About the job

Job summary

Developing services that ensure the health, well-being and security of detained immigrants

The Home Office mission is to keep Britain’s streets safe and its borders secure 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We prevent migrants from entering illegally, deal with immigration offences, and encourage and enforce the return of illegal migrants. Our new Detention Service has specific responsibility for commissioning and assuring the management of safe, secure and efficient immigration detention accommodation. 

Job description

As Director of Detention Services, you will bring inspirational and engaging leadership to this large, diverse and geographically dispersed team that numbers almost 300. You will work in partnership with Illegal Migration Operational Command colleagues who are designing and securing new forms of detained accommodation. This will include working with other Government departments, as well as developing commercial partnerships with private sector and health providers. Your goal is to embed a whole-system approach to detention.  You will also manage operational incidents and participate in Home Office-wide critical incident efforts.

This is a challenging, high-profile role that operates under considerable public scrutiny. It brings you into close contact with ministers, including the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary and senior leaders across the Home Office. You will therefore need to demonstrate not only resilience and political acumen, but integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. You will have a successful track-record of delivering results in a complex environment, where you will have managed significant operational risk. Strong financial management and contract management skills are essential, including evidence of innovative approaches to improving efficiency and effectiveness.

Along with extensive training and development, we offer structured career progression.  Other benefits include access to a valuable civil service pension and flexible working arrangements.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate their knowledge, experience, capability and behavioural approach to a high standard against the following key criteria: 

• Inspirational and engaging leadership of large, diverse and geographically dispersed teams, building capability and raising employee engagement at all levels.
• A successful track record of delivering results in a complex, highly sensitive environment with previous experience of working with 
  very senior colleagues such as CEO’s and/or Ministers.
• Resilience in managing significant operational risk and extensive public scrutiny.
• Experience of working and negotiating with internal stakeholders, other government Departments and external and commercial partners.
• The ability to plan, implement and monitor the delivery of stretching goals, identifying innovative ways to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the use of resources, with strong financial management and contract management skills.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £97,000, Home Office contributes £26,190 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

Please follow the Job Advert instructions on the Civil Service Jobs website to apply online, no later than Monday 18th March 2024 at 23:55hrs

Provide some basic personal information;

1. A CV - setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role, including details where budgets and numbers of people managed, relevant achievements in recent posts, together with reasons for any gaps within the last two years;
2. A Statement of Suitability – (limited to 1250 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience, provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification. 
3. Diversity Monitoring - 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 characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say'. See the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy: 2022 to 2025 (HTML) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) for more information.

It is essential that in your written application you give evidence, using examples, of proven experience. These responses will be developed and discussed with candidates invited for interview.

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.