About the job

Job summary

Do you have excellent communication skills?

Do you have an understanding of how people go through change?

Do you enjoy communicating change?

If so, we would love to hear from you!

Job description

The role reports to the Senior Communications Manager sitting within the business transformation programme. The post holder will work closely with the communications team and core programme team, and well as having to build strong relationships with individuals across the business up to board level.

As a key member of both the programme team and internal comms team, a significant proportion of their role will involve collaborating with other team members and business stakeholders to lead and implement change management activities.

This will have a significant impact on the agency as it will increase the positive reaction to the changes made by the programme. Therefore, increasing the successfulness of the changes implemented.

The postholder will have no financial management responsibilities.

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

• The Change and Communications Manager plays a key role in ensuring that the E-volve programme and its projects meet objectives on time and on budget by increasing employee adoption and usage.
• Focusing on the people side of change, the role involves preparing, supporting, and equipping VCA employees to adopt and use changes to business processes, systems and technology, job roles and more.
• The primary responsibility will be creating and implementing change management and communication strategies and plans that maximise employee adoption and usage and minimise resistance. The Change and Communications Manager will work to drive faster adoption, utilisation and greater proficiency of the changes that impact employees to increase benefit realisation and achievement of results and outcomes. This will be done by building relationships with staff across the business to drive every phase of the ADKAR change management methodology and provide a range of communications in different medium to staff and customers to help manage the change.

For further information, please see the attached Role Profile

Person specification

About You

We are looking for an individual with the below experience:

• Previous experience of delivering organisational change involving changes to people, processes, technology, structure, behaviour, and new ways of working.
• A solid understanding of how people go through a change and the change process – experience with Prosci ADKAR model is preferred, although training will be provided.
• Experience of analysing stakeholder groups and driving stakeholder engagement and management to support the programme.
• Exceptional communications skills – both written and verbal.
• Ability to create and articulate messages to a variety of audiences.
• Problem solving and root cause identification skills.
• Must be a team player and able to work collaboratively with and through others.
• Strong business acumen and understanding of organisational issues and challenges.
• Experience with large-scale, complex organisational change efforts.

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.

Occasional travel across the UK to visit VCA sites to support the wider team.

Development opportunities

If you fit the person profile and are interested in a new challenge, VCA would love the opportunity to develop you to become a vital part of our team. 

We could do this through:

• Colleague knowledge sharing.
• Access to a broad network of eLearning through the Civil Service.
• Opportunities to attend external training courses to develop knowledge if candidate can demonstrate the value created to the agency in doing so.
• Access to a range of external training courses and apprenticeships.
• Completing Prosci ADKAR model training.

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.

Benefits

VCA offer a range of benefits when joining the agency. These are:

• Up to 30 days annual leave a year plus 8 bank holidays.
• A highly competitive pension scheme.
• We offer a range of flexible working practices, such as, home working, part-time working and compressed hours.
• Free onsite parking for all employees.
• Family friendly policies to support maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption leave.
• Access to a range of Civil Service and Department for Transport network groups.
• Access to an Employee Assistance Program, supporting a range of well-being needs.
• Discounts on a range of products and service through our Edenred employee discount scheme.
• Death in Service lump sum payable to the nominated person of your choice.
• Free eye tests.

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.

Selection Process 

How to Apply  

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: 

• Previous experience of delivering organisational change involving changes to people, processes, technology, structure, behaviour, and new ways of working.
• Experience of analysing stakeholder groups and driving stakeholder engagement and management to support the programme.
• Strong business acumen and understanding of organisational issues and challenges.
• Familiarity with project management approaches, tools, and phases of the project lifecycle.
• Experience with large-scale, complex organisational change efforts.

Your personal statement should be a maximum of 1000 words.

Sift and Interview

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

Interviews are likely to be held from week commencing 1st 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.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

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.