About the job

Job summary

This role spans the breadth of the Department’s work. You will help shape its future policy agenda and influence the thinking of Ministers and senior officials. You will lead a high performing team to deliver creative and compelling analysis to help the Department achieve its strategic objectives. You will engage and influence effectively at all levels of the Department and with senior officials across government.

The Strategy Unit is the Department's centre for evidence-based and politically informed strategic thinking; a multi-disciplinary team of around 20 people, comprised of policy professionals and analysts/economists who undertake wide-ranging cross-cutting work. 

You will have a critical role in ensuring the Department’s work is informed by a deep understanding of the strategic challenges facing us over the coming years and decades. As part of this you will lead ongoing work to embed the department’s Strategic Aims of growing and levelling up the economy, improving transport for users and reducing environmental impacts in everything we do.  You will use your strategic oversight to influence and inform DfT’s approach to strategic planning, fiscal events, performance monitoring, and prioritisation of key investments. 

This is a highly visible and challenging role, requiring an agile and resilient approach to leadership, and a balance of keen strategic awareness with first-rate communication skills. You will need to work effectively with senior colleagues across Government to understand the common agenda with other Departments – especially those in the centre of Government and with an economic focus. You will be comfortable challenging policy assumptions, spotting problems and drawing people together to find creative and deliverable solutions and working with ambiguity and a rapidly evolving landscape. 

The ability to think strategically is vital in this role. You will need to be able to anticipate how the strategic and political context will impact on policy. Additionally, you should have the ability to distil complex information into clear, concise and well-evidenced arguments in order to put forward key messages to stakeholders.

Job description

Responsibilities

The Strategy Unit works to ensure the Department has a continually relevant strategic vision that will frame, guide, and influence its work internally and externally. It also works to build the Department’s strategic capability and influence. It is part of the Strategy, Private Office and Governance Directorate, sitting at the heart of the Department alongside the Ministerial and Permanent Secretaries Private Offices, and teams leading on Governance, Better Regulation and Secondary Legislation and the delivery of Network North. As a highly visible member of the Department’s senior leadership team, you will be expected to play an active role in the on-going corporate management and development of the Directorate and wider Department.

Responsibilities of the role include:

• Providing advice and briefing to ministers and senior officials on strategic and cross-cutting issues on a regular and ongoing basis, including inducting new Ministers when required;
• Working with the Executive Committee, Strategy Committee (which you will run) and Departmental Board to ensure that the Department has the right framework for effective strategic thinking and decision making – including by producing insightful papers and analysis;
• Proactively working across the department to lead work to embed the strategic aims and promote cross-modal thinking;
• Working closely with key corporate teams to shape the strategic direction of the Department - eg Strategic Finance to orchestrate the Department’s engagement in fiscal events, including Spending Reviews and with Governance on the Outcome Delivery Plan;
• Leading the centre of excellence on strategic aspect of business cases, ensuring high quality advice is provided on the fit of proposals with DfT strategies and policies;
• Leading work across the Department to ensure clear articulation of our priorities and our objectives to stakeholders and ensuring coherence across the Department’s strategic thinking and planning, namely through Strategy Committee;
• Supporting the Department’s preparation for smooth political transitions; and
• Leading DfT’s work on industry skills, drawing on expertise from across the wider department.

Person specification

You will need to be able to show, through your application, that you have the professional skills, breadth of experience and personal qualities for this post, as well as the leadership skills to succeed at Deputy Director level in the Senior Civil Service.

• Solid experience of leading, motivating and developing high-performing, professional teams ensuring morale and motivation are maintained amidst change and ambiguity.
  
• Significant experience of influencing a diverse range of stakeholders including senior stakeholders with confidence and credibility.
  
• Proven experience of operating at a senior level in a highly political environment with the ability and strategic outlook to ensure the strategic and political context is considered when making decisions
  
• A successful track record of personal resilience and working under pressure and meeting demanding timescales.
  
• Experience of leading on challenging negotiations with confidence, clarity and credibility.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £75,000, Department for Transport contributes £20,250 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

Application

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online form. This should be completed no later than 23:55 on 28/01/2024

The application will include:

• CV 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 Statement of Suitability (no longer than 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the person specification.

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.

As part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say’.

All monitoring data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be provided to the selection panel. 

Should you encounter any issues with your online application please get in touch with us via scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Shortlist

Your application will be acknowledged when it is received.  

The panel will select a shortlist of candidates whose applications best demonstrate suitability for the role, by considering the evidence provided against the essential criteria set out in the Person Specification.

Candidates applying under the Disability Confident Scheme who meet the minimum selection criteria in the job specification are guaranteed an interview.

Interview

You will be asked to attend a panel interview in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification.   

The Success Profile Framework will be used to assess and recruit the most suitable candidate.  As well as Experience, we will also be using the following four behaviours will be used at the interview stage:

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Further information about Success Profiles can be found here:

Interviews are expected to take place face to face in our London office, all shortlisted candidates will be asked to prepare a 5 minute presentation.

Offer and Feedback

Unfortunately, due to the anticipated number of applicants for this role, we are unable to provide feedback to those not successful at shortlist stage. Candidates who are shortlisted and attend an interview will be offered verbal feedback from a member of the interview panel.

The timeline later in this pack indicates the date by which decisions are expected to be made, all candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter, and we will advise on any delays.

Contact Us

Should candidates like to discuss the role in more detail before submitting an application, please contact:

Hiring Manager - louise.morgan@dft.gov.uk

Current post-holder: phil.bateman@dft.gov.uk

This campaign is being run on behalf of the department by the team at Government Recruitment Service, part of Government Business Services, a central government expert service specialising in the attraction, assessment and recruitment of senior civil servants.

The team is regularly commissioned by departments and other government organisations to deliver end-to-end recruitment for some of society’s most important leadership and specialist positions.

Our work is regulated by the Civil Service Commission where necessary and supported by the equality campaign group Stonewall.

Cabinet Office is a Disability Confident employer.

Expected Timeline

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for assessments or interviews. You are therefore asked to note the below timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process, in order to meet the dates given. Please note that these dates may be subject to change.

The anticipated timetable is as follows:

Advert Closing Date 28/01/2024 @ 23:55

Shortlist 07/02/2024 Onwards

Panel Interviews 16/02/2024 Onwards

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. 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.