About the job

Job summary

The Fast Stream and Emerging Talent (FSET) team sits in the Cabinet Office’s Government Skills and Curriculum Unit (GSCU) within the Government People Group (GPG). Established in September 2020 with a mission to ensure suitably qualified and experienced public servants, and a ‘properly resourced Campus for training in Government’. Our first milestone strategy, Better Training, Knowledge and Networks: the New Curriculum and Campus for Government Skills, was published in 2021.

The aim of the Government Campus is to help all civil servants – from entry to senior leadership build the skills, knowledge and networks to serve the government now and in the future. The Government Campus makes it easier to source, select and attend training. We have the following strategic goals:

• Delivery of a unified Campus that is at the heart of learning excellence for the Civil Service, fosters continuous learning, with explicit pathways and binds the work of functions and professions together through shared ownership.
• Delivery of high quality, assured, accessible training that equips our people - from entry to senior leadership - with the skills and knowledge they need to deliver efficiently and effectively for the public.
• A clearly defined, coherent curriculum enabling long-term career pathways.
• To be a data-driven, learning organisation that is committed to impact evaluation and using skills insights to actively manage and deploy its workforce.

The FSET DD works to the Director of GSCU, collaborating closely with the Government Campus, Government Curriculum and Leadership College for Government teams.

FSET is responsible for attracting, recruiting, training and retaining Civil Servants who reflect the country and are equipped to meet the challenges of modern government. This includes creating a high status and high-quality pipeline for future leaders; comprising schools outreach, Internships, Civil Service Apprenticeships and the Fast Stream programme. We have a portfolio of ‘in-flight’ change underway to align all early entry and progression routes to the skills agenda, for example schools outreach to attract applicants from across the country, internships to develop employability skills, higher quality and relevant apprenticeships, and a graduate entry and Fast Stream programme which meet the government’s current and future workforce needs.

Notably, the complex Fast Stream 2024 reform programme has reached the three-year milestone, the next three years are critical in terms of meeting delivery objectives and embedding a new Fast Stream operating model to enable more efficient and effective delivery of the Fast Stream.

The FSET portfolio is a Civil Service People Plan priority and a key enabler of the Government Modernisation and Reform agenda

Job description

Head of Fast Stream and Emerging Talent, Deputy Director (SCS1), Government Skills and Curriculum Unit, Government People Group, Cabinet Office Line Manager: Director (SCS2), Government Skills and Curriculum Unit, GPG

The FSET Deputy Director plays a key role in leading the development of entry and progression routes across the Civil Service. The post holder leads day to day operational delivery of programmes as well as the development of early talent capability strategy and design and delivery of government reform objectives.

The role holder will lead a team of approximately c.170 across multiple locations and directly line manage the FSET Senior Leadership Team team which consists of 8 Grade 6’s.

Working in a complex, cross system role the role holder will provide thought leadership and have excellent communication and influencing skills to deliver on the FSET purpose:

Purpose

• To be expert providers of emerging talent interventions across the Civil Service.

We strive to:

• Be leaders of best practice in design, delivery and evaluation from assessment process to curriculum content and strategy
• Enable participants to reach their potential with better training, knowledge and networks
• Influence and collaborate so that activities are integrated into the system-wide talent and capability strategies
• Deliver outstanding customer service for departments, functions, professions, candidates, interns, apprentices and fast streamers.

Key Responsibilities 

• Providing exemplary strategic and operational leadership to the Fast Stream and Emerging Talent team of c.170, across multiple locations.
• Leading attraction, selection and onboarding for the Civil Service Fast Stream, ensuring a continuous flow of talent to all corporate functions and professions.
• Leading on-scheme delivery and training design for c.2000 Fast Streamers across the Civil Service, ensuring processes are in place to support and nurture the development of knowledge, skills and networks.
• Leading agile implementation of the Fast Stream 2024 reform programme, digital transformation and continuous improvement of the Fast Stream recruitment platform, working closely with internal digital partners, psychologists, external delivery partners and senior stakeholders.
• Developing and implementing a Places for Growth aligned Emerging Talent strategy that creates clear entry and progression pathways for new and existing civil servants at the start or early stages of their career, and that offers opportunities to progress and develop their skills in accordance with the Government Curriculum.
• Creating and delivering a new Schools Outreach programme. This will deliver a range of measures from organising events for schools to promote roles and routes in the Civil Service to creating STEM-focussed materials for schools/colleges.
• Continuing to support and enable departments to embed the Civil Service 2022-2025 Apprenticeship Strategy and to improve against the measures set out in the strategy such as at least 5% of Civil Service headcount should be apprentices on programme and the overall percentage of apprentices employed in each region should reflect the local Civil Service workforce size.
• Delivering a reformed internship offer to support employability skills and broaden entry routes into the Civil Service.

Person specification

It is important that, through your CV and supporting statement, that you provide evidence of the professional skills, breadth of experience and personal qualities for this post.

Essential Criteria:

Essential skills:

• Outstanding leadership skills, with the ability to articulate an inspiring vision, and engage and motivate people to deliver in line with business objectives.
• Being comfortable and flexible in working with ambiguity, resilient under pressure, and can work effectively in a complex and changing environment.
• Highly articulate with strong stakeholder engagement and influencing skills, including the capability to build the trust of and challenge the most senior members of the CS leadership community.

Essential Knowledge:

• A good understanding of designing, delivering and evaluating emerging talent programmes, interventions and strategies.
• Practical knowledge of change delivery and organisational design and development theory, tools and techniques.

Essential Experience:

• Strong track record of large-scale operational leadership in a complex, regulated, and politically-sensitive environment. 
• Experience of leading a BAU agenda, alongside a programme of change.
• Demonstrable experience of delivering transformational change or continuous improvement programmes (including digital) inclusive of agile development of systems.
• Experience of working with, and advising senior leaders (e.g. Ministerial level) on highly complex strategic issues.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £75,000, Cabinet Office 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

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process, outlined below. This should be completed no later than 12:00pm on  22nd December 2023.

A CV (max 1250 words) 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 (max 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.

Failure to submit both portions of the online application form (CV and Statement of Suitability) will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

If you are shortlisted, you may be asked to take part in a series of assessments which could include psychometric tests and/or a staff engagement exercise. These assessments will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

Full details of the assessment process will be made available to shortlisted candidates.

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

Expected timeline (subject to change)

Expected sift date – w/c  8th January 2024.

Expected interview date/s – w/c 29th January 2024.

Reasonable adjustments
If a person with disabilities is put 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 at: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
• Complete the ‘assistance required’ section in the ‘personal information’ page of your application form to provide information we should be aware of that will enable us to support you further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Further information

Any move to Cabinet 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 here.

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies in the Civil Service requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without the need for a new competition.

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.