About the job

Job summary

About HM Treasury

If you’re interested in making a difference to people’s lives, the Treasury can offer you an exciting opportunity to influence decision making that affects the whole of the UK. Working at the heart of government, we collaborate across government to promote responsible public spending and drive strong and sustainable economic growth.  

Our work ranges from protecting customers through the regulation of the financial sector, helping to reduce carbon emissions and creating a greener economy, to promoting British trade around the world and supporting people across the country on jobs, growth and more.  

We are part of the Darlington Economic Campus, a pioneering new cross-government hub which brings people together to play an active role in the most important issues of the day whilst working closer to the communities we serve. The campus provides the opportunity for people from all over the UK to help shape the future of the country, and our flexible working practices ensure you can collaborate effectively with our partners. It’s central government, made more accessible to you! 

Job description

About the Group

Financial Services Group

The Financial Services Group advises the government on how to promote a stable and efficient financial services sector, to deliver excellent outcomes for consumers and business, enhance the UK’s position as a global hub for financial services and support economic growth across the country.

 The financial services sector is important to the UK economy – providing significant numbers of jobs and making a large contribution to the UK’s economic output. It also provides essential services to individuals – for example, helping them to purchase goods with ease, buy their first home, and plan for their retirement. During the COVID pandemic, it played a critical role in supporting individuals and businesses – for example, in providing payment holidays for individuals and businesses affected by the pandemic and working with the government to deliver Bounce Back Loans.

 We ensure that financial services businesses such as banks, investment firms, financial advisors and insurers are well-regulated. Ensuring firms treat customers fairly, customers have access to a range of financial services as a result of competition in the market, and there are appropriate remedies in place when things go wrong.

 We work on a significant international agenda which includes promoting openness and trading links between the UK and countries all around the world, including through Free Trade Agreements and other international dialogues and negotiations.  To do this we work closely with colleagues in offices overseas from the Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office and the Department for International Trade.

 Working with stakeholders is key in Financial Services – for example, we work closely with the independent regulators to help them fulfil their roles, consult consumer groups on issues affecting them, and work with the sector on wider issues like the net-zero agenda.

About the Team 

Pension Investment Team

The Pensions Investment team is a new team brought together to make sure that the £2 trillion+ of assets held in private pensions are invested in ways which benefit both savers and the UK economy. The work is varied, interesting and high up the political priority list- attracting significant interest from Ministers and enjoying strong support across political parties as a key means of delivering growth.

We are responsible within HMT for driving consolidation in the defined contribution pensions market to improve returns for savers; and for shaping the narrative and formulating policy proposals on pension funds’ UK investments with their consequent impacts on business investment, UK capital markets and growth.

Projects so far have included guiding HMG’s involvement in an industry-led commitment to invest 5% of assets in defined contribution (DC) pensions in unlisted companies; and proposing new rules requiring DC schemes to disclose their UK investment levels. We work in partnership across government with the Department for Work and Pensions, as well as the Financial Conduct Authority, the Pensions Regulator and senior industry partners.

We are passionate about helping our people thrive, by building an encouraging and friendly team. We champion diversity and many team members work flexible working patterns. We are a multisite team including colleagues based in Darlington and London.

About the Job 

This position is ideal for an expert project manager, policy or strategy official who is capable of comprehending complex, interconnected issues and collaborating with partners and ministers to devise a strategic plan of action.

This is an exciting and varied role responsible for bringing together a strategy guiding the teams work across a wide range of policy areas and activities, understanding how it all fits together with the work of industry and partner organisations, and engaging with colleagues across government to plan and drive delivery.

