About the job

Job summary

DLUHC is seeking exceptional people to help us transform into an agile, user-centered digital organisation. We’re already doing amazing things. We’re moving away from our large, legacy IT contracts, bringing more people with digital skills in house and delivering modern IT and collaboration tools.   
 
We work with policy teams to apply digital, user-centered thinking to big important problems like homelessness, job creation, and getting onto the property ladder. In some cases, we’ll build new digital services – in others we expect to discover from our users that digital isn’t the answer. We build agile, multidisciplinary teams to help us find which is which. Find out more about the work we’re doing on our blog.

We’re looking for an inspiring and performance-focused leader to manage our Assurance Service. Setting up new digital services is becoming commonplace in the Department, but the processes we have in place to guide and assure teams to do this are not yet mature. We are looking for a Service Owner who will lead the transformation from siloed and unofficial pathways of engagement to a user-centred, high-performing, responsive service.

Job description

This role is based in the Digital directorate but will have strong connections to DLUHC’s policy and corporate teams, who are the customers of the service. It will also entail close working with the specialist teams who assure the individual pieces of work, such as Technology, Cyber and Digital Spend Controls. 
 
As Service Owner you’ll build an in-depth understanding of your service, and use digital thinking, culture, service design and delivery practices to develop a dramatically improved service. You will be an inspirational leader to those delivering the service, as well as being accountable for the quality of the service to senior leaders. You will represent the service and its users’ needs at all levels within the organisation.
 
This is not a technical IT post but, as the team’s role is to quality-assure digital spend, experience of working with digital services is crucial. You will adopt a portfolio view, managing end-to-end services that include multiple products and channels, and influence policy and delivery teams to ensure they’re considering the needs of users in all aspects of their work. We’ve written a blog post about how DLUHC sees the role of Service Owner.  

As the Digital Assurance Service Owner, you will:  
 
•    set direction and provide strong, decisive, and visible leadership for the digital assurance service
 
•    be accountable for the quality and usage of your service, iterating and improving the service based on user feedback 
 
•    work with assurance leads to deliver a quality service, considering user needs, organisational goals, financial constraints, security, cross-government strategy, commercial considerations and team capabilities

•    build and maintain strong relationships across Digital, joining up strategies, teams and processes to deliver a transformed service and a one-team attitude 

•    create a culture of continuous improvement and performance measurement
 
•    ensure the necessary business processes are followed and participate in the governance of the service, including acting as a point of escalation for the assurance teams
 
•    communicate the benefits and performance of the assurance service, including to other government departments looking to learn from our experience 
 
•    identify and progress opportunities to reduce costs and duplication by actively promoting simplification

•    actively participate in networking with other Service Owners inside and outside government and share good practice and learning 

Person specification

Essential skills and experience: 

•    A track-record of leadership in successful design, delivery and continuous improvement of high-quality services, or Service Owner experience
 
•    Experience of working with senior stakeholders to communicate the value of a service and the ways in which it can be iterated and improved to meet their needs
 
•    Experience of creating and delivering against strategies to transform and join-up digital or non-digital services
 
•    Experience of managing high performing teams, delegating decision making to the most effective level, and empowering teams to autonomously deliver to the best of their abilities
 
•    An ability to translate complex aims and needs into compelling vision statements and clear and manageable plans and communicating these in an open and transparent way through a variety of channels 
 
•    A high-level understanding of service design principles 

•     Experience of managing the expectations of stakeholders with conflicting needs and demands, engaging with senior stakeholders, and developing a change plan

•    Expertise in gathering, analysing, and using user insight and performance data to design and continually improve a service

•    Experience of assessing risks, scoping resource requirements and managing budgets and operating costs to ensure value for money and sustainable development of teams and services

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,599, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £16,631 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 

 

 

CV and Cover Letter Declaration 

We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment. 

Please remove references to your: 

• name/title
• educational institutions
• age
• gender
• email address
• postal address
• phone number
• nationality/immigration status

You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter. 

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

At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing: 

. Experience 

. Technical Ability 

Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page referencing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description. 

Please submit a CV and a cover letter that explains why you want this position and how your skills correspond to the description.

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of behaviour and strength based questions as listed in the advert. The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.  

The following behaviours will be assessed at interview: Changing and Improving, Working Together, Managing a Quality Service.

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

Experience: Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description 

Technical: Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description. 

Strength: Yes

Behaviours: Changing and Improving, Working Together, Managing a Quality Service

 

We do not consider direct CV applications – 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 

Grade 6 salary 

• The salary for this role is £61,599 (National). 
• 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. 

 

Location 

• Leeds
• Wolverhampton 
• Darlington* 
• Manchester

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. 

*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service.  This role is based at DLUHC and we will be joined on the campus by: 

• HM Treasury  
• Department for International Trade 
• Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy  
• Office for National Statistics  
• Department for Education 

For further information on the DEC, please take a look at the attached DEC candidate pack. 

Sift and Interview dates 
Sifting is envisaged to take place from Tuesday 09/01/2024 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. Due to the length of time CTC checks can take, our HR Shared Services team will contact reserve list candidates for London based roles to commence CTC checks. 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. 

Fixed Term Details

For external candidates– you will be offered a 23 Month fixed term appointment with a possibility of permanency.  

For existing civil servants – you will be offered a 23 Month loan opportunity. Before applying for the role, you will need to seek approval from your parent department to take up a loan appointment should you be successful. 

For DLUHC employees  - you will retain your existing contract 

 

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 

 

Candidate Pack Information 

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information. 

 

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. 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.