About the job

Job summary

The Integrated Corporate Services (ICS) is a new shared corporate service, launched in July 2023. It will provide corporate services (HR, Finance, Digital, Commercial, Security and Estates) across the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT).

Our team of just over 300 professionals will be leading the way in how these functions will be delivered in the future. Our ambition is to be the leading provider of integrated corporate services for government and set the standard for quality, efficiency, and innovation in our field.

Our Inclusive Environment

We are building an inclusive culture to make the Department a brilliant place to work where our people feel valued, have a voice and can be their authentic selves. We value difference and diversity, not only because we believe it is the right thing to do, but because it will help us be more innovative and make better decisions.

We offer first-class flexible working benefits, excellent employee well-being support and a great pension. We are fortunate to have a range of excellent staff networks and are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We will support talented people from all backgrounds to build a career and thrive.

We actively welcome applications from anyone who shares our commitment to inclusion. We will fully support candidates with a disability or long-term condition who require adjustments in our recruitment process.

Find Out More

We regularly run events where you can find out more about the department and tips for the application process. You can sign up for upcoming events here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/departmentforenergysecurityandnetzero?

You can also follow our LinkedIn Careers Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/desnz-careers/

Job description

The Estates Strategy Officer role sits within Estates Strategy and Sustainability, part of the Estates and Sustainability Directorate.

The Estates & Sustainability (E&S) Team’ provides great places to work for all DESNZ, DSIT and ICS colleagues, The Strategy and Sustainability team aims to improve all aspects of the department’s estate and operational sustainability by adopting a strategic approach to deliver a smaller, better, and greener estate. The team also provides support and leadership across the Department’s Partner Organisations which include non-ministerial departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies and others.

The Estates Strategy Officer will work to ensure coherence over wider government property strategy, policy and assurance. Practically, it will assist in developing a location plan and coordinate strategies and audits including the Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP), the State of the Estate (SofTE), Government Standard 004 (Property) and other annual and miscellaneous commissions, to Cabinet Office.

We want to hear from you if you would like to join us in taking forward our exciting agenda of making our departments a better and greener place to work.

- Provide support to the Estates Strategy and Sustainability team across the range of workstreams Strategy, Plans, Assurance and Operations.

- Support the coordination and management of data information for property and sustainability activity including assurance commissions, such as SAMP, GovS004, SofTE and others, for the departments and their partner organisations.

- Support the property and sustainability professionalisation of the ICS Estates and Sustainability Team in line with the Government Property Profession (GPP) and Government Property Strategy (GPS) plans.

- Support the development of a joint location plan for the departments and ICS.

- Support partner organisation engagement as required around stakeholder management, coordination of requests for information and assurance.

- Co-ordinate communication opportunities and activities related to estates (property) and sustainability from strategy to assurance, working closely with DSIT and DESNZ Internal Communications colleagues; and support the maintenance of the communications and commissions tracker for the team.

- Provide an administrative role to relevant groups, including partner organisation forums and other meetings arranged by the team, as required.

- Assist with the coordination and delivery of the team’s Learning and Development (L&D) programme and activities.

- As necessary, be prepared to support the roll-out of property (and occasionally sustainability) training for staff across the department and the coordination of responses to Freedom of Information requests, Parliamentary Questions (PQs) and Environmental Information Regulation (EIR), for Estates Strategy and Sustainability.

- As required, other related tasks to support other members of the Strategy and Sustainability team.

Person specification

Skills and Experience 

Essential

- Excellent organisational and prioritisation skills with a focused approach, able to balance demands efficiently and stay on top of the job.

- A self-starter, able to utilise own initiative and abilities to coordinate and track progress against a diverse range of topics to support the team in meeting its objectives and targets.

- Strong, demonstrable time management skills to ensure that objectives are met within required time frames.

- The ability to communicate and influence effectively, both verbally and in writing, to gain support for initiatives and to enable efficient implementation of related policies.

- A flexible approach and able to adapt and react quickly and positively to changing demands and agendas.

- Able to work collaboratively to build links with colleagues at all levels, within the team and across other teams in the department.

- Proficient in Microsoft Office applications, such as SharePoint, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Word etc.

Desirable

- Experience of working in an estates, property or sustainability related role would be beneficial, but not essential.

- A willingness to work towards an appropriate professional accreditation (eg RICS, RIBA. IEMA, IWFM, etc). Learning and development opportunities will be provided to do so.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £31,120, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £8,402 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.

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

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 750 words) to explain why you are applying for the role and how you consider your skills, qualities and experience are suitable for the job, with particular reference to the essential skills and experience set in the job advert.

Please note - the CV incorporated into the application form is for information purposes only and will not be scored.

Applications will be sifted on behavioural statements and personal statement.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the lead behaviour statement (Communicating and Influencing).

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The interview will consist of behaviours and strength based questions.

Sift and interview dates

Expected Timeline subject to change

Sift dates: w/c 08/04/2024

Interview dates: w/c 22/04/2024

Interview Location: MS Teams.

Candidates are asked to note the above timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process.

Further Information

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

We fully support adjustments throughout our recruitment process and we encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section.

We do not have an exhaustive list of adjustments that we support but just some examples include additional time to complete your application form, behaviour questions up to 72 hours prior to interview and having extra time at interview. 

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

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

A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero 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 https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

DESNZ does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home). 

DESNZ cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign.

DESNZ holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

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.