About the job

Job summary

Cities and Local Growth Unit (CLGU) is a joint unit serving Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). We organise ourselves by area, and the job here to lead the team covering West Yorkshire. That makes it one of the biggest and highest profile roles we have on offer. 

You’d lead a team of three people, nested in a wider team of about twenty covering Yorkshire and NE England. Doing what?  

Some of the job is reactive: trouble shooting problems; responding to local events; handling parliamentary business; finding candidates for new pathfinder projects; helping to land investments; supporting or assessing bids for funding 

Some of it is about assuring the delivery of our projects with a collective spend of over £1billion: more Town Deals than any other of our areas; Levelling Up Fund awards; Shared Prosperity Fund; and working with the Mayoral Combined Authority to grow the success of their devolution deal – and possible extension. You’ll support your strong team leading much of this work, but you’ll need to look across the funding picture, and sometimes get involved in politically sensitive calls. 

And as much as possible is about shaping. What should Government do to drive the economy of West Yorkshire, and what needs to happen to make the benefits real for all communities? After a few months in post, you will be the civil servant who can answer that question; and you will be working with teams in both Departments and with a whole range of other stakeholders to make the vision a reality. 

Two key points about how you’ll work. First, you won’t do any of that in isolation. Underpinning all you do will be a strong relationship with public and private sector partners across West Yorkshire. You’ll need to be good at talking and better still at listening. You won’t be an expert in any one topic, but you’ll need to work with experts in different fields and bring their insights together in the place where you are the expert: West Yorkshire. 

Secondly, we want you to contribute to the life of the wider leadership team: working with colleagues across the two regions, and being an effective contributor to how we evolve as a national unit. 

There aren’t many jobs like these: so much range, so outward-facing, lots of autonomy.

Job description

• You’ll develop, working with local and regional partners, a strategic approach to growing the West Yorkshire economy, and realising the benefits of that for everyone. This will include but is certainly not limited to: helping build the business for major transport proposals by bringing out their long term economic impacts; working with Town Boards to bring new life to towns like Dewsbury, Castleford, and Keighley; and developing the pipeline of investments that will really make a difference to the economy of West Yorkshire.
• You’ll assure the delivery of funded central Government programmes and projects in West Yorkshire: Town Deals, LUF awards, Levelling Up partnerships, Future High Streets, and others. In particular, your role will be to understand problems as they arise; ensure clear understanding between local delivery partners and central Departments; and deal sensitively with political issues as they arise.
• You’ll be the voice of West Yorkshire in Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and so far as possible across Government, ensuring that West Yorkshire’s huge potential and main “asks” are visible and understood.
• You’ll have three other people in your team, and you’ll be responsible for getting the best out of them, helping them develop and learn; and of course discharging basic management responsibilities.
• You’ll contribute to the wider life of the team. You’ll work closely with two other team leaders covering other areas of Yorkshire, and with our colleagues in the North East: you’d be a key player in the Area Director’s leadership team. But we’ll also want you to make a national contribution: bringing a local perspective to the ongoing management of the local growth ecosystem, and supporting the development of the unit as a joint enterprise between two Departments. 

Person specification

Essential Criteria 

• Ability to get to grips with a range of public policy themes, see how they fit together, and formulate advice and recommendation. 
• Ability to work well with a range of partners in a complex environment.
• Ability to communicate clearly and persuasively, in speech and writing. 
• Ability to inspire and challenge colleagues, whether direct reports or peers. 

Desirable Criteria  

• Understanding of local economic development issues. 
• Understanding of the Government’s levelling up programme.

Personal Attributes & Skills 

You’ll be happiest in this job if you like working with people both internally and especially externally to your organisation to address complex problems. (Note that this isn’t code for “extrovert”. 

You’ll need to be comfortable representing the organisation in external engagements, where we won’t always have the same view on the world as external partners, and we need to work through that constructively without muffling our views. 

You’ll be comfortable with a degree of ambiguity; and of uncertainty. Things can come in overnight that have interest up to Prime Ministerial level; and priorities and opportunities can change over time.  

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £53,560, Department for Business and Trade contributes £14,461 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.

Interviews for this vacancy will be conducted virtually. We will, however, consider in-person interviews by exception.

Please ensure that you check your emails regularly as all updates from us will be sent to you this way.

To apply for this post, you will be asked to complete the following as part of the online application:    

1. A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Provide employment history that relates to the essential 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. 
2. A Personal Statement of up to 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 criteria.   

After the closing date It is likely that the sift will take place 1-2 weeks after the closing date and interviews 3-5 weeks after the closing date though this is subject to change. 

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial short sift will be conducted on the CV only. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.   

As part of your interview, you will be asked to deliver a short oral presentation, details will be provided prior to your interview.  

This role is available in Leeds and can only be worked from within the UK, not overseas. Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DBT, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

Reasonable Adjustments

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: 

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. 

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

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

Candidate Support

You may want to join a virtual Candidate Support Session. These sessions include helpful tips and advice on the recruitment process, from application to interview.  

Please see attached Candidate Pack for further information on: Diversity and Inclusion; Benefits; Learning and Development; Working Patterns and what we deliver as a department. 

Further Information: 

• A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Reserve Lists will be for each location and appointments made in merit order based on location preferences.    
• Any move to the Department for Business and Trade from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. 
• The Department will not consider sponsoring a visa or issuing a Certificate of Sponsorship. We are unable to offer advice on any Visa and Immigration cases.   
• 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. Any applicant who has 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.   
• Terms and Conditions are attached.  Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.   
• Please note – the successful candidate will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of 18 months before being released for another role. 

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.  

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.