About the job

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Senior Executive Officer within the DLUHC Scotland Team, playing a key role in supporting the policy and operational delivery of the UK Government’s flagship Levelling Up agenda in Scotland. This is an important role that will help us deliver key Levelling Up programmes in Scotland, as well as help us ensure Scotland’s voice is heard within the design of new programmes and interventions.

Job description

We are seeking a strong and dynamic team player. You will support work across a wide range of internal and external partners including key local and regional stakeholders, Scottish local authorities, the Scottish Government, the Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland and other Government Departments to help drive economic growth and deliver the Government’s ambition to level up. You will support the delivery of major funding programmes including the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund, the Community Ownership Fund, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the Green Freeport programme, the Investment Zones programme and the new Levelling Up Partnerships programme, making a real difference to communities both in Scotland and across the UK. 

You will be a key support to partnership work with local leaders and stakeholders to develop and deliver plans to boost local economic growth, to ensure our expertise and knowledge of places informs the development of tailored and effective policies and investments to improve places across Scotland. We are a well-regarded team, priding ourselves on our collaborative approach and inclusive nature, and provide an excellent platform for everyone to further their career.

Responsibilities:

•    Supporting the delivery of funding programmes including the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund, UK Shared Prosperity Fund, UK Community Ownership Fund, Levelling Up Partnerships, Investment Zones and Green Freeports across Scotland. 
•    Representing the UK Government and working with stakeholders in Scotland to ensure the unique ambitions, challenges and opportunities for economic growth across the nation inform the development of new initiatives.
•    Building and maintaining relationships with local authorities and other key external stakeholders, supporting them to access funding opportunities and using these relationships to identify solutions should delivery issues arise. 
•    Carrying out research and analysis to evaluate the impact of emerging issues and support the development of solutions, maintaining a good understanding of the local economic growth picture in Scotland. 
•    Establishing strong relationships with colleagues in DLUHC and across the UK Government to provide strategic local knowledge and insight for the development and delivery of projects. 
•    Leading work on specific topics and preparing high quality briefing materials for Ministers and Senior Civil Servants in relation to own area of responsibility.  
•    Ensuring places submit programme level returns on time and use agreed performance management framework to ensure consistent delivery across all funds. 

Person specification

You will be a dynamic individual with the ability to deliver at pace to meet the demands of a fast-moving policy agenda. You will contribute to the work of the team in a flexible and supportive way. You will approach relationships with all stakeholders (internal and external) in a constructive and solutions-focussed manner. 

Essential:
•    Excellent communication and influencing skills. 
•    Highly dynamic and capable of delivering at pace. 
•    Experience of stakeholder management.
•    Knowledge of the economic growth landscape within Scotland.

Desirable:
•    Previous experience of working with partner organisations, including local authorities, especially in the area of local economic growth, would be an advantage.
•    Experience of UKG levelling up funding streams.
•    Analytical skills.

All candidates are told in the Candidate Pack: All staff are responsible for ensuring that there is no relevant conflict of interest between their interests outside work and their role at the Department. You will be asked to declare any perceived, actual or potential conflicts of interest within the application form. Before applying for any role at DLUHC, candidates are advised to read the outside interests guidance available on the gov website which can be accessed using the link below. Any perceived, actual or potential conflicts of interest will need to be explored and discussed with the vacancy manager.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/declaration-and-management-of-outside-interests-in-the-civil-service/declaration-and-management-of-outside-interests-in-the-civil-service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £38,732, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £10,457 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 and Strengths.

We are for everyone 

 

At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation. 

  

We would strongly recommend that applicants get in touch with the vacancy manager to find out more information about this role.  

 

We are for everyone 

 

DLUHC want to bring in a diverse workforce at all levels.  

 

Our application system is designed to remove as much bias as possible from the recruitment system – this means that a hiring manager does not know your name, your details, see your whole application in one go (or have your CV at review stage unless stated otherwise).  

 

At application stage you will be asked to upload a CV document. Unless stated otherwise in the advert, your CV will not form part of the assessment but will be used for information purposes and only shared with the panel at interview stage. 

 

Your answers are randomised and chunked up. This means that each assessor views sets of responses to questions for example all candidates’ responses to ‘Seeing the Big Picture’ rather than seeing a candidate’s full application. The science behind this is that recruitment can be subject to ordering and fatigue effects and we want to reduce this as much as possible.  

 

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors. 

 

When writing your application, remember: 

• The assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially.  
• Do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers.  
• If talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!) 

 

 

At sift, we will be assessing 

 

Behaviour 1 (lead behaviour) - Working Together

 

Behaviour 2 - Making Effective Decisions 

 

Behaviour 3 - Communicating and Influencing 

 

Behaviour 4 - Delivering at Pace 

 

There is a 250 word limit per question. 

 

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progress straight to assessment/interview  

 

 

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of the following success profiles elements:    

Behaviour – Working Together, Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace 

Strength 

The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.  

 

In the full campaign we will test the below Success Profile Elements: 

 

Behaviours: (Working Together, Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace)  

Strengths: (Yes) 

 

We do not consider direct CV applications to our Recruitment mailbox – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs 

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign. 

SEO salary 

• The salary for this role is £38,732. 

• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges. 

 
Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.   

BENEFITS: 

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018: 
Any move to DLUHC 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 

For further information about the benefits available to DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack. 

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: 

• Edinburgh

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role. 

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES: 

Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 22/01/24 with interview dates to be confirmed. All interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall. 

Reserve List 
 
In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list. 

CTC (Counter-terrorism Clearance): 

Important note 

 
Successful candidates for roles based in our 2 Marsham Street building must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check and the process can take up to 8 weeks to complete. 
 
Please note that successful candidates will need to pass the CTC security checks – this requires you to have been resident in the UK for the past 3 years. Please refer to the DLUHC Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Counter Terrorism Clearance (CTC). Thank you. 
 
Candidates should also note that with effect from 1st August 2018 the department will also check all applicants who are successful at interview, against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD) held by the Cabinet Office. In accordance with the Civil Service Internal Fraud Policy, any applicant who is included on the IFD will be refused employment by DLUHC. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database. 

Candidate Pack Information 

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the DLUHC candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules 

 

Internal Fraud Database 

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.  

For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register 

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 counter-terrorist 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.