Northern Ireland Office JBLE1_NI in Belfast

Business Area: Across various NIO Business Areas - we will use this competition to place individuals in roles in Corporate Operations Group, Security & Protection Group & Fiscal, Economy & Trade. In addition, a reserve list will be created which may be used for future Grade 6 roles which occur over the next 12 months across all NIO business areas.

Terms of Appointment: Permanent Grade 6

Location: Northern Ireland or London Erskine House, 20-32 Chichester St, Belfast BT1 4GF or 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ. Occasional travel between Belfast and London will be required.

Vacancy Manager: Clare Sloan

Applications Invited from External Candidates and Existing Civil Servants on level transfer and promotion. New entrants to the Civil Service will be expected to join on the minimum of the pay range. Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Departments pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules. The national starting salary is £71,381. The London starting salary is £75,674. Your salary will be dependent on your base location.

Background: The Northern Ireland Office supports the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in promoting the best interests of Northern Ireland. We make sure that Northern Ireland interests are represented within the UK Government and that UK government responsibilities are fully and effectively represented in Northern Ireland. We are the centre of expertise on Northern Ireland issues across Government. The Northern Ireland Office employs around 160 staff, with offices in Belfast and London. As a small Department, we adopt a flexible project-based approach to ensure that we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place to support the delivery of our key objectives. Due to our structure and size, we are able to offer extensive exposure to Ministers and the opportunity to work on a far wider portfolio of policy and responsibilities than might be the case in a larger department. This creates an interesting and stimulating work environment.

Our key priorities are set out in our Operational Delivery plan and include:

• Supporting greater inclusion, tolerance and openness in Northern Ireland
• Contributing to a safer Northern Ireland, where terrorist and paramilitary groups are less able to cause harm to communities
• Ensuring that governance in Northern Ireland is responsive, transparent and able to deliver effective public service.
• Addressing the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland

About The Role: The NIO has a number of vacancies it is looking to fill at Grade 6 level including the following:

• Legacy Implementation & Sponsorship
• Deputy Head of Fiscal, Economy & Trade
• Head of National Security Policy and Strategy

These are challenging, rewarding, and impactful Grade 6 roles which offer a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role in managing and developing the delivery of our departmental objectives. Working alongside a Deputy Director and Director, you will manage a core policy area, ensuring a high standard of support for Ministers across a range of competing priorities and demands. These roles sit at the heart of the Northern Ireland Office (NIO), requiring you to support a range of business priorities, engaging with various internal and external stakeholders, including officials across Whitehall and a variety of Northern Ireland based stakeholders. These roles will provide an unrivalled insight into the workings of the wider Department, Whitehall, and the operation of devolved government in Northern Ireland. The successful candidates will need to deliver effectively in a fast-paced and demanding area while also driving forward the wider departmental strategy. You will be responsible for leading a team of mixed grades, including direct line management of Grade 7s, with a key focus on building team capability and culture, and supporting the Deputy Director in managing team resources. We are looking for a proven, effective, and inclusive leader who is passionate about the work of the NIO. You will champion diversity, motivate your high-performing team to be curious, innovative, and impactful, and generate a shared culture and vision.

Essential Criteria: The post holder will need to demonstrate the following in their application and at interview:

• Excellent leadership skills with experience of delivering challenging objectives under intense scrutiny whilst managing your own and teams resilience/wellbeing;
• Excellent judgement and analytical skills, the ability to make evidence based recommendations and decisions;
• Excellent communication and influencing skills to influence a wide variety of stakeholders at different levels;
• The ability to present and communicate complex information and recommendations to senior decision makers in a clearly and impactful manner, including through high-quality drafting under pressure;
• Strong partnering and collaborating skills, and the ability to build strong relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders to support effective delivery of strategic outcomes;

Desirable Criteria: Understanding of the political and security environment in Northern Ireland; Experience working on legislation, policy, projects or programmes in Northern Ireland or Whitehall; Existing security clearance (Some of the roles will require Developed Vetting clearance. Applicants should already hold DV clearance or be willing to acquire it).

