About the job

Job summary

The Department: 

Government People Group (GPG) is a large business unit of the Cabinet Office with around 610 staff bringing together back office services across the government. It supports the Civil Service with high-volume HR and finance processes, aligning with the Government's modernisation agenda. Established in August 2020, it covers Shared Services, Government Recruitment, Civil Service and Royal Mail Pensions, and the Platforms and Services to support these. GPG delivers services for around 480,000 civil servants across government, it supports 1.5m pension scheme members alongside Royal Mail and provides recruitment services for around 70% of all Civil Service recruitment.

We are looking for a Performance Analyst to join us in the Government People Group (GPG) within the Cabinet Office, a unit that offers back-office services for the whole of government, on key areas such as HR, Finance, Pensions, and shared services. You will help to measure and improve our Civil Service Jobs platform and wider recruitment service.

Our team: We are a digital team made of Service, Product and Delivery Managers, Business Analysts, User Researchers, Content, Interaction and Service Designer, and we are looking to grow our team to enhance our digital capability. You will work closely with the Product, UCD and BA functions and the programme hubs Benefits Manager.

Civil Service Jobs is used by over 4 million candidates per year to find and view vacancies across the Civil Service. Each year it handles over 2 million applications and advertises 140,000 posts. The live service is used by 219 organisations to advertise their vacancies and manage their recruitment processes. Currently, Civil Service Jobs is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) provision that has been configured and enhanced to meet Civil Service recruitment, digital and security standards. 

Along with the live service, we are running a Recruitment Transformation programme, looking at what the future service should look like. We’ve completed our Discovery and Alpha phases, where we did extensive user research and prototype design, to explore our user needs and potential solutions for the biggest areas of improvement. 

We’ve decided that our service needs to be procured rather than building our own, so we’ve now moved into the Beta procurement phase, which will result in appointing a new technology platform provider by summer 2024, followed by a build and migration phase to be completed by the end of 2025.

Job description

What you’ll work on:

You will join our cross-functional agile delivery team focusing on transforming Civil Service Jobs, and helping to redesign how the service should be delivered in the future. 

We follow the DDAT job description model for Performance Analyst. We'd expect the role to have a good understanding of the Government Digital Service Manual, the GDS Design System, and our Technology Code of Practice.

We’re looking for people who are passionate about creating accessible services that are simple enough for everyone to use.

As a Performance Analyst you will:

● Be responsible for the performance analysis in your given area and help the project teams measure and assess outcomes: for example, what good looks like and how it will be measured.
● Create performance frameworks with the wider team, including identifying reporting
requirements, working with developers, advising on procurements, implementation and validation of tools.
● Identify, collect and analyse the right data from online and offline data sources to provide delivery teams with the insights they need to design successful digital services.
● Use web analytics tools (including Google Analytics) to analyse user behaviour trends, identify potential problems, and suggest improvements.
● Work with user researchers to understand user behaviour and identify where user experience can be improved.
● Provide recommendations for action based on data in easily understandable and
engaging ways - such as show and tells, blog posts, dashboards.
● Work independently, although you know to seek guidance when necessary.
● Be engaged with, and actively contribute to, the Cabinet Office and government performance analysis community.

Your role: As the Performance Analyst, you will be responsible for measuring the performance of our digital services, investigating user behaviours and identifying opportunities for improvement. Your insights will drive prioritisation, helping the product team to focus on resolving key unmet and underserved needs.

You will work within the Civil Service Jobs multidisciplinary agile team to refine our Performance Framework, defining our baseline metrics for our current service and working with the team to identify appropriate service targets and goals. 

Having defined “what success looks like” you will lead on monitoring and analysing our service performance using data to inform hypotheses and implementing tracking to enable accurate data insights which are communicated appropriately. 

You will analyse user behaviour on our digital services, identifying where users struggle and investigating why (such as unclear content). You will focus on digital analytics for our service but will need to ingest/analyse data from other sources.

One of the key tasks for us is to baseline our service performance so we can effectively measure ourselves going forward: we are very keen to have a Performance Analyst to help with this and enable us to make data-driven product decisions daily. Civil Service Jobs is a complex and key platform that enables millions to apply for jobs in government, so ultimately you will contribute to making the Civil Service a better place and will help people find meaningful careers.

Within GPG, we have job networks for each digital role - you will be able to collaborate with and get support from other Performance Analysts, Data Analysts and Data Science experts.

Person specification

Essential criteria:

● Undertaking analysis and providing insight. You understand and can help teams apply a range of techniques to analyse data and provide insight. You are proactive and can present compelling findings that inform wider decisions. You know how to apply innovative approaches to resolve problems. You have experience in digital analytics and data analysis.
● User-centred analysis. You can use quantitative and qualitative data about users to turn user focus into outcomes. You know how to deliver analysis and information that addresses stakeholder needs and provides recommendations. You are comfortable collaborating with user researchers and other user-focused professions. You know how to guide others on approaches to understand user stories.
● Verification and validation of data and analysis. You recognise and identify appropriate ways to collect, collate and prepare data, and can decide if data is accurate and fit for purpose. You know how to perform data preparation and cleansing with limited guidance.
● Performance measurement. You can participate in discussions determining which performance measurements are appropriate. You have experience in turning business needs and goals into performance measures. You understand the core technical concepts related to the role and can apply them. You have a good understanding and hands on experience working with web analytics with tools such as Google Analytics.
● Communicating analysis and insight. You understand the appropriate media to communicate findings. You can shape and share communications relevant to the audience. You can give tactical recommendations. You are able to provide insights and present them in a clear and concise manner, including the senior and non-technical audiences.
● Understanding analysis across the product life cycle. You understand how the needs of the team and product vary across the product life cycle. You can ensure the team is measuring performance as appropriate for the relevant service standard phase. 

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 will also count towards this level of attendance.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,850, Cabinet Office contributes £11,029 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, Experience and Technical skills.

Application process

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.

Stage 1 - Sift
Assessed against the essential criteria using:
● CV
● Personal statement (1,000 words max)

Stage 2 - Online Interview may include a presentation
Assessed against the Technical Skills and Behaviours listed in this advert.

Selection process

An initial sift will be conducted on the CV and Personal Statement. Candidates successful at the sift stage will
be invited to interview. Interviews will be held virtually and more information will be provided once you
progress to the interview stage.

Expected timeline (subject to change)

Expected Sift date/s –  w/c 27th May
Expected interview date/s –  w/c 3rd June
Interview location - Online

Further Information

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to Cabinet Office 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 and Disclosure Scotland 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. 

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk 

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

Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

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.

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

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: 

Contact Government Recruitment Service via cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. 

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in 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 if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional. 

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

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.