About the job

Job summary

If you’re interested in making a difference to people’s lives, the Treasury can offer you an exciting opportunity to influence decision making that affects the whole of the UK. Working at the heart of government, we collaborate across government to promote responsible public spending and drive strong and sustainable economic growth.  

Our work ranges from protecting customers through the regulation of the financial sector, helping to reduce carbon emissions and creating a greener economy, to promoting British trade around the world and supporting people across the country on jobs, growth and more.  

HM Treasury is proud of a diverse and inclusive work environment, committed to fairness and the promotion of equality of opportunity for all. We know that having a range of experiences, ways of working and thinking makes us stronger and better at developing policy that reflects the needs of every community. We embrace different views and experiences and value the new perspective that people from a variety of circumstances bring to the work we do. We welcome applications from candidates who have not previously worked for the Civil Service, mid- and late-career changers with transferrable skills, people from all backgrounds and circumstances regardless of disability, gender, age ethnicity, LGBT+ identity and socio-economic status.  

We are part of the Darlington Economic Campus, a pioneering new cross-government hub which brings people together to play an active role in the most important issues of the day whilst working closer to the communities we serve. The campus provides the opportunity for people from all over the UK to help shape the future of the country, and our flexible working practices ensure you can collaborate effectively with our partners. It’s central government, made more accessible to you! 

Job description

About the Group

Public Services Group 

The Public Services Group is at the heart of Treasury’s work to secure sustainable public finances and drive economic growth. We manage public spending of more than £250bn. across key public services and departments, including health, education, the criminal justice system, local government, housing, defence and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.  

We do this by working with other government departments, ministers, and other Treasury teams to ensure that spending plans support high quality public services, help the economy to grow and provide value for money for the taxpayer.   

Our roles offer a range of opportunities to work with senior leaders in other government departments and on the frontline of public services and ensure the effective delivery of public services.  

The Group is committed to being an excellent place to work, with a relentless focus on good management, learning and development and continuous improvement in everything we do.   

About the team

Defence, Diplomacy and Intelligence (DDI) is a small (c. 17 people) close-knit team working across National Security strategy and spending. We are responsible for a fascinating and exciting area, including working closely across the Ministry of Defence, No10, the Intelligence Agencies, Counter-Terrorism and Cyber security. 

Our main focus is the effective and efficient use of taxpayer's money to deliver the UK's defence and security objectives, in line with the Treasury’s economic and public finance objectives. We lead the Treasury’s input into Strategic Security and Defence Reviews, most recently the Integrated Review (2021) and its refresh last year. This was the UK’s first ever combined review of defence, security and foreign policy. We also co-ordinate Treasury ministerial and official representation at various National Security for a, including National Security Council (NSC), National Security Ministers (NSM) and NSC Officials meetings.

About the Job This unique role spans the full breadth of National Security issues and brings them together across the Treasury to ensure that resources are allocated to threats and priorities in the most efficient and effective way, and in support of the Treasury’s economic objectives. This is a fascinating time to work on national security as we build towards the next Parliament: we are completing implementation of a major increase in the defence budget from Spending Review 2020; supporting Ukraine to fight the first major war in Europe since WW2; and addressing rising geopolitical tensions across the globe, most recently in the Middle East.  This involves being on top of a wide-ranging brief and requires strong relationships at senior levels across a very large number of internal and external stakeholders, particularly those in the security community. You will also regularly advise Treasury ministers on defence and security matters. This is an exciting opportunity to work right at the heart of the UK’s security system, supporting it to become better value, more productive and effective, as well as sitting on the front line of our domestic and international crisis response. Key Accountabilities 1.    Play an active role in the leadership of the Public Services Group through membership of the Group Management Team. This will include leading on key corporate projects. These can be tailored to the successful candidate’s interests, but as an example the current postholder is the Diversity and Inclusion Champion for the group.   2.    Lead and manage the Defence, Diplomacy and Intelligence team. The team currently comprises 17 staff, and the postholder has four direct reports including HMT’s Military Adviser, who is a serving member of the Armed Forces on secondment to HMT. The postholder will need to support the team in adapting to emerging challenges, and contributing to broader corporate initiatives, including increasing our presence in the Treasury’s Darlington office. 3.    Oversight of National Security spending and performance to ensure taxpayers' money is spent appropriately, productively, is value for money and delivers against NSC and Integrated Review priorities and objectives. This will involve regularly advising the Chief Secretary, resolving any in-year funding issues and leading negotiations and preparations for future Spending Reviews. You will specifically oversee: c. £65bn of annual spending across the Ministry of Defence; the UK Intelligence Community; cross government Counter-Terrorism spending and Cyber spending; and the newly established Integrated Security Fund. 4.    Scrutiny and assurance of Major Projects. The MoD has the largest portfolio on the Government’s Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) and the team assures the highest number of spending approvals and business cases across HMT. This includes the balance of and choices around military capabilities, especially within the MoD’s ten-year Equipment Plan. You will need to work with experts in the Government’s project and commercial functions to support MoD to deliver. 5.    Defence procurement reform and industrial policy. You will provide a constructive challenge function to the MoD on defence procurement reform and industrial policy. This includes ensuring continued focus on and delivery of planned acquisition reforms. You will also need to work across the Treasury and Government to cohere and define MoD’s contribution to the Government’s growth objectives. 6.    National Security leadership and crisis response. You will work across the international, financial sanctions and economic security teams in HMT to respond to crises. This includes leading the immediate operational response to any terrorism or cyber incidents, attending COBR response meetings and advising the Chancellor and Chief Secretary on urgent funding requests. As examples, the current post holder led HMT’s input into the withdrawal from Afghanistan, early stages of the Ukraine conflict and the recent Israel/Gaza crisis. The post holder is likely to need to attend regular in-person meetings in London, sometimes at short notice, and there is also likely to be some out-of-hours calls on your time. Candidate Drop-In Session    We will be running a candidate drop-in session for this role on 27th February 2024 (3pm – 3.30pm) to give you greater insight about the role as well as the chance to learn more about HM Treasury and the recruitment process. If you would like to join us, then use the appropriate link below to join the call at the right time.  Click here to join the meeting If you would like to speak to the hiring manager informally prior to the closing date for applications to find out more about the job, please contact Johanna.Harston@hmtreasury.gov.uk

