Deputy Director of Resilience

Deputy Director of Resilience

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

£81,000 £95,000, plus 28.97 employer pension contributions

Were looking to fill an exciting Deputy Director of Resilience role in DWPs Finance Gro

up. If youre our successful applicant you will be responsible for leading DWP through incidents and emergencies, planning and preparing for disruptions and leading a large, remote, and diverse team of 80.

We\’re looking for someone with experience in incident management, emergency response and improving organisational resilience as well as excellent people management, leadership and strategic thinking

What youll be working on:

• Leadership of the cross-DWP programme to develop and implement a comprehensive operational resilience framework by 2027
• Own the Business Continuity, Readiness and Response policy and drive assurance against that policy and associated standards.
• Embedding and continuously improving the DWP Business Continuity Management System and ensuring that Riskonnect implementation is seen through to an effective conclusion.
• Developing, testing and exercising DWPs contingency plans and capabilities for the full range of National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA) and wider service-impacting risks.
• Oversee DWPs role within the cross-government Chronic Risks Programme.
• Working with partners across the department and across government to ensure a coherent approach to the resilience of critical infrastructure assets and systems.
• Leadership of DWPs Incident and Crisis Management Framework and the SCS cadre of Gold Commanders.
• Driving improvement in DWPs incident and crisis management capabilities arrangements through commitment to an effective lessons identified process.
• Act as a Gold Commander for major incidents, coordinating the departments response and representing DWP in Cabinet Office (COBR) and other senior officials groups where necessary.
• Chair the Cross-Government Business Continuity Specialism of the Government Security Profession and steer and sponsor business continuity and organisational resilience professionalisation initiatives, both departmental and cross-government.
• Lead cross-government resilience initiatives, including but not limited to National Power Outage payment recovery arrangements.
• Represent resilience interests at a range of Departmental boards including Payments Assurance Board, Strategic Security Board and Health and Safety Board.
• Representing DWP on SCS1 resilience boards (e.g. Pandemic Diseases Capability Board, BRIDGES National Operations Group) and deputising for the DWP Resilience Director as necessary.

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their knowledge, experience and skills against the following essential criteria:

• Substantial experience in incident management and emergency response, with a proven record of leading teams, implementing effective mitigation strategies and timely resolution of crisis situations
• Excellent people management and leadership, with experience of establishing high performing and teams, building capability, creating an inclusive and collaborative culture which values diversity and encourages openness, approachability and sensitivity. You can inspire and empower colleagues to deliver.
• Strategic thinker who can take the broader view and set the long-term strategy, articulate a vision, obtaining buy-in and engagement from others across an organisation; juggling tactical and strategic challenges.
• Proven substantial experience in shaping, communicating and executing a strategic vision into deliverable operational plans; you will have excellent communication skills.
• High levels of emotional intelligence, interpersonal, leadership and management skills to drive contributions across the organisation – highly organised to operate in a fast changing and dynamic environment.
• Strong analytical skills with extensive experience in analysing complex issues and delivering clear, concise evaluations and options for senior leaders.

Desirable criteria:

• Membership of the Business Continuity(BC) Institute or equivalent qualifications.
• Completion of Crisis Management Excellence Programme (CMEP Tools for Crisis Leaders or equivalent)
• An excellent working knowledge of delivering BC management through automated systems

DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (prorata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity tojoin HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 years continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Womens Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE)…

Application process

To apply for this post, click apply and youll be redirected to Civil Service Jobs.

You will need to complete the online application process outlined belowno later than 23:55pm on Monday 1stSeptember 2025:

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years;
• Three statements (maximum 500 words each) answering the 3 pre-defined questions (below), explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities, and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification

• Tell us about a time when you led the response to a major incident or crisis. Describe the context, your responsibilities, how you managed and coordinated others, and the impact of your actions on restoring operations or mitigating further risk.
• Give an example of when you translated a strategic vision into an operational plan. How did you ensure buy-in and effective delivery?
• Tell us about a time you had to solve a complex problem with limited information. How did you assess the situation, manage uncertainty, and reach a recommendation?

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