About the job

Job summary

The responsibilities for the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology for 2023 are as follows:

• Positioning the UK at the forefront of global scientific and technological advancement
• Driving innovations that change lives and sustain economic growth
• Delivering talent programmes, physical and digital infrastructure and regulation to support our economy, security and public services
• R&D funding

For 2023, our priorities are:

• Optimise public R&D investment to support areas of relative UK strength and increase the level of private R&D to make our economy the most innovative in the world.
• Promote a diverse research and innovation system that connects discovery to new companies, growth and jobs – including by delivering world-class physical and digital infrastructure (such as gigabit broadband), making the UK the best place to start and grow a technology business and developing and attracting top talent.
• Put our public services – including the NHS and schools – at the forefront of innovation, championing new ways of working and the development of in-house STEM capability to improve outcomes for people.
• Strengthen international collaboration on science and technology in line with the Integrated Review, and ensure our researchers are able to continue to work with leading scientists in Europe and around the world.
• Deliver key legislative and regulatory reforms to drive competition and promote innovation, including the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill and our pro-innovation approach to regulating AI.
• Pass the remaining stages of the reformed Online Safety Bill to keep British people, especially children, safe online.

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/departmentforsciencetechnologyandinnovation?

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

Job description

The Matrix Programme is a transformation initiative involving the Cabinet Office, the Department for Science, Technology and Innovation, the Department for Business and Trade, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Department for Culture Media and Sport, the Department for Education, Department for Health and Social Care, Department for International Trade, Attorney’s General Office and HM Treasury.

The programme is a cross-government collaboration, that will bring together  core functions of a business into a single simplified centre to save time, cut back-office red tape and offer taxpayers better value for money.

The Programme is part of the Shared Services Team, a fantastic team passionate about improving the existing shared services experience for our partners, whilst working to deliver the strategic objectives of the new Government Shared Services Strategy and Vision of the Centre of Excellence.

We will deliver the Government's three overarching objectives for shared services:

1. Better experience for all users - intuitive systems that are easy to use and mobile-enabled.

2. Efficiency and value for money - better systems and services which support productivity and seek to reduce costs.

3. Standardised processes and data - support interoperability, making it easier to understand and compare corporate data.

At the heart of the Matrix programme, is the implementation of a single Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system for the cluster. The Functional Design Team have the overall responsibility to design and configure this future system and are seeking Product Owners to lead on specific functional design areas within this implementation - both HR and Finance.

The post holders will lead on specific core functional areas within the Matrix Programme, ensuring that best practice for policies, processes and operational convergence are embedded into the designed cross departmental system and service model. The specific areas of responsibility will vary depending on the expertise of the candidates applying for these roles.

The roles have no direct line management responsibility and are expected to work collaboratively across the team to achieve common goals.

As Product Owner/Business Change Manager, you will work within the Functional Design Team to help define, explain, and iterate product visions that are compelling to your users, team and stakeholders and you will plan the work for multi-disciplinary teams, helping to build and deliver ambitious product roadmaps.

You will be responsible for collaborating with prospective and current users to understand and anticipate their needs; identify, prioritise and communicate changes in their requirements; pitch ideas for product features; feed into the development of user stories and be a primary contact between the product development teams and stakeholders.

A large ERP implementation such as this, is not ground-up software development and is instead focussed on configuring a single solution to meet our user needs; balancing system capability, user needs and central government direction is key to the success of the role.

This role will report to the Matrix Programme Functional Design Lead, and will work collaboratively across programme workstreams and cluster design teams. You will work with a mixed team of civil servants and contractors that collaborate in a blend of agile service teams and traditional project management environments, working on the functional design of our future ERP in an established programme.

We are looking for someone who is personable and can fit into the team; someone who is enthusiastic, proactive, adaptable and keen to engage across the business and effectively represent our products. You will be able to successfully work in a project delivery environment and be able to hit the ground running.

You will provide visible and effective leadership, lead the business change management activity, working with the programme team and seniors to develop a clear vision and standards and champion the use of best practice business change management standards, tools and processes. You will build strong networks both internally and externally to support and facilitate the change. You will assess and understand the impact on stakeholders to improve the likelihood of their adoption of the change.
You must be a confident communicator, with the ability to inspire, influence and cultivate culture change both with HMG wide seniors and cross functional teams.

Please note: we expect this role to be somewhat hybrid between Product Owner and Product Manager when, in the future, the design nears completion and the design team move into the  business as usual activities, including ongoing iterative transformation post go-live.

This role has been mapped against a Product Owner role within the DDaT Capability Framework. 

Key responsibilities:

Product Owner / Change Manager Responsibilities:

•  Problem Ownership: understands and identifies problems, analysing and helping to identify the appropriate solution.

•  System Analysis: lead on the work of systems analysis to ensure business needs are translated into solutions against identified timelines, and work with technical leads to ensure business needs are translated into the technical solutions.