Behaviours: We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours at the Grade 6 level during the application sift: Leadership, Making Effective Decisions. In addition, we will assess against the following behaviours at interview stage: Leadership, Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace.

Experience: Please provide a CV or work history and statement of suitability no longer than 1000 words outlining how you meet the essential and desirable criteria. Both will be used in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role. Your statement of suitability needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the essential and desirable criteria set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirements needed. You dont have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Share with us what makes you suited to this role and why. What you can do, the skills you have that are transferable and the life experience or passion you have that are linked to this role. If you dont have work-based examples then give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in. You will also be asked to complete a CV with details of your education, professional qualifications, previous skills and full employment history. Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement. Your CV will be used to add context to your personal statement.

More information on behaviours and success profiles can be found here. Please note that in the event of a large number of applications being received we may run the initial sift on the lead of Leadership. Expected sift date 25th May. Expected interview date/s week commencing 8th June. Interview location - Your interview is expected to be conducted face to face, however there may be occasions where this will change. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for an interview.

Interview: You will be assessed against the same behaviours at the interview stage and will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated the behaviours. In addition, you will also be asked strength based questions. It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain: WHO - What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? Or STAR - What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?

Strengths: It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this.

Further information on Civil Service Strengths can be found here. If you do not have work-based examples then please give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in. All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.

Offer: Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first. The successful candidate will be notified of a start date following successful security checks. Additional information received after the closing date will not be considered. Failure to provide sufficient information in support of an application prior to the closing date will not be considered as grounds for an appeal if an applicant is not shortlisted for interview.

Security Clearance: This role requires National Security Vetting given the access to sensitive information afforded by the job role. You can find more information by reviewing the information held in the following links: United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK (The vetting charter - GOV.UK). In addition, there is a minimum UK residency requirement set by the Cabinet Office which is dependent on the security level required for the role. This role requires SC and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 5 years. Depending on the role you are placed into you may also be required to undertake the DV process. Neither Detached Duty terms nor relocation costs will apply to this post.

Further Information: Further information about the post may be obtained from Clare Sloan via email. All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit. This job description should not be taken as constituting conditions of employment. Please note that due to the high interest in NIO opportunities, feedback cannot be given if you are unsuccessful at the sift stage. Feedback is available on request if unsuccessful following the interview.

Complaints: The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commissions Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles. Please contact SSCL in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages.

Reserve Lists: In the event that the advertised post following interview identifies more appointable applicants than available posts, we may hold applicant details on a merit/reserve list for a period of 12 months from which further future appointments can be made. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact to be removed from the reserve list.

Interview dates: Dates week commencing 8th June.

Contact information: If you require any assistance please call (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail.

Additional Information: Working Arrangements & Further Information: The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and/or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity. Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone's circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review.

For nationally advertised role: all successful candidates will be appointed to the nearest viable office nearest to their home postcode and on its respective pay scale. This will be at either a HQ building (subject to desk allocation), a Justice Collaboration Centre (JCC) or a Justice Satellite Office (JSO). All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity. For current MoJ employees, your base location will need to be changed to the nearest viable office (to your home postcode), either at a HQ building, JCC or JSO within the National Office Network and moved its locations respective pay scale (any legacy arrangements/locations will need to be amended). Some of MoJ's terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made. MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade will be able to retain their grade on lateral transfer. All candidates who are currently in receipt of Mark Time / Pay Protection should ensure they are familiar with the new policy on permanent and temporary promotion which can be found on the employee intranet.

Flexible working hours: The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices. Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. MoJ welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ's Flexible Working policy.

Benefits: The MoJ offers a range of benefits:

• Annual Leave: Annual leave is 25 days on appointment and will increase to 30 days after five years service. There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.
• Pension: The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best.
• Training: The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.