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.

Do you enjoy collaborating and developing meaningful relationships with a range of stakeholders?

Would you embrace the opportunity to get involved in delivering some of the Department for Transport’s core objectives relating to international policy?

If so, we have a fantastic opportunity available for a Senior Policy Coordination Adviser to join our team, and we would love to hear from you!

Job description

The Transport Sanctions and Ukraine Response Division (TSUR) is part of the newly formed Resilience, Analysis, International and Sanctions Directorate. This Division is focused on leading on both the transport sector response to Ukraine, as well as newly incorporating transport sanctions policy for all regimes. 

The Division is divided into three teams: 

• Transport Sanctions to design and enforce sanctions measures in the aviation and maritime sectors both in the UK and around the world, including applying pressure to end the war in Ukraine.  
• Humanitarian, Impacts and Scenario Planning to support the people of Ukraine, and in particular, the reconstruction and modernisation of Ukraine’s transport infrastructure.
• The Project Management Office/Secretariat to align Ukraine response work across modes to maximise policy impact, ensuring the Department for Transport (DfT) can influence Ukraine policy across Whitehall and contribute to creating advantageous structures to a novel as well as fragmented policy area. 

As Senior Policy Coordination Adviser, you will lead on a hybrid mixture of secretariat, policy and project management workstreams, to ensure the effective governance and operation of the Division. This will require close working with private offices, senior leaders and officials across the Department and Other Government Departments. The role provides a challenging and rewarding chance to be involved in supporting high-profile policy work for the Department on an ad hoc basis. Depending on your skills and interests, you will have opportunities to lead on various policy projects relating to Ukraine.

Your key responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

• Providing line management of one Higher Executive Officer (HEO)
• Planning, coordinating and supporting regular governance meetings across DfT
• Providing strategic oversight of all incoming commissions, and producing briefings for Ministers and senior officials
• Developing and maintaining divisional programme plans, milestone reporting and divisional risk registers
• Providing support to policy colleagues on an ad hoc basis

For further information, please see the attached Role Profile.

Person specification

About You      

You will be an enthusiastic and organised individual who thrives working within a dynamic, fast paced environment. You will have exceptional interpersonal skills, confident communication and be a trusted advisor to a diverse range of contacts. You will be articulate and credible, enabling you to develop positive working relationships with Government Policy teams, private offices, and industry partners.

You will have great self-motivation and drive, enabling you to comfortably work independently whilst eagerly developing and expanding your knowledge base. You will display resilience when faced with ambiguity and will be adept at navigating changing priorities through being flexible and adaptable, enabling you to thrive amidst uncertainty.

Additional Information

This role is available to individuals who wish to be spending their office time in Birmingham, and we would also expect the individual to be willing to travel to alternative DfT office locations, including London.

A minimum 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.

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 Experience.

How to Apply

When considering applying please look at how your experience relates to the role, and within your CV and Personal Statement (maximum 750 words) please provide detailed evidence of your experience of the following:

• Communicating effectively across teams and at all levels.
• Building constructive relationships with a range of stakeholders including policy officials and private offices.
• Experience in a fast-paced role, managing your time to deliver against objectives.
• Experience of drafting high-quality material including briefings.

You are also required to provide a supporting Behaviour Statement (max 250 words) providing evidence for Delivering at Pace.

The sift is due to take place from 17/01/2024.

Interviews are likely to be held from week commencing 05/02/2024.

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

This interview could be conducted online via Teams or face to face at one of our offices. 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 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.