Senior Occupational Psychologist

The Occupational Psychology Service (OPS) within the Government People Group (GPG) is the strategic and functional centre for the Government People Function and human resources (HR) in the Civil Service. The GPG is led by the Joint Interim Government Chief People Officers, Caitlin Kinsella and Janette Durbin. We enable and improve the delivery of recruitment, training, workplace policy, HR strategy and management excellence to over half a million civil servants. From recruitment to retirement, GPG is at the forefront of working with ministers and departments to ensure the Civil Service is equipped to deliver for UK citizens.

Some of our work includes:

• Leading on cross-government HR strategy, organisation design and workforce planning.
• Procuring and delivering training and development schemes for the Civil Service.
• Delivering recruitment services, guidance and expertise to departments.
• Coordinating and advising departments on pay, pensions and employee policy.
• Setting standards and guidance for line managers and senior civil servants.
• Coordinating the implementation of the Shared Services Strategy for Government.
• Enhancing employee experience to promote an engaged workforce and culture of performance excellence.

A shared aim of all civil servants working in the Government People Function is to support the delivery of the Civil Service People Plan 2024-2027. The People Plan outlines five People Priorities for the Civil Service, alongside 45 commitments to address our most pressing and immediate people challenges. Departmental plans and strategies also align with and contribute towards the People Plan.

The OPS acts as an internal consultancy to all of the Civil Service. We collaborate with government departments, functions and professions to develop and deliver high quality, customer-focused assessment products and solutions grounded in occupational psychology and psychometrics. Our services aim to help identify and develop the best people from all backgrounds, including the Civil Service’s prestigious talent programmes. We also place ourselves at the forefront of assessment innovation, and are actively creating a growing range of evidence-based psychological assessment tools.

You will be joining a high performing multi-disciplinary team of occupational psychologists, psychometricians and digital experts who use evidence-based practice to put the client and user at the heart of what they do. We are a team that embraces innovation to deliver better results, improved efficiency and added value, with a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. We achieve this by:

• Being at the leading edge of assessment and selection techniques and digital developments.
• Developing our services through evidence-based research and analysis.
• Ensuring diversity and inclusion is embedded in all our activities.
• Providing a seamless and flexible customer experience.
• Meeting business requirements with efficient, effective and value for money solutions.
• Providing a great and evolving journey for test takers.

We are recruiting two Senior Occupational Psychologists (SOP). You’ll play a critical role in supporting our growing business offer. You will frequently be working with other members of the team on large programmes of work, but you will also be given the freedom to lead on projects independently, covering the entire consultancy cycle.

Main Responsibilities

Psychological Assessment at Work

• Scoping and designing bespoke assessment solutions including psychometric tests and evidence-based sifting tools.
• Using online assessment platforms to implement and support delivery of assessment solutions; working with digital, data assurance, and diversity colleagues to ensure new assessments are compliant, fair, and meet customer and user needs.
• Managing multiple assessment projects at all stages of the consultancy cycle.
• Working with customers to ensure best practice use of assessments to support client decision making including pass-mark setting, moderation processes, and reducing risk of adverse impact.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of assessment solutions by identifying appropriate statistical methods/techniques and interrogation of data to ensure they are robust, fair, reliable, and valid (e.g. classical test theory measurement models, predictive validity, adverse impact analysis).

Leadership, Engagement and Motivation

• Act as a subject matter expert providing expert advice on recruitment, use of assessments and wider Occupational Psychology areas.
• Keep up-to-date with the latest innovations in assessments, psychometrics, modern testing methods and in particular recruitment testing.
• Chartered Psychologists and Registered Occupational Psychologists are required to supervise Trainee Occupational Psychologists on the qualification to achieve Registered Occupational Psychologist status. If not already registered on the Register of Applied Practice Psychology Supervisors (RAPPS), work towards RAPPS eligibility within a reasonable timescale.

Providing expert advice and research

• Providing professional occupational psychology advice and guidance to clients and senior leaders to ensure adherence to industry best practice and the highest providing occupational psychologist support for information gathering exercises such as surveys and focus groups, and providing activities to support organisational development.
• Representing the Occupational Psychology profession at working groups, committees and other forums across government to inform policy and operations.
• Researching new and emerging assessment methods/processes; setting up and conducting detailed studies to explore their impact and efficacy.

The profession

This post is part of the wider Government Occupational Psychology Profession (a recognised government specialist profession). The profession comprises over 250 members across all the major government departments and many agencies and arms-length bodies – which makes us the largest Occupational Psychology community in the U.K. We are a vibrant community with a long history in government going as far back as, at least, World War II, as shown in the Fifty Years of Occupational Psychology in Britain. The Head of the Government Occupational Psychology Profession is Dr Antonia Dietmann. Upon joining the civil service you are encouraged to signup to the profession.