Chief of Staff

Contents

• Location
• About the job
• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

Birmingham, Blackpool, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Pontypridd, Sheffield

About the job

Job summary

DWP is looking to fill a unique and challenging Grade 7 role as Chief of Staff within the Risk and Resilience Directorate. 

The Risk and Resilience Directorate is made up of a number of diverse areas. It primarily leads the Department’s response to major incidents, and in the past has led DWP’s contribution to Ukraine, the Royal Funeral, industrial action and a range of payment related issues.

The Directorate also develops and holds plans for disruption, the security of service delivery, special operations, and delivery of a range of operational services. Additionally, it is the home of the Public Inquiry Team, coordinating the Department’s response to high-profile inquiries such as the Covid and Horizon inquiries.

The Directorate has recently merged with the Risk Management Division, which is responsible for the Department’s risk management strategy, setting clear accountabilities and guidance with the aim of promoting effective decision-making across DWP. 

The Chief of Staff reports directly to the Director, Risk and Resilience.

The successful applicant will be required to hold Developed Vetting (DV) clearance or be willing to go through the vetting process.

Job description

As Chief of Staff, you will build effective and trusted relationships with the Director, Deputy Directors and Senior Leadership Team, acting as a trusted advisor and representative. You will also oversee and manage the directorate’s corporate strategy and activities, including recruitment, people and capabilities activities and financial planning.

Key Role Responsibilities

• Oversight of the close support to the Senior Civil Servant ensuring their time is used effectively on the most pressing issues and using your judgment to make decisions on other issues.
• Acting as a trusted counsellor to the Senior Civil Servant and being an active member of the senior leadership team
• Undertake a strategic work force plan and associated recruitment to ensure the directorate has the appropriate capabilities and capacity.
• Monitor and develop the directorate’s people activities with a particular focus on resilience, development and wellbeing, with a view to building organisational capability and improving people survey scores.
• Oversee and manage corporate strategy and activities, including recruitment, people and capabilities activities and financial planning.
• Leading and having responsibility for the smooth running of the Directors Office, providing leadership and building strong relationships across the wider DWP community.

Our Mission

The Department for Work and Pensions is one of the biggest government departments, delivering vital services to some of the most vulnerable people in society. As part of the UK’s biggest public service department, we make sure that millions of people receive their State Pension and working age, disability and ill health benefits each year. 

Change and Resilience Group (CRG) lead on the Department’s portfolio of Change programmes and projects. We work in multi-disciplinary teams to continually improve how we do things and deliver our services with minimal disruption to DWP customers. More information can be found in the Candidate Information Pack attached and you can also find out more about Working for DWP here. 

Find out more about DWP Change and Resilience Group here:

We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make Change and Resilience Group as diverse as possible, and we particularly welcome applications from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities.

Person specification

The Essential Criteria for this role are:

Essential Criteria

• Experience of providing direct personal support to a senior individual.
• Be self-motivated and resilient, able to work calmly under pressure with proven ability to cut through complex and time sensitive issues.
• Have effective stakeholder management and communication skills, including experience in dealing with and influencing senior colleagues; and a confident leadership style that can demand respect from a wide range of key stakeholders.
• Successfully lead planning processes setting a clear vision, objectives, and milestones.
• Experienced in creating and delivering strategic workforce plans to ensure a team has appropriate capabilities and capacity.
• Very strong written and verbal communication skills, and the confidence to review the work of other, often senior colleagues effectively and sensitively.
• Effective line management – getting the most out of a team while supporting their development and wellbeing. 

Desirable criteria

• An understanding of Government Crisis Management Functions.
• Developed Vetting or a willingness to undertake DV: National security vetting: clearance levels – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Additional Information:

• Due to the nature of this post, it requires the postholder to work out of one of the DWP Change hubs. These are located in: Birmingham Arena Central, Blackpool Peel Park, Glasgow Atlantic Quay, Leeds Quarry House, London Caxton House, Manchester St Peters Square, Newcastle Benton Park, Sheffield Kings Court, Pontypridd Treforest Ty Taf.
• For vacancies in Wales, the ability to speak Welsh is desirable.
• You will be asked to complete a location preference as part of your application. Successful candidates will be posted in merit order based on your location preferences (within reasonable daily travelling distance) and the geographical requirements of the business. Dependent on your position on the merit list, if none of your location preferences remain at the point we make a job offer DWP may offer you a role at an alternative advertised location. If we are unable to offer you a role in any of your preferred locations, and you are unable to accept a role at an alternative advertised location, we will add you to the reserve list if one is being held.
• Relocation costs for anyone voluntarily moving will not be reimbursed.
• This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need, but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

Behaviours

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

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%

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Change and Resilience Group Resourcing Team
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact DWP by email: [email protected].

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission. Click here to visit the Civil Service Commission.

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