About the job

Job summary

The Government Property Agency (GPA) exists to provide a single Civil Service estate managed for the benefit of departments. 

Creating the GPA in 2018 represented a change in the way that the Central Government Office estate is managed and the GPA mission is to deliver best-in-class property and workplace solutions across government. An Executive Agency of the Cabinet Office, it currently manages around 48% of the Government office estates, and has the aspiration to increase this significantly in the coming years. 

The GPA delivers a commercially driven approach to land and property asset management across the central government estate, ensuring that: 

• the Central Government Office estate is amongst the most efficient, effective and flexible in the world
• civil servants are working in fit for purpose accommodation that supports flexible, collaborative working and promotes productivity
• property risks are transferred away from departments so they can focus on their core business
• departments’ transformation plans are enabled, and
• the GPA is the place to be for UK’s leading professionals in estates, commercial, project management and beyond.

The primary vision of the GPA is to mirror a commercial property organisation by strengthening commercial incentives and implementing cross-government strategies; substantially more value can be realised from the central government general purpose estate than departments can deliver on their own. This will be done through a portfolio approach to property asset management, maximising returns and minimising waste through the identification and implementation of rationalisation opportunities. The outputs for Government will be transformative.

This is a hugely exciting opportunity to lead the organisation through a significant period of change. The GPA is a transformation agent for workplaces, workspaces and work practices. Working closely with local authorities and government departments, the GPA will help move Civil Service roles from London to towns and cities across the UK - in particular through the Whitehall Campus and Government Hubs programmes. 

Job description

Please refer to the Candidate briefing pack.

Person specification

Please refer to the Candidate briefing pack.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £220,000, Government Property Agency contributes £59,400 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

The recruitment process is being undertaken by Russell Reynolds Associates on behalf of the GPA and the advert link for their website is at the bottom of this page. Please submit your full application by email to responses@russellreynolds.com. Please quote the role title and assignment code P2311-161L in the subject heading of the email. All applications will be acknowledged. 

The closing date for applications is 23:59 on Sunday 18th February 2024.

Your submission should include: 

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
• A Statement of Suitability (no longer than two pages) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the person specification.
• A completed Diversity Questionnaire. We’re committed to implementing and monitoring our equality and diversity policies with the aim of recruiting, retaining and promoting staff regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation. Data will be reported anonymously, in an aggregate format, and will not be seen by anyone assessing your application. 

Please submit all documents so that the panel will have all the required information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification. 

• For this post, a person cannot be appointed if he or she has unspent criminal convictions or is subject to bankruptcy, or disqualification as a company director. There must be no employment restrictions, or limit on your permitted stay in the UK.
• Disability Confident candidates will be assessed against the same criteria.

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 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.