About the job

Job summary

Welcome to Border Force, the Home Office’s operational command responsible for frontline border controls at air, sea, postal and rail ports in the United Kingdom and Europe. We play a vital and unique role in the safety, security, and prosperity of the UK, strengthening the security of the UK border, enhancing the passenger experience, and advancing the UK economy.

Border Force has an ambitious and exciting transformation agenda with people, data and technology at its core, delivering our mission of having the world’s most effective border.  As the second largest law enforcement organisation in England and Wales, Border Force has a far-reaching set of responsibilities covering customs, health, immigration, trade and prosperity, and national security and serious organised crime.

Learn more on the Border Force careers page.

Job description

Are you ready to lead strategic external relations and shape the UK’s engagement with key commercial and industry partners concerning Border Force?

As the Head of External Affairs and Industry Engagement, you will be at the helm of providing proactive leadership for the delivery of an external engagement strategy to strengthen Border Force’s relationships with stakeholders  (including industry and commercial partners, and trade bodies) and secure effective collaboration in the delivery of our objectives. This role is pivotal to the successful delivery of Government priorities and the Director General’s ambitions for the future technology-enabled border . You will be Border Force’s ‘face’ into industry and vice-versa.

Partnership working will be a fundamental element of this role. You will have unrivalled access to seniors across the Home Office, Government and external partners. You will play a key role in transforming our external engagement processes to build stronger proactive relationships with the highest value stakeholders. Through these relationships you will provide valuable insight back into the business and seek out opportunities to enhance Border Force’s reputation and promote our objectives.  

The Border Force engagement landscape is complex with multiple operational and future border priorities requiring collaboration with industry. In this role you will promote and provide opportunities and channels for clear, coordinated and consistent senior engagement, to ensure our partners understand the future border vision, and are committed to delivering it with us.

This post requires excellent communication and engagement skills, with the ability to quickly build relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders and provide a strong basis for partnership delivery on a range of competing priorities. 

This high-profile and influential role sits within the Director General’s Office and reports directly to the Border Force Chief of Staff.  

Please note this position is offered on a full time basis as the role requires attendance at various industry events and availability throughout the week.  Any travel costs associated with attending industry events will be met by the business.

You will be expected to report to and work from either Apollo House in Croydon or 2 Marsham Street in Westminster, London.  Please note staff in Apollo House will be relocated to 2 Ruskin Square in the near future.

In order to be eligible, you MUST meet ALL the following criteria.

• I am at least 18 years old at the time of application.

• I am a UK National.

• I will be able to provide all the ID documents required to complete my pre-employment screening and security clearance.

Person specification

This is an exciting opportunity for an ambitious and pro-active individual with a “can-do” attitude to lead a diverse and dynamic portfolio. In this role you will shape the way the Border Force engages with its external stakeholders on some of the most high-profile issues in Government. 

Key responsibilities

Duties include but are not limited to:

•    Leading and developing a new small but dynamic external affairs and industry engagement team . You will have the opportunity to appoint and shape the team. 

•    Delivering a new external engagement strategy, working closely with stakeholders within and outside of Border Force.  

•    Leading on strategic engagements to leverage opportunities to protect and advance Border Force’s interests.  

•    Leading on stakeholder engagement advice, proposals and briefings, and research for the Director General and Chief of Staff.  

•    Providing advice and support to senior leaders on the best approach to engage partners.  

•    Delivering a regular programme of engagement with the top ten trade bodies.  

•    Informing wider Border Force teams of changes and trends within industry and in the commercial world e.g., new positions, interests, activities, to ensure Border Force have relevant insight to inform priorities. 

•    Building effective and proactive relationships with external organisations.  

•    Coordinating and ensuring alignment of industry engagement activity across different parts of Border Force. 

Essential criteria

You must be able to demonstrate:

•    Excellent verbal and written communication skills.  

•    Strong interpersonal skills with the confidence and ability to positively influence and challenge in a constructive manner whilst being personable and collaborative.

•    Experience of building productive and trusted relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, including at the most senior levels.

•    Experience of leading effective engagement programmes and developing strategy.  

•    Being comfortable delivering at pace, under a level of ambiguity and in a collaborative environment.

Desirable criteria

•    External, corporate, or public affairs experience.  

•    Experience of leading a team. 

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

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

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• A CV detailing job history and skills
• A statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 750 words)
• Provide evidence of the behaviour Communicating and Influencing (250 words maximum)

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Your CV should set 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.

The statement of suitability should be aligned to demonstrate your skills and experience for the role and how you meet the essential criteria as detailed in the job description.

For guidance on how to construct your personal statement, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers. Links – Statement

For guidance on how to construct your behaviour examples, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers. Links –Behaviours

The sift will be held on the CV, the behaviour Communicating and Influencing and the statement of suitability (personal statement).

The CV and statement of suitability will be scored first for all candidates. Those candidates who achieve the minimum pass score for the CV and statement of suitability, will progress to a further sift where the behaviour Communicating and Influencing will be scored. These candidates will therefore receive a sift score for all elements. Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the CV and statement of suitability will not have their behaviour Communicating and Influencing scored and will therefore only receive a sift score for the CV and statement of suitability.

