About the job

Job summary

We welcome applications from every part of the community, and we don’t discriminate against any gender identity. We’re especially interested to hear from underrepresented groups in the DfT such as gender diverse, ethnic minority, LGBT+ and disabled candidates. 

• Do you have experience with data management?
• Are you ambitious, pro-active and a self motivated individual who is looking to make a role their own?
• Do you have excellent networking and communication skills?

 If so, we would love to hear from you!

Job description

The VCA is the UK’s Type Approval Authority and a global leader in its field. It is part of the Department for Transport, an executive Agency and has over 250 people worldwide.

As the agency has grown so has the demand for management information in terms of operational performance, financial and resource planning as well as the various supporting technical administration functions and the role of the Central Operations Administration Manager is to support the central operations team and deliver efficient and effective administrative procedures.

The job will comprise a range of administrative functions that will require working with colleagues across our international offices as well as diverse professional disciplines such as; DS&T, Central Quality, Finance and Statutory Service teams.

The goal is to ensure that local technical admin support activities are carried out efficiently and working with the respective chief engineers and heads of operations, exploit the various data resources to develop effective management information.

Predominantly an office-based position however a certain amount of business travel should be expected between the UK based offices and potentially some travel to VCA’s overseas offices.

The ideal candidate will have excellent communication and organisational skills, with previous administrative experience.

Your main duties will include but will not be limited to:

• Plan and coordinate administrative procedures and systems and devise ways to streamline and improve processes/work practices.
• Support financial reporting of VCA’s operations globally including, income, expenditure and forecasting.
• Planning and administration of Operations monthly business reports.
• Support the Operations ISO 17020/25 accreditation planning.
• Gathering information on resource management;
• Type Approval Engineer utilisation.
• Forecasting for workload vs capacity.
• Forecasting for income against budgets.
• Coaching of local Technical Support Admin teams.
• Planning and administration of Operations team brief contributions.
• Support recruitment administration activity in busy periods.

For further information, please see the attached Role Profile.

Person specification

About You 

We are looking for an individual with the below experience:

• Strong attention to detail when checking documentation and accuracy in data entry.
• Proactive in looking for improvements and preventing problems before they occur.
• Customer focused, needs an understanding of and commitment to quality and customer care.
• Ability to remain calm under pressure, prioritising where necessary.
• Good communication skills with a good telephone and e-mail manner.
• The ability to work as part of a team and on your own initiative with minimum supervision.
• Good IT skills – e.g. MS Word, Excel, Outlook and Adobe Acrobat; able to extract information from finance databases and approval registers.
• A team player with good leadership skills.
• Willingness to learn and develop new skills.

Additional Information

A minimum of 60% of your working week should be spent at your principal workplace. Depending on the nature role you are applying for e.g. engineering, this may require you to travel to other VCA sites as well as manufacturers. This official business contributes towards your overall workplace attendance.

It is expected that there will be travel between the UK based offices and potentially some travel to VCA’s overseas offices.

Development Opportunities

• Training opportunities to develop knowledge on:
• People management.
• Automotive type-approval and Certification.
• Finance/Business reporting systems.
• Operational Delivery Profession.
• Access to a broad network of e-Learning through the Civil Service.
• Opportunities to extend external training courses to develop knowledge if candidate can demonstrate the value created to the agency in doing so.

Benefits

Being part of the Civil Service entitles you to a wide range of fantastic benefits. Including flexible working arrangements, generous annual leave allowance and attractive pension options. More specific to VCA, employees can benefit from childcare vouchers and have access to cycle to work and Tech schemes.

If you would like to read more about VCA and the benefits of working for us, visit our Careers Website!

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.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

When considering applying please look at how your experience relates to the role, and within your CV and Personal Statement please provide detailed evidence of your experience of the following: 

Your personal statement will be assessed based on your experience in relation to its applicability of this role. The experience indicators being assessed are:

• Experience of managing and developing people within your team.
• Ability to challenge the accepted ways of working and implementing changes that deliver improvements.
• Experience of managing different views and positions between parties to achieve a resolution.
• Experience of collating complex data sets or reports to inform important decision.

Your personal statement should be a maximum of 1000 words and we recommend a minimum of 250 words for each of the bullet points above.

Sift and Interview

The sift is due to take place from 18th December 2023.

Interviews are likely to be held from 4th January 2023. 

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates. 

The selection process will be designed specifically for the role. As a result, your assessment will include:

• An Interview

This interview will be conducted face to face. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You’re encouraged to become familiar with the role profile, as you may be assessed against any of the criteria recorded within. 

The Department for Transport alongside other Government Departments recruit using Success Profiles. This means for each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate in order to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.  

For further information on Success Profiles visit our Careers website. 

Please note that VCA are unable to offer VISA sponsorship. 

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

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

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you cannot access the information on our website for any reason, please email DRGComms@dft.gov.uk for assistance.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit the How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

Pre-employment Checking

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. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

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.