About the job

Job summary

Do you want to be part of an energetic, innovative team and bring your skills to one of the biggest changes to the administration of the Civil Service in decades? 
 
We’re looking for people who are flexible, intuitive and are comfortable taking high levels of volume, speed and complexity in their stride. 
 
A number of exciting new roles have come up in the Synergy Programme, a cross-departmental group formed in response to Government Business Service’s request for individual departments to group together in ‘clusters’ to drive efficiencies, increase buying power and improve the quality of shared service to our end users – our people. 
 
The Synergy Programme is the largest of five departmental clusters, comprising the Ministry of Justice, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Home Office. The Department of Work and Pensions hosts the Synergy Programme. Your work will impact the procurement arrangements for the next 15 years, impacting over 50% of all Civil Servants – that’s 230,000 people across the four departments and arm’s length bodies. 
 
Success of the Programme is crucial as Civil Servants rely on shared services to provide business critical tools in human resources, finance, payroll, and procurement. It affects everything we do, from joining a department as a new starter, the way we claim for expenses, how we buy goods and services such as our laptops and canteen provisions, to the way we receive our pensions when we retire. 
 
If you’re someone who can use your experience to streamline procurement to drive out error, waste, and duplication we want to hear from you. But most importantly, we’re looking for applications from people who can also demonstrate a passion for our core ambition - delivering a once in a generation, transformed service that Civil Servants will use as a result of the Synergy Programme.

Job description

Successful candidates can be expected to be involved in the following: 

• Support effective Governance and decision making, including compliance with GDPR and maintaining an effective audit trail of key design decisions and engagements.  
• Secretariat duties for several large-scale, complex and cross-Government meetings.  
• Managing the Design and Implementation team’s shared inbox, including handling various stakeholder queries from across the Synergy programme. 
• Planning, coordination, and preparation of products to support internal and external communications - ensuring that all opportunities, issues and risks are fully understood. 
• Supporting engagement activities and support that enables effective work with a range of stakeholders across the Synergy Programme and Departments, including Strategic Partners and Subject Matter Experts across high-profile meetings. 
• Working across a multi-disciplinary team to design and successfully implement the Synergy deliverable. This will include working alongside Departmental Product Owners, Synergy technical teams, delivery teams, user and business change teams and strategic partners. 
• Monitoring and reporting - Manage project controls, reporting to the Delivery Manager/ PMO about the project status. Develop project performance reports. 
• Risks and Issues – Supporting this process, working with risk manager and escalating as appropriate.  
• Planning and scheduling - Ensure systems are in place to enable effective planning and scheduling. 

Person specification

Essential Skills:  

• Experience in planning and demonstrable organisational skills within a large-scale transformation Programme. (Lead Criteria) 
• Experience of successful stakeholder engagement, leading and facilitating discussions to influence and collaborate across teams or departments.  
• Meticulous attention to detail: communicating both verbally and in-writing with stakeholders to a high professional standard with effective planning and organisational skills, delivering at pace.  
• Experience of working as part of a multi-disciplinary team, with an awareness of at least one of the relevant sectors; HR, Payroll, Procurement/Commercial, Finance, Sustainability.  
• Competent and experienced secretariat with the ability to undertake the required duties across multiple meetings with diverse stakeholders.  
• Risk & Issue Management – understanding of the process and ability to support the identification and monitoring of project risks and issues.  
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office, SharePoint and Microsoft Teams, or equivalent.  
• Self-motivated in upskilling, continuous learning, and development. Naturally inquisitive and curious, seek out new information and look for new ways to develop yourself and others.  

 Desirable Skills: 

• Experience of working in a complex and challenging Agile Project Management environment. 
• Experience of using a range of tooling including Jira, Confluence and Mural.  
• Have a recognised or a willingness to work towards achieving a PPM practitioner-level qualification such as PRINCE2, Agile PM, MSP or equivalent.

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 Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Application

Applications should be made via CS Jobs. You will be required to complete a Civil Service Judgement Test. 

After submission of the first stage of your application you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Judgement Test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application. 

Please complete the online test as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the tests is 23:55 on 13th June 2024. If you fail to complete the online test before the deadline your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the CS Jobs website.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and 1000 word personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

A CV is requested but will not be assessed, so please put the bulk of your evidence in your personal statement

Applications should be made via CS Jobs.

Sift

Selection will take place by sift based on the person specification. Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead criteria:

• Experience in planning and demonstrable organisational skills within a large-scale transformation Programme.

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview (online via Teams)

At interview, we will select based on behaviours and strengths. There may also be a presentation. The behaviours we will select on are:

• Working Together (Lead Behaviour)
• Delivering at Pace
• Changing and Improving 
• Communicating and Influencing 

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

Find out more about Working for DWP

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to DWP 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

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. 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. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action.

Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing.

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.

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

Reasonable Adjustment

At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via DWPRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” 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 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.