However, if a large number of applications are received, the sift will be conducted on the CV and statement of suitability (personal statement) only. 

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview which will be

• a blended approach of strength-based questions and behaviour-based questions

Strengths are the things that you do regularly, do well and that motivate you. To find out more about strength based questions click here 

You may also be required to prepare a short presentation (no slides or handouts required) to present at interview, further details around what the presentation will entail will be provided before the interview.

Problems during the application process

If you experience problems with opening any of the attachments on this advert, or, you think you’ve made a mistake on an initial application (e.g. you have selected the incorrect eligibility box), please contact hocandidates.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk at least two working days before the vacancy closes. After this, we may not be able to reopen your application.

Please note, we cannot make amendments to any part of the application.

Please use the following in the subject line in your email if you need to get in contact with us about your initial application “Please re-open my application – Vacancy ref 353458 Closing date 5th June 2024.

For reasonable adjustments queries or requests, please see details within the Reasonable Adjustments section.

Tie break decisions

The strengths and/or behaviours being assessed will be ranked in order of importance to enable us to differentiate between candidates with tied interview scores. Please note that the order in which behaviours are listed in the advert does not necessarily reflect the order of importance.

Sift and Interview dates

The sift is expected to take place week commencing 10th June 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 1st July 2024.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however on occasions these dates may change.

Interviews will be face to face in 2 Marsham Street, London. Further details will be provided ahead of interview.

Further information

For meaningful checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years if the role requires CTC clearance, 5 years for SC clearance and 10 years for DV.  A lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

Selecting your locations

Please note only list locations where you are prepared to work and can travel to (as you could be offered any of your noted preferences).

When completing your application, you will have the opportunity to select your preferred location. Please ensure you select the location you are interested in on the understanding that you can be posted to that location. Please note, only advertised locations can be offered.

Reserve List

Where a campaign identifies more appointable candidates than there are available vacancies, a reserve list may be held for up to 12 months.

Reserve lists will be managed by locational merit lists, appointing in merit order per location. You may be offered a post at any of your preferred locations.

Whilst on a reserve list we may offer you an alternative similar role in the Home Office. Should you reject an alternative role, you will remain on the reserve list for the role you applied for. If you accept an alternative role, you will be withdrawn from the reserve list.

Please note there are no guarantees that further vacancies will arise in the locations you originally applied for before your time on the reserve list expires.

Candidates Please Note:

Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. All applications are screened for plagiarism and copying and generating of examples/answers from internet sources including Artificial Intelligence. If any is detected the application may be withdrawn from the process. Further action, including disciplinary action, may be considered in such cases involving civil servants. Providing false or misleading information would be contrary to the core values of honesty and integrity expected of all Civil Servants.

If you are currently an agency member of staff working within the Home Office, a contractor or contingent worker you can only apply for roles that are advertised externally, i.e., outside the civil service. If you are eligible to apply for a role, you are required to select yourself as an external applicant and not internal when submitting your application on Civil Service jobs. This will prevent any delays in pre-employment checks should you become successful in being made an offer of employment after the Interview stage.

Are these Reserved Posts for UK Nationals only?

UK nationals who hold dual nationality are able to apply for this reserved post. If a UK passport is not being presented, then candidates will need to provide alternative evidence of UK nationality in line with the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

Shift working

Candidates Please Note: There is no shift working requirement, and therefore no AHW/AHA allowance available for this role.

Additional Security Checks

As well as successfully obtaining UKSV clearance and passing the right to work and pre-employment screening, anyone who applies to work for Border Force will also be subject to additional Border Force specific security checks to determine their suitability to work for the organisation.

Please see the Home Office Recruitment Privacy Information Notice (PIN) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recruitment-privacy-information-notice for more information on how your details may be shared for the purpose of additional security checks.

Flexible Working

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estates capacity, by Spring 2024.  Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

Every day, Home Office civil servants do brilliant work to develop and deliver policies and services that affect the lives of people across the country and beyond. To do this effectively and fairly, the Home Office is committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best.

We are flexible, skilled, professional and diverse. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and area Disability Confident Leader. We are proud to be one of the most ethnically diverse departments in the civil service. We are a Social Mobility Foundation top 75 employer.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

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.

For further information please see the attached notes for candidates which must be read before making an application.

Existing Civil Servants should note that some of the Home Office terms and conditions of employment have changed. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful in application and should refer to the notes for candidates for further details.

Transfer Terms: Voluntary.

If you are invited to an interview you will be required to  bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks.

Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Any move to the Home Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Additional Security Checks: As well as successfully obtaining UKSV clearance and passing the right to work and pre-employment screening, anyone who applies to work for Border Force will also be subject to additional Border Force specific security checks, as part of the pre-employment process, to determine their suitability to work for the organisation.

Please see the Home Office Recruitment Privacy Information Notice (PIN) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recruitment-privacy-information-notice for more information on how your details may be shared for the purpose of additional security checks.

Please see the Border Force Privacy Information Notice (PIN) on Border Force privacy information notice - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) for more information on how your details may be shared.

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional

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

Feedback

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

Open to UK nationals only.

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.