About the job

Job summary

The Performance team sits with the Performance, Projects, Inquiry & Response (PePIR) division and monitors delivery of the Department’s internal and external commitments.  The team has oversight of reporting on the Department’s key delivery priorities and internal metrics. As part of this role you will work closely with senior leaders across the Strategy & Operations group to support discussions and robust decision making through the department’s People and Operations committee. 

In the Performance team you will be supported by one grade 7 and two HEO posts, including plans to bring in analytical support to challenge and interrogate reporting. 

As a grade 6 you will provide leadership to your team, the division and will be expected to support the leadership of the wider Project Delivery & Major Events Directorate. The PePIR division also includes teams covering Assurance, Project Delivery Centre of Excellence, DCMS Covid Inquiry team and the Incident Response Team.

Please see the candidate pack attached below for further information about the role.

Job description

As Head of the Performance unit you will work closely with the Head of Portfolio and Head of Assurance to monitor delivery of the Department’s internal and external commitments.  

Responsibilities include:

• Manage a team of 3 covering Department reporting and the People & Operations Committee. 
• Support the delivery of DCMS priorities and driving a data driven culture to identify and resolve delivery challenges. You will work closely with analytical, policy and other strategy operations teams in managing and monitoring delivery of internal projects, providing a strategic overview to our delivery. 
• Responsibility for DCMS products including the Outcome Delivery Plan, quarterly reporting and Cabinet Office stocktakes. 
• Work with senior leaders and colleagues to ensure DCMS continues to deliver on Civil Service Modernisation and Reform. 
• Review and adapt to any changes to internal and cross-Whitehall reporting and monitoring following the general election. 
• Play an active role in the leadership of the Directorate and Division.

Person specification

The ideal candidate would have the following key skills and experience. 

Essential requirements:

• Leadership and management: Excellent leadership skills with a track record of supporting a team to successfully deliver at pace while promoting an inclusive culture and high performance. 
• Effective decision making: Ability to proactively support a variety of teams/projects to produce high quality products - including the ability to gather complex data and information, analyse, review and synthesise to create clear narratives and enable effective decision making.
• Working together: A track record of developing and maintaining excellent stakeholder relationships across multiple policy/delivery teams and senior officials and/or Ministers, through managing a quality service offering that meets their needs. 
• Strategic thinking: Ability to spot connections, adapt, work flexibly and responsively in a rapidly changing environment and adjust working style and outputs to meet the needs of ministers and senior officials.

Desirable skills:

• Experience of working in a Delivery Unit, Governance Team, Strategy Unit, Private Office, Project Delivery environment or Central Department.

We are running an information session where prospective applicants can find out more about the role. This will be hosted by Samantha Pigden, and will take place on: Thursday 4th July 2024 at 2pm

The session will be an opportunity to hear more about the role, the team and wider directorate and the department. It will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions.

Please register your interest by filling out this form and you will be sent an invitation. 

Please note that the session will not focus on the DCMS recruitment process - please direct any queries that you have on this topic (timelines, reasonable adjustments, onboarding etc) to recruitment.team@dcms.gov.uk

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,462, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £15,244 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 Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

To apply for this post, please send us the following documents no later than Tuesday 9th July 2024 at 23:55 via the CS Jobs portal:

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages and you should insert your CV into the "Job History" section on Civil Service Jobs on the Civil Service Jobs application form.
• A Statement of Suitability (max 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed.

For the shortlist, we will assess your experience and select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

For support in writing your application and interviewing, please refer to the ‘Application and Interview Guidance’ document attached to the job advert.

The interview process will assess behaviours and strengths and potentially include a presentation which will be provided at interview.

The behaviours to be tested at interview are:

• Leadership
• Making effective decisions
• Working together
• Changing and improving

You will not be made aware of the strengths being assessed prior to your interview. 

As part of your interview, you may be asked to deliver a short oral presentation. Full details of this, including the topic, and whether or not you will need to use visual aids, will be sent to you prior to your interview. 

Your interview will take place remotely via GoogleMeets.

For indicative sift and interview dates please refer to the attached Candidate Information Pack.

Further Information

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

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

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to Department for Culture, Media and Sport 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   

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

DCMS has a London and a National pay scale. For more information on this, including the circumstances in which each pay scale will apply, please see the ‘Information for Applicants’ document.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. 

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. 

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.

Reasonable Adjustment

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process.

In order to request an adjustment, please:

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section on 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 a verbal test rather than a written one. 

Alternatively, contact the Government Recruitment Service via dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility difficulties with any of the attachments, please contact us. Contact details can be found in the 'contact point for applicants' section of the job advert.

Feedback

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 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.