Person specification

Please review the Candidate FAQ document that is attached to the advert for guidance on how to complete your application.

Required Skills, Experience and Behaviours:

For your application, please send us a CV and a personal statement setting out how you meet the following skills, behaviours and experience. This should be no longer than 1000 words and include no more than 250 words on each criteria below;

1. Leadership: the ability to build, maintain and motivate a strong and diverse team that operates in a politically sensitive environment and with a constantly changing policy agenda.
2. Communicating and influencing: excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence senior officials and political stakeholders across government, give difficult messages and lead tough negotiations.
3. Working together: the ability to work collaboratively within the department and across government to forge consensus on defence and security matters.
4. Experience: experience of working on defence and security or spending control.

Nationality and security requirements

This is a reserved post and is only open to UK Nationals.

The successful candidate must hold, or be willing to obtain, security clearance to Developed Vetting level. 

Benefits

• 25 days’ annual leave (rising to 30 after 5 years), plus 8 public holidays and the King's birthday (unless you have a legacy arrangement as an existing Civil Servant)  
• Flexible working patterns (part-time, job-share, condensed hours)  
• Generous parental and adoption leave package. 
• A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and average employer contributions of 27%  
• Onsite restaurant and coffee bar. The London office also offers a gym, showers and prayer room  
• Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme, season ticket advances and payroll giving  
• Access to a retail discounts and cashback site  
• A Rental Deposit Advance Scheme to help meet the total costs of deposits for privately rented homes  
• A range of active staff networks, based around interests (e.g. analysts, music society, sports and social club) and diversity (e.g. women in the Treasury, ethnic minority network, LGBT* network, faith and belief network) 

Flexible Working Arrangements

HM Treasury views flexible working as essential in enabling us to recruit and retain talented people, ensuring that they can enjoy a long-lasting career with us. All employees have the right to apply for flexible working and there are a range of options available including; part-time, compressed hours and job sharing. Additionally, we operate flexitime systems, allowing employees the flexibility to adjust their working patterns throughout the week which is subject to operational needs and line management approval.  

At HM Treasury we have an incredibly broad remit; our work touches every citizen of the country. So, it’s important our employees come from the widest possible range of backgrounds, bringing us the widest possible range of perspectives and ways of thinking. We are committed to ensuring that all staff can realize their potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance. 

HM Treasury operates an office based working approach across all Treasury sites - Darlington, London, and Norwich, and along with the rest of the Civil Service, has an expectation of a minimum of 60% attendance in the office, along with working remotely. This blended working approach allows you to work collaboratively, meet stakeholders face to face, support others and promotes a healthy work life balance (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone’s circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review. All our offices have been recently modernised and designed to collaborate and connect with colleagues as well as desk and quiet space to allow a range of ways to work.

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.

Recruitment Timeline 

Closing date: 29th February 2024

Shortlisting: 1st March 2024

Staff Engagement Exercise (shortlisted candidates):  11th/12th March 2024

Interviews: w/c 19th March 2024

This timeline is indicative and may be subject to change. We will inform you if there is a substantial change to the recruitment timeline. 

If your contact details change at any time during the selection process, please ensure you update your Civil Service Jobs Profile. 

Please note that only applications submitted through Civil Service Jobs will be accepted.

Eligibility Statement  

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role in the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. Checks will be performed as part of pre-employment checks in line with this. Please refer to the Candidate FAQ document attached to the advert for more information. 

Individuals appointed to the Treasury Group will be subject to National Security Vetting. To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out applicants will normally need to have lived in the UK for at least the past 10 years. A lack of UK residency in itself is not always a bar to security clearance but the Department will need to consider eligibility on a case by case basis using all information that can be obtained following a successful application. 

Everyone working with government assets must complete Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks.  

For many roles, security clearance is also required. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements of the role before they can be appointed. The level of security clearance required for this role is Developed Vetting (DV).  

Please read the Vetting Charter for information on what to expect during the vetting process and what will be expected from you.  

Many areas of your life may be explored during your vetting journey, and it is important that every individual, regardless of their background and experiences, should feel comfortable going through this personal process, whilst having confidence that it is fair, proportionate, and inclusive.  

These short videos address common concerns and preconceptions which applicants may have about national security vetting.  

If you have questions relating to security clearances, please contact HMTSecurityVetting@hmtreasury.gov.uk

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

Open to UK nationals only.

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.