About the job

Job summary

Customer Services Group (CSG) brings together Asylum & Protection (A&P), Passports, Citizenship and Civil Registration (PCCR) which includes His Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO) and General Registry Office (GRO), Visas Status & Information (VSI) and Customer Operations Service Support (COSS).

As a major operational part of the Home Office, we play a vital role in supporting the economy and cultural life of the United Kingdom. 

The Customer Services Group comprises of two Directorates: The Asylum & Protection (A&P) Group and Visa’s, Information & Passports (VIP) Group.  

For more information about working for the Home Office, please visit Home Office Careers website. 

Asylum Support, Resettlement and Accommodation (ASRA) vision is to be a world-leading immigration service, working for a safe and prosperous UK. We will carry out our vision through the delivery of four strategic missions: to control migration, deliver world-class customer service, safeguard the vulnerable and their host communities and make Asylum & Protection Group a great place to work.    

Asylum is complex, political, and challenging, yet highly fascinating and an incredibly important area of operational delivery.  Cases often involve very vulnerable people with complex backgrounds, and the decisions made on people’s claims are life-changing for claimants and their families.  At the same time, scrutiny from Ministers, No.10, Parliament, the media, and stakeholder groups are immense.   

Job description

Reporting to an experienced programme director, each project director will be responsible for the successful performance of their assigned projects, including governance and benefits realisation, schedule and budget, commercial and procurement, and change and risk management. Leading their integrated project delivery teams to a successful outcome and be responsible for managing the projects' multiple complex stakeholders. Key accountabilities include

Project Management

• Accountability to the Programme Director for project delivery including creating and leading up to 2 separate projects to deliver the agreed outcomes within time, cost and scope constraints. 
• Management and leadership of their projects and the project teams. Provide effective leadership and management controls. Set project controls. Design the project structure and organisation appropriate to each stage. Set appropriate delivery methodologies. Manage effective transition between project phases. 
• Building and developing a bespoke Government Soft Landings approach to operational handover.  

Governance and Assurance

• Developing and drafting the business case, with input from specialists as necessary. 
• Supporting effective governance and decision making. Provide reporting and engage in mechanisms that hold the project to account for delivery. e.g. project boards, committees etc. 
• Realisation of benefits including delivering the agreed business case benefits and outcomes. Ensure an appropriate Benefits Realisation Strategy is in place, and monitor longer-term delivery of benefits against the business case. 
• Engaging with assurance reviews and support action on recommendations. Organise assurance processes such as gateway reviews, as required. 
• Managing change including ensuring effective change management processes are in place to agree and document changes to deliverables as agreed with stakeholders. Changes to scope, design costs, to prevent ‘scope creep’. 
• Managing risks and issues - including identifying and monitoring project risks and issues. Develop mitigating actions and escalate as appropriate. Identify and work with related projects to manage interdependencies. 

Resource Management

• Developing the budget and track delivery within budget focusing on Value for Money. 
• Identifying skill requirements, and deploying and developing resources.   
• Managing the team including providing support, guidance and coaching for the project team. Show commitment to personal development. Promote effective individual and team performance. 
• Controlling the project including cascade of vision and translating into delivery objectives for the team. Develop and maintain the project plan. Identify and set appropriate project controls. Manage performance and report progress to sponsors. 
• Managing complex stakeholders including identifying and managing stakeholder relationships and need for senior level support. Manage internal and external relationships as appropriate including local authority engagement.  

Person specification

The successful candidate will be suitably qualified, skilled and experienced, with recognition from an appropriate profession such as APM Chartered Project Professional (ChPP) or Fellow of the Association for Project Management (FAPM). They will have a proven track record in project delivery, with experience of delivering high value and complex projects preferably in the construction and property sectors. They will be an excellent leader and communicator with a genuine commitment to their professional development. 

They will be expert at building excellent working relationships at all levels and be a visible leader of people with the ability to get the best out of their staff and delivery partners, with a genuine commitment to their development and input. They may be required to take a leading role in a specific project if it is of sufficient size and complexity managing complex stakeholder engagement.  

The candidate will be expected to demonstrate: 

• A sound understanding of commercial and procurement strategies, change control.
• A good understanding of business case development.
• The confidence and knowledge to constructively challenge convention and make difficult decisions with consideration of others and their input.
• An understanding of RIBA’s Plan of Work and construction stages and the ability to align plans and activity accordingly, recognising benefits and risks to drive outcomes.
• Ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams, setting out commissionable activities for strategic delivery partners, managing variation processes and providing clear and direct instructions as required.
• Be an inspirational leader, prepared to make evidence-based decisions within your sphere of influence or present well balanced and measured evidence to allow decisions at committees or by a small stakeholder group.
• Confident at developing relationships with key complex stakeholders.

Essential Criteria

• Significant experience of delivering and being accountable for high-value construction and refurbishment projects. 
• A proven ability to manage project level finances, to be accountable for budget allocation, spend management and profiling and an ability to work within delegations and appropriate governance.  Manage project change and risks to budget accordingly. 
• Experience of leading teams - developing, guiding and demonstrating leadership through projects from commission through to business handover. 
• Significant experience of delivering high value and complex projects in a matrix capacity, drawing on the strengths of all parts of the team to deliver high quality outputs by guiding and supporting the team.  
• Experience and knowledge of business case development. 
• Have a proven track record of delivery across the full range of project disciplines, bringing leadership and innovation in your approach to resolving issues and conflict. 
• Significant experience of complex stakeholder management.  

Desirable Criteria

Qualifications and Professional Memberships   

The successful candidate will have attained or at least be working towards achievement of at least two of the following qualifications/ memberships: 

• Chartered professional qualification in an industry recognised body: ICE, RTPI, RICS, RIBA, CIOB and PMI 
• Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) Practitioner  
• Practitioner PRINCE2 Practitioner  
• Attendance at Project Leadership Programme or Major Projects Leadership Academy (for civil servants) 
• Chartered professional project qualification: ChPP or FAPM.  

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

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

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:   

• A CV detailing job history and skills.  
• A Statement of Suitability (personal statement) (Max Word Limit:750).

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

The Statement of Suitability (Personal Statement) should be aligned to demonstrate your skills and experience for the role and how you meet the Essential Criteria as detailed in the job description.

The sift will be held on the Personal Statement only. CVs will not be marked.

For guidance on how to construct your Personal Statement, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers. Links –Statement

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview which will be based on behaviour-based questions on all the behaviours on the advert and technical skills, see link below to Government Property Career Framework: 

2022-03-30 GPP Career Framework v13 CORRECTED (publishing.service.gov.uk) 

Sift and Interview dates

Sift is expected to take place week commencing 22nd January 2024. 

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 19th February 2024. 

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however these may change due to business needs.   You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

Interviews will be carried out via MS Teams. Candidates will be required to have access to:
• A laptop (personal or work) with a working webcam
• Good internet connection
• Skype for Business/Microsoft Teams

It is advisable to access your interview from a windows operating system laptop, desktop, phone or tablet as there is no guarantee that Microsoft Teams will work without issue on an Apple laptop, tablet or desktop.

Further Information

For meaningful checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years if the role requires CTC clearance, 5 years for SC clearance and 10 years for DV.  A lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. All applications are screened for plagiarism and copying and generating of examples/answers from internet sources including Artificial Intelligence. If any is detected the application may be withdrawn from the process. Further action, including disciplinary action, may be considered in such cases involving civil servants. Providing false or misleading information would be contrary to the core values of honesty and integrity expected of all Civil Servants.

Please note: If you are currently an agency member of staff working within the Home Office, a contractor or contingent worker you can only apply for roles that are advertised externally, i.e. outside the civil service. If you are eligible to apply for a role, you are required to select yourself as an external applicant and not internal when submitting your application on Civil Service jobs. This will prevent any delays in pre-employment checks should you become successful in being made an offer of employment after the Interview stage.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office.  Applicants can discuss any specific questions with the Vacancy Holder.

When completing your application you will have the opportunity to select your preferred location(s). Please ensure you select all locations you are interested in. Candidates who are successful at interview will be placed in order of merit per location and provisional job offers will be made in strict merit order per location preference.

Please ensure your profile on the CS Jobs portal is up to date and reflects your current status as a Civil Servant Inaccurate or out of date details will impact the onboarding process and may delay your start date if you’re successful.

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

Every day, Home Office civil servants do brilliant work to develop and deliver policies and services that affect the lives of people across the country and beyond. To do this effectively and fairly, the Home Office is committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best.

We are flexible, skilled, professional and diverse. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and area Disability Confident Leader. We are proud to be one of the most ethnically diverse departments in the civil service. We are a Social Mobility Foundation top 75 employer.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

For further information please see the attached notes for candidates which must be read before making an application.

Existing Civil Servants should note that some of the Home Office terms and conditions of employment have changed. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful in application and should refer to the notes for candidates for further details.

Transfer Terms: Voluntary.

If you are invited to an interview you will be required to  bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks.

Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Any move to the Home Office 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

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.

Feedback

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

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security 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

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.