About the job

Job summary

Working in service transition, you will be part of a team who is accountable for ensuring that any designs for new or changed IT services:

•    Are supported by the required resources necessary to operate and manage the service
•    Deliver required levels of availability, reliability and performance
•    Adhere to relevant industry, government and Home Office standards
•    Are robust and affordable
•    Are comprehensive and forward looking

Building on extensive experience in the area, you will apply control and rigour to the implementation of IT services, supporting the continued availability and effectiveness of IT Services. You will play a key role liaising with senior management and other teams with a view of the bridge between projects/programmes and the operation/support of the ongoing services.

You will play a key role liaising with senior management and other teams with a view of the bridge between projects/programmes and the operation/support of the ongoing services.

You will contribute to the definition of standards for service transition and continual improvement.

Due to nature of this role, it is only available full time.

Job description

Your main day to day responsibilities will be: 

•    Enabling the process to transition projects to live service in a safe and structured manner, engaging with project teams and Enterprise Services teams to ensure a standard set of transition gateways are met and that a consistent set of Service Operations requirements are incorporated into service designs.

•    Ensuring and assuring that the required people, processes, suppliers and tools are in place to accept new services.

•    Driving work forward to meet delivery deadlines, without compromising quality of delivered service.

•    Making recommendations on rollout approaches, acceptance planning, handover requirements, quality assurance activities and early-life support.

•    Working collaboratively by establishing and maintaining strong relationships with project teams, Service Management and third-party suppliers to solve problems and overcome obstacles.

•    Driving the transition process, including prioritisation, risk management and dependency activities to ensure effective transition.

•    Onboarding the new service on to the Home Office ServiceNow ITSM tooling.

•    Working effectively with project teams, the Service Architect, support teams, technical teams and commercial teams to ensure that all parties have a thorough understanding of the service that they are providing or consuming.

You will also be expected to carry out the following day to day activities:

•    Seeing the bigger picture to ensure that new services align with IT strategy and Operating Model, incorporating established and emerging strategy in a fast-moving environment.

•    Communicating effectively with a range of stakeholders to convey the acceptance criteria and the issues to be addressed, while also reporting status and pipeline information regularly and accurately to senior stakeholders.

•    Identifying and sharing reusable resources and best practice, contributing to the development of the IT Operations community.

•    Developing policies, processes and procedures in line with best practice to deliver quality services and ensuring these are appropriately documented.

•    Participating, contributing to and supporting collaboration initiatives and career development within the IT Operations community, building in-house capability via a professional community of practice.

•    Tailoring the transition process, to make it proportionate to the scale of the service and align it with project milestones.

Person specification

The skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office DDaT Profession Skills and Competency Model (based on the industry standard SFIA framework). Please see below for the relevant skills required for your role:

Strategy and Architecture:
o    Methods and Tools (METL) – level 3

Change and Transformation:
o    Project Management (PRMG) – level 3 
o    Business Situation Analysis (BUSA) – level 4

Delivery and Operation:
o    Service Acceptance (SEAC) – level 4
o    Technology Service Management (ITMG) – level 4

Relationships and Engagement:
o    Stakeholder Relationship Management (RLMT) – level 4

Essential criteria

You’ll have a demonstrable passion for effective service management, with the following skills or strong experience in:

•    Designing and managing changes to service and creating associated documentation. 

•    Producing high quality deliverables in a variety of contexts / environments.

•    Applying a structured and methodical approach to problem solving. 

•    Applying a breadth of knowledge of technical skills and applications. 

•    Effectively communicating and setting expectations, with stakeholders, both internal and external to your direct team and the Home Office.

•    Designing, owning and maintaining the process and procedures and proactive development of service transition and acceptance documentation.

•    Working in enterprise scale IT transition teams and adhering to industry best practice [add any specific frameworks or methodologies at point of recruitment].

Desirable criteria

Ideally you will also have the following skills or some experience in:

•    Knowledge of change management, release management and service management.

•    Translating user stories and proposing design approaches or services to meet these needs. 

•    Being cognisant of many facets of the technical environment, for example tooling and configuration, patterns of business, change and impacts and instrumentation of assets.

•    Understanding of Lean, Agile and DevOps principles within a Product-centric delivery model.

Desirable qualifications

•    ITIL v3/v4 Expert

•    Service Management Framework Qualification.

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• A CV detailing job history/qualifications/skills
• A statement of suitability (maximum 1000 words)

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

The statement of suitability should be aligned to demonstrate your skills and experience for the role and how you meet the essential criteria as detailed in the job description.

The sift will be held on the statement of suitability. The CV will not be scored.

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview which will consist of a Presentation and questions based on Technical Skills. The presentation subject will be provided in advance.

Sift and Interview dates

Sift is expected to take place from  8th January 2024.

 Interviews are expected to take place from 22nd January 2024.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however on occasions these dates may change.

Interviews will be carried out via video. Candidates will be required to have access to:

• A laptop (personal or work) with a working webcam
• Good internet connection
• Microsoft Teams

Please note: If you are currently an agency member of staff working within the Home Office, you can only apply for roles that are advertised externally, i.e. outside the civil service. If you are eligible to apply for a role, you are required to select yourself as an external applicant and not internal when submitting your application on Civil Service jobs. This will prevent any delays in pre-employment checks should you become successful in being made an offer of employment after the Interview stage.

Visa sponsorship    

We are unable to sponsor any individuals via Skilled Worker Sponsorship / Tier 2 (General) work visas as we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License.   

Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. All applications are screened for plagiarism and copying and generating of examples/answers from internet sources including Artificial Intelligence. If any is detected the application may be withdrawn from the process. Further action, including disciplinary action, may be considered in such cases involving civil servants. Providing false or misleading information would be contrary to the core values of honesty and integrity expected of all Civil Servants.

Further Information

For meaningful checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years if the role requires CTC clearance, 5 years for SC clearance and 10 years for DV.  A lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

Please read the essential skills for this position carefully. We will only consider those who meet the listed requirement. 

If you have previously made an unsuccessful application for a role with the same essential skills and are not able to demonstrate how you have developed these skills since your last application please reconsider applying as your application is unlikely to be successful.

A reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position. 

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours and essential skills.

Every day, Home Office civil servants do brilliant work to develop and deliver policies and services that affect the lives of people across the country and beyond. To do this effectively and fairly, the Home Office is committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best.

We are flexible, skilled, professional and diverse. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and area Disability Confident Leader. We are proud to be one of the most ethnically diverse departments in the civil service. We are a Social Mobility Foundation top 75 employer.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

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.

For further information please see the attached notes for candidates which must be read before making an application.

Existing Civil Servants should note that some of the Home Office terms and conditions of employment have changed. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful in application and should refer to the notes for candidates for further details.

Transfer Terms: Voluntary.

If you are invited to an interview you will be required to  bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks.

Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Any move to the Home Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk  as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional

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

Feedback

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 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.