•  Product Ownership / Change Planning: Captures and translates user needs into deliverables. Establish and maintain change and transition plans.

•  Leadership and Delivery: Provide visible and effective leadership; lead key business change management activity and work with the programme team to deliver the business case benefits and outcomes.

•  User focus / Requirements gathering: Understands users and can identify who they are and what their needs are. Coordinate requirement activities, their validation and sign off, ensuring that the needs of stakeholders are articulated.

•  Change identification and communication: Assess and understand the impact of changes on stakeholders to improve the likelihood of their adoption of the change. Collaborate on Business Change messaging, draft content, and work closely across the cluster to explain the change.

•  Analysis: Lead on identifying potential consequences of a change; qualify, and update the business readiness criteria and ensure that stakeholders are aware and involved before implementation.

•  Benefits: work across the programme to ensure that identified benefits analysis is developed and disseminated to key stakeholders; plan for benefits realisation as part of Business Change activities.

•  Stakeholder Management and Engagement: Lead on engagement with key contacts, both within the cluster and across Government. Ensure that stakeholder management is an ongoing process. Cultivate stakeholder relationships needed to make the transition.

•  Develop clear vision and standards and champion the use of best practice business change management standards, tools and processes.

Additional Functional Design Team Responsibilities:

•  Input to the planning of Workstream activities within the parameters of the Integrated Programme Plan.

•  Input to the engagement of Process experts across the Cluster.

•  Day-to-day management of the design of a defined set of end-to-end functional processes in the new technology solution.

•  Coordinating Process SME inputs and contributions in working groups and workshops.

•  Primary point of contact to partner with Systems Integrator configuration leads.

•  Accountable for engagement across government with respect to their areas of the global design.

•  Raising delivery Risks as appropriate.

•  Responsible for interfacing with other workstreams around dependencies, including Change and Comms.

•  Acting as an escalation point for Design Decisions.

•  Input to the entry and exits of phase gateways during the implementation lifecycle.

•  Responsible for progress tracking and reporting for their respective functional areas against the Integrated Programme Plan.

•  Day-to-day responsible for RAID management.

The above list is not exhaustive, with the lead working alongside other functional, technology, data and people leads to deliver the end to end system and service model.

Person specification

Who we are looking for:

Highly motivated, self-driven, passionate and experienced Civil Servants to join a fast paced and complex Programme.

Experienced Government functional experts in either HR or Finance; preferably with a relevant functional qualification (eg. CIPD/CIMA)

Ability to work with and lead others in a complex environment with a wide variety of stakeholders, business areas, Civil Servants and contractors. 

Capable to network across business areas, and influence counterparts, demonstrating excellent communication and presentation skills.

Experience working on large transformation and/or change programmes, ideally for solutions which have undergone shared service transformation.

Proven track record of defining aligned requirements within complex environments to tight timescales. This includes modern ways of working, keeping it simple & a keen eye to streamline wherever possible to save time.

Experience of working with external delivery partners in a fast-paced programme environment. Relationship building skills with the ability to inspire/influence.

Essential Skills:

•  Outstanding communication and listening skills, with the ability to clearly communicate to several different types of professionals at all levels.

•  Experience working on IT/digital projects and/or delivery of digital services throughout a product life cycle.

•  Experience, skills and techniques to lead service teams and deliver results.

•  Experience and passion for continuous and business improvement.

•  Experience working with project delivery professionals, and understanding their needs.

Desirable skills:

•  ERP implementation and back-office transformation experience is desirable; drawing upon experience of delivering within successful and highly complex cloud ERP implementation and transformation projects.

•  Be a confident facilitator, taking onboard the views of a range of stakeholders and making decisions that align to a common goal.

•  Be an innovative thinker able to help develop, and deliver against, a critical path to a strategic outcome.

•  Demonstrate knowledge of a range of project management techniques and use of project management tools such as MS Visio and MS Projects.

•  Understanding of the Shared Service Strategy for Government and wider cross Government programmes.

•  Understanding and awareness of cloud technology products.

•  It would be beneficial for the post holder to hold one of the following qualifications or demonstrate willingness to work towards it within their first year of employment: APM Project Management (or equivalent), or APMG Change Management Practitioner (or equivalent).

Benefits

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an average employer contribution of 27%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
• A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.

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.

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.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 750 words) to use the role responsibilities and person specification to outline how your skills and experience meet the essential role requirements.

Applications will be sifted on CV and Personal Statement.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the CV.

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

The links to the technical/professional competency framework that candidates will be assessed against, for their reference:

The Project Delivery Capability Framework https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1124745/PDCFv3.pdf

DDaT Capability Framework
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/digital-data-and-technology-profession-capability-framework

The interview will consist of behavioural and technical-based questions.

Sift and interview dates

Expected Timeline subject to change

Sift dates: w/c 08/01/2024

Interview dates: w/c 22/01/2024

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.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

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 Science, Innovation and Technology 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

DSIT 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). 

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign.

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

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service or 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 

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

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.