About the job

Job summary

The Department for Business and Trade has a unique opportunity to unleash the power of UK businesses, reform regulation to reduce burdens and unlock post-Brexit freedoms.

Let us tell you a little bit about the role… 

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) supports businesses to comply, invest, expand, and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country.

Our Content Operations team sits within the Content Design team and sets the standards and systems for managing the department’s content across 3 platforms: GOV.UK, great.gov.uk, and our intranet.

The Content Operations team is responsible for how content lifecycle is managed, making sure that content meets a user need, is up to date, and complies with the latest accessibility standards.

It also delivers insight into how well content is performing and acts on feedback. People across User-Centred Design (UCD) use this to innovate, improve and provide a better service for our users.

We’re looking for a Lead Content Designer to head up the Content Operations team and to work with Design and User Research Leads to set up UCD Operations.

You’ll be a skilled Content Designer with leadership skills and a systems-thinking approach. You will know how to manage people and projects with the goal of making our content accurate, clear, and written with the user in mind.

You will have the confidence to champion high-quality content with a wide variety of stakeholders, and the ability to design workflow to support it.

A talented communicator, you should feel comfortable managing relationships between your team and other teams to ensure consistency and share good practice.

You’ll help colleagues and stakeholders in other disciplines understand what content design is, why it’s important, and how to work with content designers.

You’ll make evidence-based decisions whether working reactively or proactively. And you’ll employ a systems-thinking approach to your work generally.

Find out about life at DBT, our benefits and meet the team by watching our recruitment video, visiting our website or reading our blog!

Job description

Responsibilities

• creating a robust information environment so you can improve the efficiency, measurable effectiveness, and assured quality of publishing user-centred content on 3 platforms
• taking a strategic view on how the department maintains and delivers content to support services and policy outcomes
• devising systems that apply to content delivered inside or outside time-bound delivery teams, or by devolved publishers
• advocating for Content Operations and how to apply it in a politically sensitive, enterprise-level organisation
• providing input into the set-up of User-Centred Design Operations in the department
• oversight of a Content Design Live Services team, who use GOV.UK’s Whitehall content management system and Wagtail content management systems to update content
• working with a wide range of stakeholders employing both empathy to understand their needs and diplomacy to persuade them of different approaches

This role is available in seven UK locations and can only be worked from within the UK, not overseas. If your office location is London, you will be eligible to receive London weighting. DBT employees work in a hybrid pattern, spending 2-3 days a week (pro rata) in the office on average. Changes to these working arrangements are available in certain circumstances but must be agreed with the vacancy manager and in line with the requirements of the role and can only be discussed with successful candidates. Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DBT, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

Person specification

Essential Skills and Experience

You will need to have demonstrable skills and experience of:

• managing high-quality, user-centred content
• reviewing and improving processes to champion better ways of working and efficiencies within a busy team
• problem-solving and trying new ideas with input from other professions
• managing multiple projects and adapting to changing priorities and deadlines
• using analytics, customer insight, and user research to evaluate and improve content
• establishing processes and directing documentation concerning knowledge information management
• managing and mentoring team members, providing them with guidance, training and constructive feedback

 Desirable Skills and Experience 

These are not necessary but would be ideal if you:

• experience of working in Content Operations or UCD Operations 
• business-to-business content design
• working in an international organisation

 Personal Attributes and Skills

• able to lead and inspire to build a positive team culture
• innovative, seeking out opportunities to learn, and creating effective change at scale
• collaborative and flexible in your leadership style and open to new ideas
• approachable with the confidence to challenge assumptions and explore the hypothetical
• passionate about making complex language and processes easy to understand
• a champion for content design, creating accessible and inclusive content
• able to use sound judgement, evidence, and knowledge to arrive at accurate, professional decisions
• able to take responsibility and accountability for quality outcomes
• comfortable working in a fast-paced environment

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £52,000, Department for Business and Trade contributes £14,040 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

How to Apply 

Unless otherwise specified, all interviews are currently being held online.

Please ensure that you check your emails regularly as all updates from us will be sent to you this way. 

Sift will take place week commencing: 15th April 2024 

Interviews will take place: 25th & 26th April 2024 

Please notes these dates are indicative and may be subject to change. As part of the application process you will be asked to upload a CV and complete a personal statement outlining your experience, skills and fit for the role.

At the sift stage for this role, we will assess your CV and personal statement against the essential skills and experience listed above, so please ensure these documents evidence these criteria. Your personal statement must be a maximum of 600 words. You can use bullet points and subheadings if you prefer. As well as evidencing the criteria you should also touch upon why you're interested in DBT and in this role.  

If we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct a ‘short sift’ and read one element of your application. For this campaign a short sift would be conducted based on: CV only  

How We Interview

At the interview stage for this role, you will be asked to demonstrate relevant Technical Skills and Behaviours from the Success Profiles framework. A role-specific list of these can be found below.Applicants successful to interview stage will be asked to deliver a presentation and will be informed on the topic following the sift.There will be a technical element within the interview where you will be asked questions about your specific professional skills and knowledge relating directly to the job role.We will assess you against these Technical Skills during this process:

• Agile working (content)
• Content management, leadership and assurance 
• Data-informed decision making
• Stakeholder relationship management
• User-focus (content design)

The competencies we will assess you against have been developed from the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) capability framework.  

We will also assess you against the following Behaviours:

• leadership
• seeing the bigger picture
• changing and improving

Reserve List

Appointments may be made to candidates in merit order based on location preferences. Candidates who pass the bar at interview but are not the highest scoring will be held on a 12-month reserve list for future appointments. Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be offered a post at the grade below the one advertised.  

Security Clearance Details 

All security clearances require you to provide evidence of your UK footprint where you have been physically present in the UK.The requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years.Failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected.If you require SC clearance you will need to provide evidence of the below requirements.Checks will be made against:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records).
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records.
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency.
• Security Services record.
• Location Details

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.