About the job

Job summary

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) 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 want to lead and improve the publication and dissemination of one of the Department for Transport’s most high-profile National statistics series?

Would you relish the opportunity in leading a range of challenging projects to improve the evidence base for road safety, and impact key policy decisions?

If so, we would love to hear from you!

Job description

The Road Safety Statistics team manages the collection, publication, and dissemination of road casualty statistics, which are among the most widely used of any of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) statistical series and support one of its most high-profile policy areas with a wide range of internal and external users.

The team also has a stretching programme of work to develop data collection, publication, and dissemination pipelines to improve the efficiency of the team’s processes and help to develop the road safety evidence base.

Our team is part of the Travel and Environment Statistics Division which is embedded within a policy directorate focused on locally managed transport. We work closely with policymakers, other statisticians, modellers, economists and social researchers across the Department. It oversees a policy area with wide interest outside DfT, including local authorities; academics and researchers; road safety charities and the general public. The team’s publications are among the most viewed of any DfT statistics demonstrating this wide interest. 

This is an exciting time to join the team, with a new road safety strategic framework imminent, and the team’s statistics used to inform high-profile policy areas including e-scooters, drink and drug driving, driver seatbelt wearing and mobile phone use.

In this wide-ranging role you will lead the team’s work on publication, dissemination and analysis. This is a challenging and rewarding post that offers a fantastic chance to be involved in a variety of high profile topics and is likely to provide development opportunities across a range of areas, including leadership and people management skills. 

Responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Overall project management of the team’s three main reported road casualty publications, including the annual Reported Road Casualties Great Britain report, managing inputs from colleagues and continually reviewing and developing the team’s outputs.
• Leading continued development implementation of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines and automation across the team’s processes, including data validation and quality assurance, and migration of processes to Google Cloud Platform.
• Managing delivery of a project to deliver an improved data dissemination platform for road casualty statistics, to replace the team’s existing data download tool (which supports a wide range of users).
• Assisting the Grade 7 team leader in developing the team’s future data strategy and to contribute to addressing road safety evidence gaps, for example by linking road casualty data to other sources, including fire service and hospital data.
• Developing new analysis to meet the needs of road safety policymakers as required, for example contributing to analytical work in support of the forthcoming road safety strategic framework or explore topics of interest (recent examples including e-scooter casualties and the link between deprivation and road casualties).
• Line management of a Higher Statistical Officer.

For full details please refer to the Role Profile.

Person specification

About you

To be successful, you will need to have experience of in working with data in spreadsheets and databases, including being able to use a coding language, for example SQL or R. You should also have experience of producing official statistics (or similar reports) and ensuring data adheres to the Code of Practice for statistics or an equivalent standard.

We’re looking for someone with excellent analytical and project management skills. You can present and visualise data effectively and are comfortable leading and managing people and projects. Very organised, you will have the ability to co-ordinate workloads and deliver results and will thrive in a fast paced environment. 

You will have strong interpersonal skills and the capability to build constructive relationships with multidisciplinary teams across the Department and with external stakeholders. 

Please note : If you are not a current member of the Government Statistical Service and are successful in this recruitment campaign, you will be required to complete a statistical test whilst in post. We will provide you with the support and training you need to support you with completing this test whilst in post. 

Additional information

You will have the option to be based in Leeds or Birmingham attracting the National salary. 

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. Occasional travel to other DfT offices will be required.

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, Experience and Technical skills.

How to Apply

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. Please tailor your CV to match the role and its responsibilities and within your Personal Statement (maximum 750 words) please provide detailed evidence of your:

• Experience of working with, manipulating, and analysing data from  databases using a coding language (for example SQL, R or BigQuery) in a reproducible way
• Experience of communicating complex data sets to a range of different users, such as official statistics publications (or equivalent) with the ability to adapt communication style to suit various stakeholders
• Experience of leading the delivery of analytical projects to challenging timescales, including forward planning to identify risks and issues, managing others and delivering quality outcomes to meet customer needs

The sift is due to take place from the 26 February 2024.

Interviews/assessments are likely to be held from the 07 March 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 presentation

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 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.