About the job

Job summary

Do you have exceptional communication skills?

Can you build solid working relationships with internal and external stakeholders?

Would you like the opportunity to work in an exciting, innovative work environment where no two days are the same?

 If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Job description

The Legislation and Better Regulation division sits within the Strategy, Private Office, and Governance directorate. The division was originally formed in November 2022 to oversee the department’s programme to revoke or reform over 450 retained EU laws, and its work now includes the Department for Transport’s secondary legislation programme, smarter regulation, and the policy profession. As such, the Deputy Director has a leadership role across the department and wider Civil Service on cross-cutting strategic issues, all of which are of great importance and interest to senior colleagues and ministers.

This position makes a vital contribution to the division’s smooth and effective operation. With support, you will develop a good understanding of the ways in which the Deputy Director can influence and deliver across the department and how relationships can be developed in the most valuable ways for the programme to meet success.

You will give effective executive support to the Deputy Director to ensure that they are spending their time as effectively as possible and working with and through the division with great personal impact to deliver key strategic objectives.

Additionally, as this is a new and growing division, you will have the ability to support the development of the team, working with the Programme Management Office to develop a great team culture.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Management of the Deputy Director’s inbox and diary to ensure their time is being used efficiently and that meetings are appropriately organised.
• Ensuring that the Deputy Director has the right papers and briefing ahead of meetings, and to arrange appropriate cover during periods of leave or unavailability.
• Supporting the Deputy Director in administrative management including as secretariat support to meetings, noting and following up on action points of meetings, other administrative duties, and deploying good influencing skills in team meetings.
• Commissioning teams to provide corporate data such as management reporting (finance and risks).
• Providing secretariat support to meetings noting and following up on action points of meetings and deploying good influencing skills.
• Undertaking administration work and contributing to financial planning, making good use of software (such as excel) to present data effectively.

 For further information, please see the attached Role Profile.

Person specification

About you:

We are looking for someone who has exceptional communication skills and can express themselves in a confident and concise manner with colleagues at all levels. You will represent the department both professionally and clearly, ensuring key messages are delivered to both internal and external stakeholders in a timely fashion. You will have good drafting skills with the ability to produce high quality documents.

Excellent organisational skills are required and you will be able to manage and filter workflow as well as organise and prioritise your work to maximise productivity and achieve all deadlines. You will be highly adaptable and flexible, adjusting to the requirements of the role.

You will have good attention to detail and take pride in producing work to a high standard. Proven IT skills are essential, in particular Microsoft Office software including Word, Excel and Outlook.

Additional Information:

A minimum of 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace, although requirements to attend other locations for official business, or carry out detached duty in another DfT workplace, will also count towards this level of attendance. 

Travel to other DfT offices to meet up with colleagues and stakeholders is encouraged but not essential to this role.

Benefits

Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits. We offer generous annual leave, attractive pension options, flexible working, inclusive working environments and much more to support a healthy work/life balance. 

Find out more about what it's like working at the Department for Transport

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a CV, Personal Statement and evidence of 1 Behaviour – Making Effective Decisions.

When considering applying please look at how your experience relates to the role, and within your CV and Personal Statement please provide detailed evidence of your experience of the following: 

• Experience of using effective time management skills to manage own workload, being able to prioritise urgent tasks
• Experience of using excellent communication skills to relay important messages to others, whilst being able to build and maintain strong working relationships with a range of stakeholders
• Proficient user of various MS Office packages, including Word, Excel, and Outlook to enable you to complete high-quality pieces of work

Your Personal Statement will be limited to 750 words. Your behaviour example will be limited to 250 words.

The sift is due to take place from Wednesday 31st January 2024.

Interviews are likely to be held from Monday 19th February 2024.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

The selection process will be designed specifically for the role. As a result, your assessment will include:

• An Interview

 This interview will be conducted online via MS Teams. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

 You’re encouraged to become familiar with the role profile, as you may be assessed against any of the criteria recorded within.

The Department for Transport alongside other Government Departments recruit using Success Profiles. This means for each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate in order to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

For further information on Success Profiles visit our Careers website.

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you cannot access the information on our website for any reason, please email DRGComms@dft.gov.uk for assistance.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit the How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

Pre-employment Checking

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter.

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 counter-terrorist 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.