About the job

Job summary

About Government Internal Audit Agency

We are an executive agency of His Majesty’s Treasury (HM Treasury), established in April 2015 to improve the quality of internal audit provided to central government.

Most of the Agency’s people are professionally qualified internal auditors, accountants or investigators.

Many are also specialists in areas including counter fraud, project management, digital and commercial audit.

We lead both the Government Internal Audit Profession and the Government Internal Audit Function.

Our workforce brings with it a unique depth of experience gained in a wide range of government departments, related bodies and other sectors.

This enables us to offer a high-quality service based on cross-government insight and a strong understanding of our customers’ business.

In GIAA, we aim to be a great place to work and to ensure that we have the capability and capacity to make even more of a significant contribution to achieving A Brilliant Civil Service over the coming years.

Our initial focus was on becoming “a single audit practice”. We are now focused on taking GIAA to the next level so we can provide better insights and better outcomes for government.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcyDDumNmoX1JPcid2JupKw 

Job description

The Head of Central Services is a pivotal role within the Corporate Services Directorate, reporting to the Chief Operating Officer and part of the wider Corporate Services Senior Management Team.

The successful candidate will lead a multi-disciplinary team in support of the Agency’s vision to deliver Better Insights, Better Outcomes across a range of corporate services that are enabling functions for our delivery to customers.

They will play a key role in maximising the efficiency of our corporate services and have the freedom to be innovative, working across teams and with colleagues to excel in service delivery.

Key Skills:

• Strong analytical, written and oral communication skills and able to calibrate style depending on the audience. 

• Able to deliver at pace and manage competing priorities. 

• Resilience and ability to work under pressure on sensitive issues, navigating tricky relationships and conflict. 

• Great people skills to build strong relationships, being highly collaborative with the experience and credibility to work through and influence senior stakeholders. 

• Data analysis to make evidence-based recommendations 

• Self-starter, confident on own knowledge and skills 

• Ability to set strategic direction, confidently communicate and persuade others to work towards a common goal

Person specification

• The successful candidate will set the strategic direction for GIAA Central Services which includes the Agency’s information security and records management, project management function, estates, health, safety and wellbeing, business continuity, sustainability and business services.
• They will be accountable for identifying, assessing and managing risks in these areas and developing, implementing and monitoring proportionate risk mitigation strategies. They will be responsible for advising ExCo and the SIRO in relation to these risks, providing critical evidence based assurances regarding the active management of risks.
• They will be a trusted advisor and a member of the Corporate Centre Senior Leadership team of the Chief Operating Officer, enabling them to make effective decisions whilst in possession of associated risks, opportunities, and possible unintended consequences of action for the benefit the Corporate Centre and the Agency.
• As a visible leader, they will work collaboratively and confidently with senior members of staff including the Chief Executive, Chief Operating Officer, Executive Directors, and the Agency’s senior leadership team to help guide decision making across the organisation to support the delivery of the Agency’s strategy, vision, and corporate plan.
• They will deliver Central Services across the agency considering financial and people challenges and be politically astute with a focus on issues across government which may affect the agency.
• The Head of Central Services will be a key contributor in the Corporate Centre, supporting financial sustainability through delivery of efficient processes and effective services. Using skills in data analysis they will make evidence-based recommendations and will work across government to seek economies of scale. They will seek to maximise our value from corporate contracts and service providers.
• They will think strategically about the Central Services that GIAA needs to support the delivery of the Corporate Plan and the opportunities and constraints that will shape that journey. The Head of Central Services will work closely with other teams and functions across the Agency to develop and realise a credible plan of improvement/transformation whilst simultaneously maintaining effective service levels throughout.
• They will lead, manage, and motivate a multi-disciplinary cross-functional team of subject matter experts. Have high capability levels to do things once and well.
• They will be responsible for leading, setting, developing and maintaining GIAA estates strategy in the long and medium term and develop short term tactical plans to deal with issues as they arise. The team will provide assurance that Corporate Centre Directorate and the wider agency are compliant with Health and Safety Policies and legal requirements, developing, implementing, and monitoring strategies and policies to manage and control Health, Safety and Wellbeing arrangements in collaboration with the People function.
• They will lead Central Services in setting the Agency’s sustainability policy, contributing, and responding to HMG strategy, overseeing corporate strategy and planning, managing GIAA’s approach to climate change matters. The role will actively tackle impediments, risks and blockers to our sustainability commitments.
• They will develop strong and effective relationships with external partners and stakeholders including HM Treasury, Government Property Agency and Cabinet Office.
• They will provide advice and guidance to the Head of Business Services team, developing the provision of a new service through deployment of a Central Service partnering model, helping the Agency to deliver operationally and fulfil its governance obligations.
• The team will be responsible for scoping, developing, and leading on cross-cutting corporate plan projects and programmes across the Agency to support the delivery of the Corporate Plan, Strategy and Vision, working closely with the Head of Governance.

The role holder will be responsible for the identification and management of all necessary Central Services arrangements needed to support Agency expansion

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £67,173, Government Internal Audit Agency contributes £18,136 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

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

As part of our pre-employment security checks, if you are invited to interview and are not a current GIAA member of staff, you will need to bring:

• Proof of identity, e.g. your passport or driver’s license. Documents must be in date and valid.
• Proof of address, e.g. a utility bill or bank statement issued within the past 3 months
• Proof of your National Insurance (NI) number, e.g. letter from DWP confirming your NI number, or P60
• If you do not bring a UK or EU passport, you will need to bring other documentation of your right to work in the UK, e.g. your visa, biometric residence permit or birth certificate.

Further details regarding acceptable documents will be provided in the invitation to interview.

Please let us know if your contact details change at any time during the selection process.

Eligibility Statement:

Individuals appointed to the Treasury Group will be subject to National Security Vetting. To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out applicants will normally need to have lived in the UK for at least 3 out of the past 5 years. A lack of UK residency in itself is not always a bar to security clearance but the Department will need to consider eligibility on a case by case basis using all information that can be obtained following a successful application.

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.