About the job

Job summary

The CCO will be one of four members of the SFO’s Executive Team, making cross-cutting organisational decisions on a daily basis. These decisions include:

1. Critical organisation-wide decisions to shape the strategic direction of the SFO;
2. Strategic decisions relating to high risk casework;
3. Shaping an ongoing programme of change across the SFO;
4. Organisational communications strategies.

The CCO will shape the strategic direction of the SFO through:

1. Being an executive member of the SFO Board;
2. Working constructively with ministers and officials in the Attorney General’s office and across a range of different departments, and with key policy stakeholders including politicians and those able to influence decision makers to the SFO’s benefit;
3. Leading and shaping, in conjunction with the Director, General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer, the strategic stakeholder engagement and influencing of domestic and international law enforcement, prosecution, and Civil Service partners.

The CCO will be responsible and accountable for driving the delivery of a range of corporate services and acting as a catalyst and sponsor for change and new initiatives, including using technology to drive SFO efficiency and outputs. The CCO will lead on engagement with HM Treasury and any Spending Review as well as ensuring that the SFO operates within its financial settlement, that it complies with all relevant statutory and other requirements, and delivers optimum value for money. The CCO reports to the Director and may on occasion be required to deputise for him. The CCO acts as the SFO’s Temporary Acting Accounting Officer.

If you are interested in this role and would like an informal conversation before applying, please contact elizabethcampion@pageexecutive.com or Jessicacameron@pageexecutive.com.

Job description

As the Chief Capability Officer you will be responsible for:

• Effectively influencing external stakeholders across Government and the wider public and private sectors in support of SFO corporate objectives and reputational standing, where effective and persuasive engagement with the AGO, HM Treasury and policy departments will be critical;
• Providing oversight of the creation and implementation of the SFO’s 5 year strategy and 1 year Business Plan, empowering the whole Senior Leadership Team to deliver them via their teams;
• Leading the enabling functions – these are currently IT, Finance, HR, Commercial and Facilities, Chief Investigators Office, Strategy and Change, - to deliver for the organisation including line management of relevant Senior Civil Servant (SCS1) direct reports who lead these functions;
• Providing strategic oversight and review of the SFO’s financial strategy;
• Ensuring appropriate corporate governance arrangements for the organisation are in place and adequately supported, including ensuring appropriate assurance mechanisms and policies for meeting its obligations on data protection, departmental security, freedom of information, and public and parliamentary correspondence;
• Leading the development of policy positions and legislative asks on behalf of the organisation and overseeing communication and engagement strategies to deliver these;
• Acting as a senior advocate for the organisation, increasing understanding of and confidence in our work;
• Providing oversight of the effective delivery of the SFO’s programmes and projects, including setting future priorities and chairing a number of Committees.

Person specification

See above and attached Candidate Pack.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £97,000, Serious Fraud Office contributes £26,190 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

Civil Service recruitment processes are regulated by the Civil Service Commission, and we follow clear guidelines to ensure that our recruitment is fair and open.  

We expect the process for this role to be as follows:

• A Statement of Suitability of no more than 1000 words explaining how you consider your skills and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with references clearly linked to the essential experience criteria on page 9 of the candidate pack.
• A supporting CV outlining your career history and qualifications. 

Shortlisting will take place from 7th June 2024. It will not be possible to provide feedback to applicants who are unsuccessful at the application stage.

• A staff engagement exercise, which involves: 
  • Shortlisted candidates completing an online psychometric assessment to identify strengths and potential areas for development in relation to the role
  • Shortlisted candidates leading a discussion with a group of staff of varying grades and professions that represent key business areas the post-holder will need to engage with regularly. This will take place week commencing 17th June 2024. 
  • The staff engagement exercises will not result in a pass or fail decision. They are designed to support the panel's decision-making, and staff feedback from this exercise will inform questioning at the formal interview panel.
• Final interview week commencing 24th June 2024. A face to face interview exploring behaviours and experience in more depth. The interview panel will be chaired by Christopher Pilgrim, Civil Service Commissioner, and will include Nick Ephgrave, SFO Director.

The closing date for CV's and Statements of Suitability is 12:00pm (midday), Friday 10th May 2024.

Applications received after this time will not be considered.

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 developed vetting (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.