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.

Are you a property professional with considerable experience of building environments and leading strategic and operational facilities management across a large portfolio of buildings?

Would you relish an opportunity to shape the Department for Transport’s (DfT) future workplace and evolving spaces strategies?

If so, we have a fantastic opportunity for a Property Professional to join our Workplace, Facilities Management and Sustainability team, and we would love to hear from you!

Job description

Our Group Property provides property leadership across the Department for Transport’s (DfT) agencies and arms-length bodies (ALB) and has direct responsibility for the Department’s central estate covering the whole property lifecycle.

We manage the DfT property portfolio to maximise value, reduce costs and increase returns. Working in our team isn’t just about property, it’s about people, the new transport infrastructure that we enable, and the vital services our buildings support. We also contribute to wider government goals such as ‘levelling up’ through releasing surplus land to support new homes, jobs and public value.

As Head of Workplace and Facilities Management, you will lead our team that provides professional management for a national office estate of 150,000sqm and 3,400 staff, and property and workplace advice to Ministers and senior partners. You will be accountable for the operational delivery of these services across the estate, and driving a culture of service excellence through continuous improvements and commercially sound decisions relating to all aspects of property. This will include ensuring fit for purpose buildings and great workplace experience, by delivering efficient and effective services to meet customer needs and balancing the delivery of the Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP) to support business objectives and ways of working.

Our team is also responsible for delivering Facilities Management and workplace related cross government strategies and the delivery of our office accommodation nationally.

You will also lead on creating, maintaining and implementing sustainability strategy and policy within a property context across the DfT Group and Arm's Length Bodies. You will lead on enabling the department to achieve cross government sustainability aims, including the Greening Government Commitments, and engage with cross government green networks to align departmental work where appropriate and share best practice.

Your key responsibilities will include:

• Providing leadership and direction to the facilities and workplace function with oversight of all facilities services, property management and projects related to operational delivery for the portfolio.
• Leading and managing the Sustainability function, including collaboration with other Government Departments to define and shape Government Property best practice, and across business areas and the ALB to influence business strategies.
• Collaborating with multiple senior leaders to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction, playing a pivotal role in customer liaison, and working collaboratively to ensure a high quality of service.
• Managing interfaces with stakeholders including colleagues in the DfT Change team to ensure that workplaces support ways of working.
• Developing a programme of work and suitable governance arrangements to improve workplace quality and standards.
• Accountability for implementing our health and safety agenda across all areas of the organisation, which complies with all legislative requirements and policies to ensure a safe working environment for all staff and customers.
• Collaborating with colleagues in other teams to ensure the security of our buildings.
• Ensuring best value objectives are met through procurement and cost improvement projects.
• Building and managing multi-disciplinary services teams, empowering teams and individuals to create an environment of excellent delivery and driving inclusive and diverse behaviours.
• Direct line management responsibilities for three G7 colleagues within a team of circa eight people.

Person specification

About you

You will be a property and workplace professional with aspirations to further progress your career. 

You will be an engaging leader, with excellent leadership and stakeholder management skills to build collaborative relationships with a diverse range of senior leaders. You will have experience of providing excellence in customer service, and will demonstrate effective communication, presentational and influencing skills.

You will be resilient, a strategic thinker, comfortable working with data and have the capability to shape and deliver the Department’s future workplace strategies.

You will have experience of driving a health & safety culture, risk management, governance arrangements and control procedures in complex property operating structures. You will either already hold IOSH or NEBOSH General certificate or be willing to work towards this once in role.

You will have experience of supplier and contract management, and the ability to lead and influence supplier relationships at senior level. As you will be dealing with high value contracts, you will either already hold, or will be required to complete the Contract Management Capability Programme (CMCP) and achieve the accreditation at Foundation level once in role.

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. 

Regular travel to other DfT offices will be required with this role.

Please contact either jo.trilloe@dft.gov.uk or alistair.cormack@dft.gov.uk for questions about this role.

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.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

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

How to apply

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

When considering your experience, please tailor your CV and personal statement (maximum word count 1250) to provide evidence of the following experience:

• Leading strategic facilities management and workplace services across a large portfolio of buildings at senior level.
• Developing and delivering smart working principles and creating successful workplace experiences.
• Supplier and contract management, managing Total Facilities Management (TFM) services, and leading and influencing supplier relationships at senior level.
• Driving property and facilities management strategies in a multi-faceted stakeholder environment.

The sift is due to take place from 01/03/2024.

Interviews/assessments are likely to be held week commencing 18/03/2024.

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.

The selection process will be designed specifically for the role. As a result, your assessment will include:

• An interview

This interview could be conducted online via Teams or face to face at one of our offices. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

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.

Pre-employment Checking

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 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.

Pre-employment Checking

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.

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

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.