About the job

Job summary

About OPSS 

Do you care about the safety of products and want to protect people and places? Can we use your skills, knowledge and experience to enable UK business to thrive? If the answer is yes, then we would like to hear from you! 

We are the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), part of the Department for Business & Trade (Previously the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy). We are here for the purpose of making regulation work to deliver real world impact. Regulation is a powerful Government tool to address market failures, influence behaviour and promote positive action. Crafted and delivered well, regulation can be an enabler of growth, innovation and efficiency. 

Since early 2018 we have been building a positive and creative team that enjoys a position of influence and respect within an organisation that continues to grow, most recently with the addition of construction products regulation planned. 

Our primary purpose is to protect people and places from product-related harm, ensuring consumers and businesses can buy and sell products with confidence. 

Further information can be found on our website here 

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. We embrace diversity and promote equality of opportunity. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. There is a guaranteed interview scheme (DCS) for people with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. 

We are Inclusive 

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 recognise how important inclusivity is to achieve the best outcomes. We hope to attract applications from all underrepresented groups. 

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation if required to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

The Analysis Team comprises around 26 analysts and provides analytical support for all the Office’s activity. Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is a growing organisation, and we have recently taken on responsibility for construction products. Now is an exciting time to get involved and join a rapidly growing team to help craft our thinking around using data to develop new insights into product safety. We have a strong commitment to learning and development and are not afraid to try new and innovative approaches.  

About the Role:

You will report to and work closely with the Grade 7 Principal Statistician on projects, as well as having the opportunity to lead on certain projects to build your leadership, management, and user engagement skills. You will deliver analysis on a variety of established and ad hoc topics, such as product safety, ports and borders enforcement and legal metrology. Ambition, fresh ideas in the development and use of data, and training in statistical and data science techniques are all actively encouraged! You will help OPSS become a data-led organisation, investigate new data sources and techniques, and champion the use of robust pipelines to deliver reproducible outputs. 

Job description

• Working with the G7 in supporting a wide range of high-profile analytical projects. 
• Leading on a small number of projects; handling partners and ensuring evidence is efficiently fed into operational policies and reports. 
• Assisting in producing analytical output and tools such as interactive dashboards.Training will be made available in this area if required. 
• Applying meticulous Quality Assurance, documentation and Reproducible Analytical Pipeline principles to both your own work and others’. 
• Supporting the wider office in analytical requests, being a source of expertise on the most appropriate data sources and statistical techniques to apply to ad hoc and longer-term projects. 
• Staying on top of work and developments in areas relevant to our area, by engaging and networking with analysts across DBT and wider.​ 

Person specification

Essential Criteria

Meet the requirements to be a badged member of the Government Statistical Service, Government Operational Research Service, or Government Social Research.

Personal Attributes & Skills

We would love to hear from you if you:  

• Enjoy using your analytical skills to solve problems. 
• Have good technical skills in appropriate programming languages (for example R, Python, SQL).
• Have experience of working in teams which shape and deliver analytical projects. 
• Are comfortable communicating analytical outputs to both technical and non-technical audiences. 

We are looking for candidates with the experience that matches the responsibilities listed previously. We are keen to promote diversity, and we are not realistically expecting any applicant to have experience of every responsibility. You should apply if you think you have experience related to the majority of the role responsibilities and the skills and experience criteria, and we will support you to fill gaps in experience. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,858, Department for Business and Trade contributes £8,489 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, Experience and Technical skills.

Interviews for this vacancy will be conducted virtually. We will, however, consider in-person interviews by exception. 

Please ensure that you check your emails regularly as all updates from us will be sent to you this way. 

To apply for this post, you will be asked to complete the following as part of the online application:   

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Provide employment history that relates to the essential criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages.
• A Personal Statement explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential criteria.
• A 250 word Technical Skills Statement on one of the following skills respective of analytical membership type.

Your Technical Skills Statement should be on one of the following skills respective of analytical membership type:

For GSG: Data Analysis - Framework available here

For GORS: Achieving impact with analysis - Framework available here

For GSR:  Analysis and Interpretation  - Framework available here

When applying please make it clear whether you are:

• A member of any Government analytical profession (Government Operational Research Service, Government Statistician Group and Government Social Research). In this case please state your profession.
• A candidate that is not a member of any Government analytical profession. In this case please indicate which profession (i.e. operational research, statistics or social research) you are applying for, and how you meet the minimum eligibility requirement (see attachment). 

Please refer to the attached documents on eligibility for further detail on the badging process.

It is likely that the sift will take place 1-2 weeks after the closing date and interviews 3-5 weeks after the closing date though this is subject to change.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial short sift will be conducted on the Personal Statement only. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview. 

Reasonable Adjustments

We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process. In order to request an adjustment: 

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section on the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. 

Alternatively contact the Government Recruitment Service at DBTrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.  

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

Candidate Support

You may want to join a virtual Candidate Support Session. These sessions include helpful tips and advice on the recruitment process, from application to interview.  

Please see attached Candidate Pack for further information on: Diversity and Inclusion; Benefits; Learning and Development; Working Patterns and what we deliver as a department. 

Further Information:

• A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Reserve Lists will be for each location and appointments made in merit order based on location preferences.   
• Any move to the Department for Business and Trade from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments.
• The Department will not consider sponsoring a visa or issuing a Certificate of Sponsorship. We are unable to offer advice on any Visa and Immigration cases.  
• 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. Any applicant who has 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.  
• Terms and Conditions are attached.  Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.
• Please note – the successful candidate will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of 18 months before being released for another role.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service 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.

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

Open to UK nationals only.

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.