 The key responsibilities include: 

•  Working with Ministers, policy experts and senior officials and to formulate a long term a longer-term work programme and strategy for pensions investment including legislative, engagement and advocacy strands.
• Driving and coordinating delivery of pensions investment work including putting in place a supporting governance framework with regular senior level forums and engagement with industry.
• Actively build knowledge and a broad understanding of the pensions investment landscape area, that supports effective coordination and leadership. Supervising pensions work across government and ensuring that policy work is linked in and coheres with DWP and regulators work on issues related to pensions adequacy and the structure of the pensions system.
• Commissioning and cohering inputs to crosscutting advice, briefings and speech writing -bringing together a consolidated HMT package across measures and pensions workstreams for significant announcements including Mansion House and/or budgets/autumn statements.
• Role model supportive, inclusive and effective management skills as part of matrix and traditional line management structures- including line management of at least one HEO or SEO.
• Building a network of relationships with key organisations in the pensions sector, including investment consultants, trade associations, consumer groups and pension providers.

Candidate Drop-In Session 

We will be running a candidate drop-in session for this role to give you greater insight about the role as well as the chance to learn more about HM Treasury and the recruitment process. If you would like to join us, then use the appropriate link below to join the call at the right time. 

Wednesday 3rd July 2024 @ 10.30 a.m. Join the meeting now

If you would like to speak to the hiring manager informally prior to the closing date for applications to find out more about the job, please contact Nick Jones (Nick.Jones@hmtreasury.gov.uk)

Person specification

We are looking for the below skills, experience and behaviours and we will ask you to demonstrate these in your application form. Please review the Candidate FAQ document that is attached to the advert for guidance on how to complete your application form.  

1. Seeing the Big Picture: Understand the strategic drivers for your work and be proactive in developing your and the team’s knowledge, aligning with other priorities where possible.

2. Delivering at Pace: The ability to work independently at pace on a number of complex issues, prioritising effectively, demonstrating excellent resilience and intellectual curiosity to respond to shifting requirements. Collaborate as part of a team in a changing environment, taking responsibility for delivering timely and quality results.

3. Communicating and Influencing: a confident, persuasive communicator with the ability to set out complex ideas with clarity, and be able to convey these to a variety of partners including seniors through excellent written and verbal communication skills. The ability to build strong relationships of trust with an array of stakeholders both internally and externally.

The lead criterion is: Seeing the Big Picture

If we receive large volumes of applications, we will conduct an initial sift on the lead criterion only.

Candidate Guidance Support Session

We will be running an overview of Success Profiles and the STAR approach including top tips for the application and interview process and an opportunity to ask general questions around our recruitment practices. Please note that this session is not role specific, so we will be unable to answer specific questions about roles we are advertising. If you would like to join us, please use the link below to join the call at the right time.

Thursday 4th July 2024 @ 12:30 Join the meeting now

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £52,960, HM Treasury contributes £14,299 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, Strengths and Experience.

Recruitment Timeline 

Closing date: Sunday 14th July 2024

Shortlisting: Week commencing 15th July 2024

Interviews:  Week commencing 22nd July 2024

This timeline is indicative and may be subject to change. We will inform you if there is a substantial change to the recruitment timeline. 

If your contact details change at any time during the selection process, please ensure you update your Civil Service Jobs Profile. 

Please note that only applications submitted through Civil Service Jobs will be accepted.

Eligibility Statement  

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role in the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. Checks will be performed as part of pre-employment checks in line with this. Please refer to the Candidate FAQ document attached to the advert for more information. 

Everyone working with government assets must complete Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks. Additionally, individuals appointed to the Treasury group will be subject to National Security Vetting. The level of security vetting required for this role is Security Check (SC)   

To allow for meaningful checks to be carried out, applicants will need to have lived in the UK for at least 3 out of the past 5 years. In exceptional circumstances, a lack of residency would not be a bar to security clearance however the Department will need to consider eligibility on a case by case basis once the advert closing date has passed. 

Please read the Vetting Charter for information on what to expect during the vetting process and what will be expected from you.  Many areas of your life may be explored during your vetting journey, and it is important that every individual, regardless of their background and experiences, should feel comfortable going through this personal process, whilst having confidence that it is fair, proportionate, and inclusive.  

These short videos address common concerns and preconceptions which applicants may have about national security vetting.  If you have questions relating to security clearances, please contact HMTSecurityVetting@hmtreasury.gov.uk

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.