Director of Market and Sector Engagement in London

The Prime Minister called for reform of the British state, seeking to go further and faster on renewal, and to ensure a more active government. To support these aims, the government established the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) as its centre of infrastructure expertise, harnessing the policy and strategy insight of the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) and the delivery specialism of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) and bringing them together to create a new, stronger and more powerful organisation within HM Treasury capable of delivering these goals.

NISTA has six objectives:

• Overseeing the government's 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy
• Identifying and coordinating infrastructure needs
• Unblocking barriers and streamlining delivery of the government's major projects
• Setting standards and improving the government's project delivery capabilities
• Providing effective assurance for the government's priority projects
• Leading expertise on private finance

The Market and Sector Engagement function is currently being shaped through a consultative design process to determine NISTA's final operating model which is on track to complete by the summer with implementation thereafter. The function will work closely across NISTA (systems strategy; delivery and portfolio function and project finance) and in partnership with spending teams, and the Economic Growth Unit (EGU) in HMT, in order to anchor sector engagement and project delivery support in fiscal frameworks, spend controls and approvals processes.

The role holder is expected to manage multiple teams and workstreams and at this stage in the design process we expect between 15-25 members of staff - market and sector engagement, pipeline and publications, regulatory reform teams - that together constitute a substantial part of the organisation's outputs. Final spans and layers will be confirmed through the current detailed organisation design and are expected to be in place by the time the role holder joins; the post will line manage several senior leaders and team managers and is ultimately accountable for the performance of a large cadre of professional staff delivering complex, cross government programmes.

This is a senior leadership role requiring strong judgement, depth of understanding of the private sector, credibility with delivery leaders and investors, and the ability to operate across policy, regulation, commercial and finance interfaces. The Director for Market and Sector Engagement will play a critical role as NISTA goes through a period of transformation and will shape and lead NISTA's market-facing capability to help make UK infrastructure investable and deliverable by:

• delivering an investor-ready dynamic Infrastructure Pipeline (grounded in credible project data and delivery plans);
• coordinating engagement with departments, regulators, investors and industry, partnering with Government Commercial Function;
• amplifying the United Kingdom's (UK) international offer in boosting UK growth by learning from international experience and financing structures;
• supporting reforms that improve the delivery environment (including in regulated sectors); and
• helping convert projects from investment proposition to commercial deal and then to contract so that schemes reach market and delivery at pace.

They will build trust and credibility with Ministers, as well as senior leaders across government and the private sector, and lead expert teams in line with NISTA's ways of working - coherent, confident, committed and collaborative - creating an inclusive culture where people are supported to thrive and deliver at pace. The postholder will be a member of NISTA's Senior Leadership Team and HMT's senior leaders' group, contributing to corporate leadership and organisational transformation and will need to operate flexibly in a dynamic environment. The role will evolve over time in response to ministerial and organisational priorities and the postholder will be expected to adapt their focus and ways of working accordingly, taking on additional responsibilities across NISTA/HM Treasury as required.

Key Responsibilities:

• Providing visible, strategic leadership that champions NISTA, sets a clear direction and embeds a culture of openness, innovation, and accountability within your team and throughout the organisation.
• Delivering an investable dynamic Infrastructure Pipeline which requires effective coordinated engagement with departments, investors, industry and the supply chain to maintain a relevant, up-to-date picture of future demand that leads to improved outcomes for UK Infrastructure;
• Partnering with the Government Commercial Function to deliver improved commercial outcomes across the GMPP portfolio; alongside NISTA's delivery and portfolio teams.
• Boosting private investment in infrastructure by collaborating with departments, regulators and investors to create an investor-friendly, growth-oriented framework (including with the Public Finance Institutions group and supporting delivery of Lower Thames Crossing and Euston financing structures), drawing on expertise from across Treasury and working alongside NISTA's Project Finance directorate.
• Modernising cross-sector economic regulation by working with regulated sectors, regulators and departments to identify and address barriers to investability and delivery in partnership with policy and delivery teams across NISTA and wider Treasury.
• Leading NISTA's international work to promote UK infrastructure and helping to increase private investment.

Person Specification:

While in post, the successful candidate will be expected to perform well across the full range of Senior Civil Service behaviours set out in the Success Profile framework and demonstrate commitment to Civil Service values. The essential criteria for the purpose of selection are:

• Experience of operating and influencing at C-Suite/ Ministerial/ Cabinet level in both the private and public sectors with track record of securing confidence of senior colleagues and stakeholders across a wide network.
• Leading market facing functions or complex programmes in major infrastructure projects, with strong client side skills and delivery credibility.
• Mobilising private investment into infrastructure through contemporary approaches and capital markets engagement; strong financial acumen and value for money focus.
• Experience of delivering high quality outcomes across the project lifecycle, with a combination of project delivery, commercial, procurement and project finance experience.
• Experience of building effective internal and external partnerships across organisational boundaries in a complex and large organisation to deliver through and with others to achieve challenging or new outcomes.

The following is desirable:

• Experience of working at a senior level in different sectors with strong commercial acumen.

Benefits of working with us include:

• 25 days' annual leave (rising to 30 after 5 years), plus 8 public holidays and the King's birthday (unless you have a legacy arrangement as an existing Civil Servant)
• Flexible working patterns (job-share, condensed hours)
• A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and average employer contributions of 28%
• Generous parental leave packages
• Onsite restaurant and coffee bar. The London office also offers a gym, showers and prayer room
• Access to a cycle-to-work salary sacrifice scheme, season ticket advances and payroll giving
• Access to a retail discounts and cashback site
• A Rental Deposit Advance Scheme to help meet the total costs of deposits for privately rented homes
• A range of active staff networks, based around interests (e.g. analysts, music society, sports and social club) and diversity

At HM Treasury we have an exceptionally broad remit; our work touches every citizen of the country. So, it's important our employees come from the widest possible range of backgrounds, bringing us the widest possible range of perspectives and ways of thinking. We are committed to ensuring that all staff are able to realise their potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance.