About the job

Job summary

Social Security Scotland are recruiting two Deputy Directors to lead the operational divisions responsible for Client Services (benefit processing) and Health and Social Care Operations (who support decision making for disability applications). 

Both roles are full-time, permanent Deputy Director posts and both will have responsibility for their own operational areas, playing an integral role in the organisation’s Executive Team. These critical senior leadership positions within Social Security Scotland come with significant responsibility and will provide challenge and opportunity if you are passionate about making a real difference to the lives of the clients we serve.

Working with four other Deputy Directors to provide senior leadership to Social Security Scotland, you will be responsible for teams comprising Operational Delivery and / or clinically trained Health and Social Care professionals. You will have an influential role in shaping, implementing, and delivering Social Security Scotland’s benefits.

 The role will be cross-cutting, complex, and high profile and you will need to demonstrate an ability to deliver impressive performance results in a challenging environment of Ministerial and stakeholder scrutiny. You will need to respond positively to change and support your teams in doing the same.      

You will have extensive engagement with Ministers, senior officials across government and in other public bodies as well as key external stakeholders on the delivery, development, and continuous improvement of the benefits system in Scotland.

Job description

Both Deputy Director roles being recruited share a number of duties and responsibilities, as follows:

• Provide strategic and professional leadership to the operational divisions within Social Security Scotland, with over 3,000 operational delivery and clinically trained health and social care professionals, ensuring that both our values of dignity, fairness and respect and core Civil Service working practices are embedded within our workplace culture.
• Ensure that client services are delivered in accordance with our Charter and that clients can access support across Scotland in a range of ways and places to suit their needs.
• Manage risk to protect the reputation and relationships of Social Security Scotland.
• Review client and stakeholder insight, alongside key internal management information, to improve operational performance whilst balancing delivery costs.
• As part of the Executive team, deliver significant impact across teams and the wider organisation, contributing to the development and continual improvement of:
• Lead engagement with the Cabinet Secretary and Ministers, including regular briefings on performance and work with senior colleagues in the wider Social Security Directorate within Scottish Government - including Policy and Programme teams - to ensure we continue to deliver a high standard of service in line with our commitments.
• Oversee workforce planning and operational modelling to ensure Social Security Scotland maintains sufficient capacity and skills to implement new benefits as well as continued delivery of Scottish benefits in line with the Divisional budget.
• Manage a budget of approximately £150m per year, ensuring compliance with the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

In your Supporting Statement, and if invited to interview, you will be expected to answer on the following Essential Criteria which includes both the Specialist and Leadership criteria as set out below:

*We strongly encourage you to structure your Supporting Statement around these criteria

Specialist Criteria

Specialist Expertise

• You must have experience working at a strategic leadership level in a large, complex operational delivery environment with evidence of leading and managing a multi-disciplinary team; working to a delivery-focused agenda which changes and evolves over time.

Leadership Criteria

Leading collectively 

• Taking an effective whole system approach to complex, dynamic issues; actively developing wide networks internally and externally, breaking down and collaborating across barriers to deliver outcomes;
• Being a visible corporate leader, influencing and supporting corporate activities and goals as a member of a senior team.

Developing others

• Embedding an inclusive, learning culture in your teams, trusting and empowering others and enabling high performance and innovation;
• Ability to actively manage wellbeing and create an environment where diversity of thinking and perspective is both valued and nurtured.

Leading others

• Setting clear strategic direction and making high quality decisions which balance risk and stakeholder interests to deliver outcomes;
• Strong communication skills and the ability to build visibility and awareness with partners and stakeholders.

Understanding and developing self

• You will demonstrate a strong understanding of yourself as a leader as well as a passion for your work and your own continuous personal development. This includes acting as a role model for inclusive leadership by openly sharing how your personal life experiences and background impact on your thinking and behaviour.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £86,398, Scottish Government contributes £23,327 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

Fully completed applications should be submitted by 23:55 on 4 August 2024

To apply for this post, you must register on our Applicant Tracking System and submit the following documents through such:

• A CV uploaded to the Applicant Tracking System.
• A Supporting Statement (no longer than 1500 words) explaining why you consider your skills, qualities, and experience suitable for this role. The system will prompt you to complete this section.

In your CV and Supporting Statement, you should relate your experience to the Essential Criteria outlined in the Candidate Pack.

Please note that both CV and Supporting Statement must provided via the Applicant Tracking System for your application to be considered. 

Please consult the Candidate Pack and Further Information Packs at the bottom of this page when preparing your application. 

If there are any technical issues, please contact SCSResourcing@gov.scot

Additional Information

The Scottish Government is preparing for the implementation of a new HR and Finance platform and, as a result, some job offers will be subject to an October 2024 start date at the earliest.  This will be confirmed as your application progresses.

This competition is being run in accordance with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles.

If you are shortlisted, you will be provided with full details of the next stages of the selection and assessment process. This will include an individual psychological assessment and a staff engagement panel.

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.