About the job

Job summary

We are recruiting a job-share partner (up to 0.6 FTE) for the engagement brief in the Resilience Policy and Framework Delivery team. The other half of the job-share is currently filled 0.6 FTE Wednesday to Friday.

The Resilience Directorate sits within the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat (EDS). It leads the UK Government's efforts to bolster the UK's resilience.The Resilience Directorate is responsible for driving forward the Government’s work on national resilience, managing the resilience system, resilience frameworks and risk processes. It focuses on medium to long-term risks to the UK. It is responsible for identifying and monitoring potential issues and working across government to develop and stress-test mitigations as well as shaping policy to improve long-term resilience. We work with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders to drive cross-government work to understand risk, mitigate against it where we can and build national capacity and capabilities to meet any challenge.

The work programme we have pursued to date has been guided by the UK Resilience Framework (2022) and is reflected in the recent implementation update (2023). This is a really exciting and interesting policy area to work in, particularly at the point of the political cycle that we are currently in. As a member of EDS, you will be encouraged and supported to undertake personal learning and development as well as lead work on our corporate workstreams to make it a great place to work.

Job description

The Resilience Framework sets out that building our national resilience must be a whole- of-society endeavour. As such, it is imperative that the Resilience Directorate engages extensively with stakeholders right across society to collaborate, influence, seek input, test our thinking, generate action and amplify our messaging. 

This post-holder will be responsible for delivering a proactive and deliberate influencing  strategy which supports reactive and proactive engagement across our policy agenda, ensuring join-up across the Directorate and with other parts of the Cabinet Office which are active in the resilience space. It also looks to manage the scrutiny of progress in the resilience space, including with parliament and its committees, the National Audit Office and external stakeholders

The post holder will be responsible for developing and delivering against a proactive and targeted strategic influencing programme for the Directorate, designed to support progress against our policy agenda, use our resources in the most impactful way and underline and champion the whole-of-society approach to resilience. This will need to be done in collaboration with teams across the Directorate, Cabinet Office and other Government Departments as needed.

The post holder will be required to look across the resilience agenda and understand it at a strategic level to inform, develop and manage approaches to external scrutiny and activity including: in parliament, for Ministers and Senior Officials, at a working level and by themselves. This will require an ability to get to grips quickly with the detail of policy work being carried out across the Directorate.

Given the central and strategic position of this role in the Directorate, there will also be the need to support other leads in delivery of big milestones including, but not limited to: development and delivery of speeches, the Annual Statement to Parliament and civil service events.

Person specification

The right candidate will be able to demonstrate:

• the ability to engage and build relationships with wide-ranging stakeholders and colleagues at all levels, with strong communication skills;
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• sound political judgement, and a firm understanding of the broader political, social and economic landscape;
• a track record of delivering outcomes at pace, in challenging circumstances;
• confidence leading work independently as well as contributing as part of a team;
• ability to work autonomously on complex policy work and do the thinking to develop ways forward;
• comfortable with working with other teams and bringing together a joined up approach;
• working at pace to tight deadlines and well with the rest of the team;
• providing inclusive leadership. 
• providing line management, as required.

Essential skills: 

• Highly developed communication, networking and negotiation skills, with a proven track record in building trust and credibility with colleagues.
• Excellent collaboration and networking skills to build and maintain relationships with a wide range of partners.
• A firm ability to understand the economic, political and social context, and how this relates to government policy; including the ability to engage critically with analysts and multiple sources of information on a topic; as well as to quickly pick up new areas of work.
• The ability to work at pace in a complex multi-stakeholder environment, solving problems and driving progress to cut through a range of competing views.
• The ability to work in a variety of structures, either leading high performing teams, (including stakeholders outside line management structures), working independently, or delivering as part of a team.
• Excellent policy skills, including the ability to assimilate a wide range of information quickly, with excellent drafting skills.

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 £53,400, Cabinet Office contributes £15,876 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.

Application process

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Strengths.

The Behaviours tested during the application will be:

Communicating and Influencing (lead behaviour)
Seeing the Bigger Picture 
Managing a Quality Service
Delivering at Pace 

As part of the application process you will also be asked to provide a CV and a Personal Statement (no more than 250 words). This should outline your skills, experience and achievements, and provide evidence of your suitability for the role with particular reference to the criteria outlined in the advert. Please note that while the Personal Statement will be scored at sift, the CV will not and is for information purposes only.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be undertaken using the lead Behaviour, Communicating and Influencing. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Selection process
The behaviours identified above will be assessed at interview. Candidates will also be asked Strength based questions.

Expected timeline (subject to change)
Expected sift date – [w/c 15th July]
Expected interview date/s – [w/c 29th July]
Interview location - Virtual Google Meets

Reasonable adjustments
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 at: cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the ‘assistance required’ section in the ‘personal information’ page of your application form to provide information we should be aware of that will enable us to support you further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a Language Service Professional.

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

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.

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

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

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

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 /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

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.

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.