About the job

Job summary

We recognise the challenges that people with protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities.

Do you want to make the case for championing the role of planning, housing and transport in the UK economy?

Do you enjoy working with a range of stakeholders from policy colleagues, devolved administrations, other government departments and senior partners?

Can you high deliver quality analysis to resolve complex, high-profile and contentious questions?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Job description

We have a fantastic opportunity to lead producing analysis within the Economy, Union & Levelling Up (EULU) Directorate on planning, housing and transport and Union Connectivity. EULU covers a high-profile portfolio delivering on the Department for Transport’s strategic priority to ‘Grow and Level Up the Economy’. Sitting within the, Technology & Strategy Group, the Directorate is a focal point for cross-cutting work that touches all the Department’s policy areas.

The role will suit someone comfortable with engaging with analysts and policy colleagues across a range of high-profile policy issues. An able analyst with experience of juggling competing demands, you should be comfortable working collaboratively across team boundaries to build strong relationships that support your delivery objectives. You will have a strong professional background with experience of developing analysis to support policy making. 

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Building the department’s understanding of the impact of the impact of integrated land use and transport on growth.
• Reviewing and providing input into business cases around housing and development issues working alongside Homes England, DLUHC, and TfL and other organisations.
• Bringing together analysis on housing and transport across DfT and forging strong working relationships with analysts in Transport Appraisal and Strategic Modelling (TASM), and Local transport teams.
• Working with devolved administrations, and other key DfT and external stakeholders to understand how to improve connectivity in UK regions and improve UK-wide data to drive better policy making and analysis.
• Working with academics to expand the evidence base around the key policy areas and complex issues like wider environmental impacts including planning, landscape and biodiversity.
• Line management responsibility for one Assistant Economist.

For further information, please see the attached Role Profile

Person specification

About you:

You will demonstrate strong analytical expertise and a track record of producing high quality analytical work and display the ability to explain complex issues clearly, concisely to influence policy colleagues and senior stakeholders.

You will display excellent interpersonal skills to build strong relationships across DfT and other government departments. You will have strong problem-solving and influencing skills to help broker solutions.

You will have strong organisational skills; able to not only plan but also reassess workloads and discuss priorities if situations change or you face conflicting demands. You will be able to identify risks, issues and opportunities; the initiative to act on these and the judgement to decide when to escalate.

To be successful in this role you will have the following experience:

• Building and maintaining productive working relationships with key organisations and external senior stakeholders.
• Working collaboratively and creatively to demonstrate analysis.
• Being a trusted advisor to senior officials/executives.
• Communicating clearly, honestly and persuasively with your team, colleagues and stakeholders.
• Developing and managing ways of measuring the quality and impact of your engagement.
• Drawing together and presenting reasonable conclusions from a wide range of incomplete and complex evidence and data – able to act or decide even when details are not clear.
• Communicating complex evidence with clarity and authority to influence decisions and promote the value of analysis in decision making.

Additional Information:

A minimum 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. 

There may be occasions where you will be required to travel to other DfT offices and attend meetings and visits around the UK.

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.

https://careers.dft.gov.uk/our-agencies/department-for-transport-central/

Things you need to know

Selection process details

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

How to Apply

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: 

• Building and maintaining productive working relationships with key organisations and external senior stakeholders.
• Communicating clearly, honestly and persuasively with your team, colleagues and stakeholders.
• Developing and managing ways of measuring the quality and impact of your engagement.
• Drawing together and presenting reasonable conclusions from a wide range of incomplete and complex evidence and data – able to act or decide even when details are not clear.

Please fully utilise the 1000 word count when completing your personal statement.

The sift is due to take place from week commencing 8th July 2024.

Interviews are likely to be held from week commencing 22nd July 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.

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process from the GES Technical Framework 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk):

• Application of Knowledge
• Analysis of Data

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.

Current Civil Servants (all contract types) will need to ensure that they are still employed as a civil servant at the point of starting in the relevant new post. If their contract ends (e.g. end of FTA contract or resignation) at any point during the recruitment/onboarding process for the advertised role, they will no longer be eligible and may be withdrawn.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.