About the job

Job summary

Defence is investing in digital transformation at an unprecedented scale and people are at the absolute heart of this. As Deputy Director People & Capability you will be critical in leading and shaping the digital people agenda and in particular shaping the core digital workforce and leading its ongoing transformation at pace, helping Defence Digital deliver its workforce priorities.

We are looking for an exceptional senior level HR leader who can add real value as part of the Defence Digital executive team. Someone with experience of leading change, confident in forging relationships with senior stakeholders within and beyond our organisation; and comfortable with both scale, complexity and working with some ambiguity. 

Job description

Defence Digital and the wider Digital Function, led by the Chief Information Officer (CIO), are critical enablers for almost all aspects of Defence activity. The Deputy Director People and Capability will be responsible for leading the cultural, organisational and systemic workforce changes in support of the full portfolio of the CIO’s transformation agenda and Defence’s Digital Strategy Delivery Plan.

In addition the Deputy Director will be responsible for supporting the ongoing transformation of Defence Digital, leading the People Strategy and Transformation Programme implementation and ensuring that the CIO’s people needs are addressed proactively through functional best practice workforce planning, organisation design and development, sourcing and upskilling strategies. 

They will lead and develop the Defence Digital People Team, building and delivering the people plan, acting as the Senior professional HR Partner to the CIO and their team.  

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Track record of successfully designing, leading and driving people change within a complex environment from a people perspective and managing associated risks.
• Experience of influencing, consulting, and negotiating at a strategic level with senior stakeholders on workforce transformation and employment issues enabling you to contribute as an active and influential HR leader.
• An understanding and experience of creating and delivering quality HR services and strategic interventions in the face of complexities and diverse customer needs whilst managing the associated budgets.
• Proven ability to set strategic direction for HR teams and inspire them to deliver outcomes, leading a dispersed multi-disciplinary team.
• Demonstrable ability to build a strong network of collaborative relationships with stakeholders across business areas with the ability to build confidence.
• Chartered Fellow or fully qualified member (Level 7) of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), equivalent professional qualification or HR knowledge or willing to work towards accreditation.

Desirable criteria may be used in the event of a strong field of candidates when there is a need to distinguish between candidates. This will be as a second sift, after the essential criteria has been considered:​

• Experience of Digital workforce transformation and leading the People Agenda for a Digital Function.

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

Application

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process accessed via the advertisement listed for this role. This should be completed no later than 23:55 Sunday 14 January 2024 and will involve providing the two documents outlined below via the Civil Service Jobs portal:

A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.

A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) explaining how your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role. 

Both documents are weighted equally in their scoring, so it's important to consider this when uploading your application. Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification. 

For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.

Expected timeline

Expected sift date – Thursday 26th January 2024

Expected interview date –Thursday 29th February 2024

Candidate Drop-In Session

We will be running a candidate drop-in session for this role to give you greater insight about the role as well as the chance to learn more about the Ministry of Defence 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.

This will take place on Thursday 4th January 2024 from 14:00 -15:00 and you join here.

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.