• Details

Reference number

398943

Salary

£76,000 - £86,000

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

GBP

Job grade

SCS Pay Band 1

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

DBT - BG - Industry

Type of role

International Trade
Senior leadership
Other

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Job share

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

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

Location

London, Darlington, Salford, Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast.

About the job

Job summary

Rail manufacturing directly employs 125,000 in the UK, principally in the Midlands and the North. More broadly, rail and rail-related activities employ over 700,000 and have a GVA of over £50bn. The Rail Team seeks to maximise UK content in an annual spend on the railway of over £30bn, supporting campaigns to address skills challenges, promote decarbonising rail and encourage innovation and growth in all aspects.

Supporting all of these priorities, the Rail Team secured £28m at SR21 to help initiate the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) project in South Wales. This in turn released £50m of Welsh Government capital, enabling GCRE to go to the market to raise private investment. With the Rail Team working in partnership with the UK and international rail industry to find a suitable opportunity to develop a world class rail testing, proving and innovation centre since 2016, when GCRE is fully commissioned in 2025 it will be the culmination of nine years work.

The Rail Team works closely with all parts of the rail industry, with the trade associations, Network Rail and DfT to support jobs, investment and growth.

UK shipbuilding alone supports some 42,600 jobs nationwide and adds £2.4 billion to the economy every single year – a vital pillar of our civil and defence industrial base. However, the UK maritime sector more broadly struggles to compete effectively, even in areas of technical advantage, in a global environment where competition supported by state actors has an edge. The shift to a low-carbon future is a growing market opportunity where the UK offers world class solutions. However, there is a risk that the sector will miss market share due to slow adoption in, especially in commercialising products. The UK maritime supply chain is incomplete and fragmented and businesses face barriers to exporting to other countries and thus miss out on export opportunities. The global maritime market is forecast to invest £190bn in the period to 2050; however, the UK maritime sector could be better positioned to benefit from this market growth. The Maritime team operates both domestically and internationally, breaking down sector and departmental silos, bringing expert knowledge that helps to drive policy action to support innovation, create jobs and boost growth.

Key Responsibilities

• Collaboration: Bring together DBT interests on Rail and Maritime. This involves a large network of complex stakeholders both domestically and internationally to build UK resilience in these sectors and maximise Foreign Direct Investment, export opportunities and growth.
• Policy development: Bring insights from across these sectors to support policy development on specific business and trade issues, including developing the sector strategies and approach to the Comprehensive Spending Review. On rail, specific duties include oversight of the GCRE project and procurement legislation opportunities for industry within the Industrial Strategy. On maritime duties include SRO of the Shipbuilding Guarantee Scheme and Shipbuilding Liability scheme, amongst others.
• Business outreach : Create strategic opportunities for business engagement, and bring in business views to support Government decision-making. On rail, working closely with the Department for Transport (DfT) to ensure robust supply chains and leverage UK Export Finance (UKEF) and other export tools with suppliers at international trade events to support trade and investment. On maritime, similar to the rail sector, ensure robust supply chains to build resilience in UK shipbuilding and leverage trade and export opportunities.
• Leadership: Work closely with key departments such as HM Treasury, Cabinet Office and DfT; shape the policy landscape and represent DBT interests, building strong working relationships to deliver UK objectives. Leading on cross government working and supporting investment into the UK ports sector to meet clean energy goals
• Shocks : Lead any case work managing rail or maritime companies in distress, working closely with HMT and Cabinet Office; for example, building on HM Government’s recent successful engagement with Harland and Wolff.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• An empowering and inspiring senior leader able to work collegiately and collaboratively across organisational boundaries with a track record of developing, motivating and successfully leading diverse, high performing teams.
• Experience working with multi-disciplinary teams (e.g legal, regulatory and policy), when dealing with distressed companies or companies in special situations.
• Direct and relevant experience of working with outside industry and trade bodies at a senior C-suite level to deliver quality solutions;
• An effective collaborator able to take account of different views and opinions whilst keeping a view through to the overall outcome;
• An analytical thinker able to develop and evaluate policy trade-offs and develop innovative solutions;
• Self-motivated; able to stay organised and goal-focused in an uncertain or changeable environment.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £76,000, Department for Business and Trade contributes £22,017 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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 employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Candidate Information Call

The hiring manager for this position; Neil Johnson will be hosting a virtual call for any interested applicants to discuss the role and answer any questions. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process.

This will be held via Microsoft Teams on 15th April at 15:30 (UK Time)

Shortlist

Shortlisting for interview is made on the basis of merit. The selection panel will assess the evidence presented by all applicants against the advertised essential criteria and the highest rated applicants will be invited to interview.

Assessments

If you are shortlisted, you will be asked to take part in a series of assessments which could include a staff engagement exercise. These assessments will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.

Further details on what the assessments will entail, can be found at: www.scs-assessments.co.uk

Full details of the assessment process will be provided to shortlisted candidates at the earliest opportunity.

You will also have the opportunity to speak to Neil Johnson prior to the final interview to learn more about the role and the organisation. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process.

Interview

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to attend a panel interview in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification.

As part of the interview, you may be asked to prepare and present a short presentation, you will be advised of the presentation topic in the interview invitation.

Selection and Feedback

Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible. We will send you a copy of any report for any assessment that you may have undergone as part of the recruitment process.

Feedback will only be provided to candidates who reached interview.

Reserve List

If we receive more applications from suitable candidates than we have vacancies at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition. We will contact you to confirm if your application is to be held on a reserve list.

Diversity Monitoring

As part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select ‘prefer not to say’. The information you provide when submitting your application will help us monitor our progress towards the Civil Service becoming the most inclusive employer.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting .

See our vetting charter .

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard 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)
• 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

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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 .

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.

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : SCSRecruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : SCSRecruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ 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 DBT by email at SCSRecruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Civil Service Commission Complaints