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 an organised individual, who can communicate clearly and confidently with a range of colleagues and stakeholders at all levels?

Would you enjoy helping develop policies and approaches that will help the local roads sector reduce its impacts on the environment and adapt to the changing climate?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

Job description

The advertised role is in the Local Highways Maintenance team within the Highways, Active Travel, and Strategy Division and the successful candidate will join the team at an important and exciting time for the sector. 

The team is responsible for allocating over £1 billion/year of investment into the local highway networks across England, and recently received a transformational funding increase as part of the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement. This will mean an additional £8.3 billion will be invested in local highways maintenance over the next decade on top of existing funding.

We are at a crucial time for the environment. Local highway authorities must play their part in helping the UK reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 and meet our long-term environment targets. We must also ensure that local highways, which provide connectivity for communities and businesses, adapt to the changing climate, and remain resilient to extreme weather events.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

Network North

• Helping the team to design and deliver effective monitoring for funding that has been allocated to local highways maintenance as part of the Network North programme.

Local highways strategy

• Helping develop products that make the case for where strategic intervention is needed in the local highways sector, and communicating potential priorities to Ministers.
• Supporting work to better understand the impacts that local highways are having on the environment and what more government can do to help local authorities deliver better outcomes for nature and health, and reduce carbon emissions.
• Leading work to understand how new advances in data gathering and management, technology and work practices can improve local highways maintenance in England, and to reflect on the role of government in helping deliver better outcomes.

Briefing, correspondence, and visits

• Sharing responsibility for preparing briefing materials for ministerial meetings and visits.
• Sharing responsibility for drafting responses to correspondence and parliamentary questions (of which the team receives large amounts).

For further information, please see the attached Role Profile.

Person specification

About you

We are looking for someone who has good communication skills and can express themselves in a confident and concise manner with colleagues at all levels. You will represent the department both professionally and clearly, ensuring key messages are delivered to both internal and external stakeholders in a timely fashion. You will have exceptional drafting skills with the ability to produce high quality documents.

Excellent organisational skills are required and you will be able to manage and filter workflow as well as organise and prioritise your work to maximise productivity and achieve deadlines. You will have good attention to detail and take pride in producing work to a high standard.

 You would be described as a diligent person, happy to concentrate on your work and do a thorough job even when under pressure. You are ready to react quickly and will be a focused and calm person who can get the job done regardless of the environment you are in.

Additional Information

A minimum of 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. 

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.

https://careers.dft.gov.uk/dftc/ 

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, Experience and Technical skills.

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 applying please look at how your experience relates to the role, and within your CV and Personal Statement please provide detailed evidence of your experience of the following: 

• Experience of working independently on small projects while working to tight deadlines
• Communicating with colleagues and stakeholders, both internal and external, at all levels
• Experience of preparing clear and concise written communications

Please fully utilise the 750-word count when completing your personal statement.

The sift is due to take place from Wednesday 14th February 2024.

Interviews are likely to be held from Wednesday 28th February 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
• a policy exercise

This interview will be conducted online via MS Teams. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You’re encouraged to become familiar with the role profile, as you may be assessed against any of the criteria recorded within.

The Department for Transport alongside other Government Departments recruit using Success Profiles. This means for each role we consider what you will need to demonstrate in order to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

For further information on Success Profiles visit our Careers website.

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.

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.