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* Please note, you will need to merge your personal statement and CV 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 personal statement. If you experience any technical issues, please contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk.

Job summary

Important - To apply for this role you will need to submit an anonymised CV and covering letter, merged into one document. Further details can be found in the Selection Process section further below in this advert.

The Local Digital team at DLUHC supports councils across England to deliver the local public services of the future – services that meet the needs of citizens and deliver better value for money, based on modern technology and new, collaborative ways of working. We’re building upon the ambition of the Local Digital Declaration – our vision for the future of local public services that has been co-signed by over 280 local councils, sector bodies and Government departments.  

The team is an energetic mix of policy advisors, user researchers, content designers, collaboration managers, product managers, cyber security experts and delivery professionals exploring initiatives to help local councils improve their resilience to cyber threats and deliver the digital public services of the future. 

Our programme is expanding and we’re looking for a Cyber and Digital Policy Advisor to help shape, communicate and deliver our ambitions. 

We work with a range of partners including the National Cyber Security Centre, central government departments, and - most importantly - local councils. You can find out more on our website and blog. 

Job description

Working closely with the Cyber Policy and Engagement Lead, you’ll collaborate with stakeholders to help design and deliver key aspects of our cyber programme, with a focus on our work to help set a clear cyber standard for councils in England.  

This will include: 

·       Planning and leading engagement with councils and other government departments 

·       Building strong relationships across the local government sector and the cyber ecosystem 

·       Developing options for meeting our aims: exploring challenges, identifying and assessing evidence, analysing issues with advice from experts and stakeholders, and putting forward recommendations  

·       Keeping up to date with developments across the policy area: building your own understanding of local government and cyber security trends  

·       Drafting internal advice and contributing to public communications  

·       Matrix management / project leadership  

Person specification

You don’t need a technical or IT background to be great at this role, but you’ll be eager to learn about the subject area and able to engage with the technical community.  

Essential: 

·       A great communicator, skilled at working collaboratively in a multi-disciplinary environment with a wide range of partners

·       A demonstrated ability to convey complex issues in a clear and accurate way, both verbally and in writing 

·       Experience of policy development and/or service design or user centred design 

·       Strong analysis and decision-making skills

·       An interest in and enthusiasm for learning about cyber security, cyber threats, and the legislative and policy context 

Desirable: 

·       Experience working in/closely with central or local government 

·       Experience shaping research projects 

·       Experience with matrix management and working across teams 

Offered 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%

Selection process details

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: 

Examples: 

Experience 

Behaviours: 

Please bear in mind the following behaviours when writing your covering letter – Seeing the Big Picture, Making Effective Decisions and Working Together. The Civil Service Behaviours can be found here.

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

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of behaviour and strength based questions as listed in the advert. Communicating and Influencing will be tested as an additional behaviour at interview stage. The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

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

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

Strength: Yes

Behaviours: Seeing the Big Picture, Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Working Together

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

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

• Birmingham

• Bristol

• Cambridge

• Darlington*

• Leeds

• Manchester

• Newcastle-upon-Tyne

• Nottingham

• Wolverhampton

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

We will be sifting applicants as we go – so please don’t wait until the deadline to submit your application. Interview dates will be confirmed at a later stage, 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@communities.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.

SEO salary

• The salary for this role is £37,064 (National).

• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. 

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 

Contact details

Who can candidates contact with questions about this vacancy?

Emily Mayhew

Email address for candidate questions

Emily.mayhew@levellingup.gov.uk