An understanding of the Orange Book Part II - Risk Control Framework.
• An understanding of the role of the National Audit Office. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,758, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £10,194 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, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

To apply for this post, please send us the following documents no later than 23:55 on 21st February to Robertson Bell – DCMS@robertsonbell.co.uk:

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 3 x A4 pages. 
• A Statement of Suitability (max 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed.

For the shortlist, we will assess your experience and select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

Should you encounter any issues with your online application please get in touch with: DCMS@robertsonbell.co.uk.

The interview process will assess behaviours, strengths and technical skills.  We may potentially include a presentation.

The behaviours to be tested at interview are:

• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

You will not be made aware of the strengths being assessed prior to your interview. 

Technical Skills will assess your knowledge of the principles of the 3 lines of assurance and mapping assurance sources.

As part of your interview, you may be asked to deliver a short oral presentation. Full details of this, including the topic, and whether or not you will need to use visual aids, will be sent to you prior to your interview. 

Your interview will take place remotely via GoogleMeets.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). 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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission. 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.