About the job

Job summary

Within DDaT, Data Services & Analytics (DSA) is one of the most advanced data analytics centres in Government. DSA sits at the heart of the Home Office’s transformation into a data driven department.

DSA designs, builds and operates services that are critical in helping the department achieve its mission. In this role, you will be responsible for business-critical data analysis, data matching and data insight products used across the Home Office. Our success in this role depends on our ability to exploit the latest technologies to create leading-edge, world class solutions whilst ensuring they are secure and resilient.

As a Senior Technology Delivery Manager, you will be responsible for delivering products within agreed timescales, to cost and quality standards. Depending on the product, you may be responsible for 2-3 smaller delivery teams, or alternatively a single delivery team to deliver a more complex/technical product. You will work in close partnership with Product Managers in order to deliver value against the product vision. You will work with senior stakeholders, effectively translating technical concepts and influencing where necessary. 
 
You will be expected to use your experience and expertise to work with flexibility, selecting and applying appropriate delivery techniques based on the requirements of the delivery. You will be required to flex the delivery approach to get the best out of your teams, providing them with support and guidance to enable successful delivery. 

You will work with colleagues in Home Office Commercial when contracts need organising and negotiating. You may be required to facilitate governance meetings and mechanisms and/or select the right people to join these discussions. 

You will be expected to mentor, coach or line manage less senior members of the delivery community, sharing your experience and knowledge. As a member of the DDaT community, you will also contribute to cross-government communities of practice and help to set good practice and standards.

Due to the busy nature of this role, the successful candidate will be required to work full time hours and candidates should take this into consideration when submitting their application.

Job description

You will work with flexibility, selecting and applying techniques from different delivery methodologies depending on the requirements of the business outcome you are working towards. You will use your experience of working in technology and / or a digital environment to get the best out of the delivery teams and drive continuous improvement.

A key part of your role will be to implement appropriate governance mechanisms for your cross-cutting deliveries, taking into account and complimenting any existing governance processes. You will have a focus on agreeing decision-making thresholds with key stakeholders and facilitating timely decisions across multiple teams to ensure successful delivery.

You will work with multiple stakeholders across the organisation, including drivers of Home Office policy, members of the DDaT community and colleagues in Home Office Commercial where contracts need organising and negotiating. You will also be expected to contribute to DDaT and cross-government communities of practice to absorb and share knowledge and contribute to setting good practice and standards.

Person specification

Your main day to day responsibilities will be:

•    Translating a single product roadmap into one complex, or multiple delivery plans, considering the people and skills required for each delivery team and using delivery data to set milestones based on forecasts where possible.

•    Delivering in line with the capacity and availability of the delivery teams, leveraging frameworks to find the right suppliers when necessary, and budgeting effectively for resourcing needs.

•    Effectively managing risks, issues, and dependencies, acting on delivery data and adapting ways of working to mitigate risks.

•    Forming a partnership with Product Managers to effectively influence relevant senior stakeholders, translating technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

•    Assessing the effectiveness across multiple delivery teams, engaging and motivating teams in different ways depending on their needs, and facilitating collaboration across delivery teams when required.

•    Using feedback loops, data analysis, and small experiments to iteratively improve the product, service, and ways of working within the delivery team.

You will also be expected to carry out the following day to day activities:

•    Making conscious trade-offs that balance speed, scope and quality across all dimensions of delivery.

•    Ensuring that any tech debt incurred has a strategy for repayment and is understood by all stakeholders.

•    Using experience of effective delivery to advise on the day to day ways of working in order to bring out the best in teams, facilitating appropriate team ceremonies where necessary.

•    Providing support and guidance to Technology Delivery Managers and wider team members, in line with individuals’ needs, with the aim of making the team as successful as possible.  

Essential skills

You’ll have a demonstrable passion for delivery with the following skills or proven experience in:

• Deep knowledge of Agile tools and techniques, with an ability to coach within and outside of the team and be an advocate for these tools and techniques.
• Creating and maintaining delivery plans that highlight forecasts/estimates and confidence levels.
• Using experience of technology delivery and technical practices to help translate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Using your well-developed people skills to set individuals up for success and help create an effective, collaborative team environment.
• Using previous experience, expertise and current metrics to identify, understand, and improve team delivery performance.
• Applying appropriate techniques taken from different methodologies to effectively deliver successfully within a given context.
• Managing budgets and commercial supplier relationships.
• Understanding what good governance looks like and how to implement improvements.
• Acting as the Delivery Manager for one or more delivery teams through a complete delivery lifecycle (prepare, deliver, improve).

Desirable qualifications

• A qualification in a recognised delivery methodology (e.g. Scrum, Lean Kanban, SAFe, Prince 2).
• Relevant technical delivery management or technical project management experience.

Desirable skills

Ideally you will also have the following skills or some experience in:

• Engaging stakeholders within a complicated, high pressure environment.
• Balancing multiple priorities and dealing with ambiguity.
• Acting as the Delivery Manager for multiple delivery teams at the same time.
• Line managing Delivery Managers.

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Please find more information here - Benefits - Home Office Careers

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.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete

• A CV
• A Statement of Suitability (Max Word Limit:1000). 

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please note your Statement of Suitability should be aligned to your motivation for applying to this role and offer evidence how you meet the essential criteria listed in the Person Specification.

The sift will be based on the Statement of Suitability and CV.

If you are successful at this stage, you will be invited to interview which will be a blended approach consisting of SFIA technical skills and Behaviour based questions on all listed behaviours.

Sift and interview dates

The sift will take place from the 20th of February 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place from the 12th of March 2024.

Please note interview will be carried out virtually using Microsoft Teams.

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.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to time constraints we may not be able to offer alternative interview date(s). It is therefore expected that candidates who are successful at sift stage will make themselves available during the above time frame given.

Further information

Please read the essential skills for this position carefully. We will only consider those who meet the listed requirement. 

If you have previously made an unsuccessful application for a role with the same essential skills and are not able to demonstrate how you have developed these skills since your last application please reconsider applying as your application is unlikely to be successful.

For meaningful checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years if the role requires CTC clearance, 5 years for SC clearance and 10 years for DV.  A lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office.  Applicants can discuss any specific questions with the Vacancy Holder. 

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role, or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours and essential skills.

Every day, Home Office civil servants do brilliant work to develop and deliver policies and services that affect the lives of people across the country and beyond. To do this effectively and fairly, the Home Office is committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best.

We are flexible, skilled, professional and diverse. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and area Disability Confident Leader. We are proud to be one of the most ethnically diverse departments in the civil service. We are a Social Mobility Foundation top 75 employer.

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.

For further information please see the attached notes for candidates which must be read before making an application.

Existing Civil Servants should note that some of the Home Office terms and conditions of employment have changed. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful in application and should refer to the notes for candidates for further details.

Transfer Terms: Voluntary.

If you are invited to an interview you will be required to  bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks.

Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Any move to the Home 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

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is 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 via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional

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

Feedback

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.