About the job

Job summary

The Head of Strategy & Governance, Commercial role is a key and critical strategic leadership position within the Commercial Directorate. 

The Head of Strategy & Governance will work closely with the Commercial Director and their deputies to shape and deliver priority and crosscutting work for the director including leadership of our communications and engagement programme, our organisational design and implementation of our strategic priorities. This is in addition to managing the Commercial Governance programme of the Department that comprises oversight of commercial activities such as spend controls, commercial transparency obligations, and wider commercial standards. The successful candidate will manage a contract as part of this role and will be expected to complete the relevant Contract Management training.

Job description

DCMS Commercial is an agile and dynamic team with a positive culture. We embrace change and drive continuous improvement. 

We have undergone a major transformation to ensure that commercial data and expertise lie at the heart of policy making and delivery, and to ensure we develop a community of highly skilled commercial professionals. 

We provide a breadth of commercial, procurement and delivery services that enable DCMS and our public bodies to deliver great, orderly public services and good value to the taxpayer.

The Directorate has a core role in ensuring that DCMS and its Arms Length Bodies act as a responsible buyer, by delivering commercial outcomes that:

• meet regulatory requirements, and;
• maximise social impact.

The successful candidate will be expected to work across teams to represent the Commercial Director and deliver success in the Directorate’s priorities. 

The role will oversee strategic business initiatives, assist and communicate with the SCS in decision-making, program management, and initiative implementation and work across teams to improve current processes and optimise organizational procedures for efficiency and productivity.

Additionally, it is expected that the successful candidate will work across the Director’s budgetary and staffing priorities.

Person specification

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

Essential requirements:

• Experience of strategic oversight for a corporate function e.g. Commercial or Finance.
• Substantial stakeholder communications and engagement experience, leading on messaging for leadership teams with significant experience of working with senior leaders. including Director-level colleagues.
• People management experience - including managing junior staff and multi-site people management. Including managing and leading colleagues not necessarily in the line management chain.
• Workplace culture and change management leadership, overseeing change programmes for people and organisations.
• Substantial experience in an environment of changing priorities.
• Understanding of commercial or procurement environments.

Desirable skills:

• Budget Management Experience
• An understanding of control environments such as government commercial spend controls.
• Contract Management skills and/or a willingness to become an accredited contract manager.

We are running an information session where prospective applicants can find out more about the role. This will be hosted by James Fleming, and will take place on:

Wednesday 13 March at 12pm.

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 Sunday 24th March 2024 23:55 pm 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 3 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 1000 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.

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

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.

The behaviours to be tested at interview are:

• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service
• 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

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

Any move to DCMS 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

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. 

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.  

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.

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 the vacancy is offered as FTA/Loan, existing Civil Servants must join on a Loan basis only., Prior agreement to be released on loan must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

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.

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. 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.