Public Bodies Sponsorship Lead in Lisburn

Business Area Governance & Sponsorship Team - Corporate operations Group

Terms of Appointment: Loan / Fixed Term of 2 Years with the potential for a further 1 year extension

Grade: Senior Executive Officer (SEO)

Location: Northern Ireland or London

Occasional travel between Belfast and London will be required.

Vacancy Manager: Stephen Torney - Head of Governance & Sponsorship

Applications Invited From:

• 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.

The national starting salary is £42,914. The London starting salary is £49,325. 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 170 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.

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 Governance and Sponsorship team manages a diverse portfolio of compliance and business support functions. The team lead a number of specific objectives that link directly to the strategic priorities of the Department, particularly in relation to sponsorship, public appointments and assurance to the Accounting Officer, the Board and Committees. The team sits within the NIO Corporate Operations Group working closely with colleagues within the Group and wider policy teams on a range of cross-cutting issues.

A key function of this role is the provision of coordinated sponsorship for the Departments sponsored bodies and public inquiries, ensuring adherence to the Secretary of State's accountability responsibilities to Parliament for each body. The Sponsorship lead role is a busy role that would suit someone who would like the opportunity to work on a diverse portfolio of sponsorship matters and corporate issues, particularly in relation to risk management, good governance and accountability. There will also be cross working with colleagues in governance areas which will include the management of public appointments.

The team also provides advice to policy colleagues on compliance and fulfilment of the NIOs section 75 obligations and commitments and leads on preparing an annual progress report to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. We are looking to recruit a highly motivated individual that can provide a consistently high level of service to internal and external stakeholders, while simultaneously managing a range of corporate and sponsorship issues in support of the delivery of objectives and compliance with best practice across the Department and its sponsored entities.

Duties And Responsibilities: The successful candidate will report to the Grade 7, Head of Governance & Sponsorship. This role is best suited to someone who is self-motivated, adaptable and thrives in a changing environment, as key responsibilities will shift over time according to departmental priorities. The main responsibilities of the role include but are not limited to:

• Coordinating all governance and accountability matters for each of the Department Sponsored bodies and established public inquiries
• Leading on governance transformation and the implementation of measures to address the recommendations made in the recent internal audit of the Departments sponsorship arrangements.
• Supporting the wider team in managing all regulated appointment processes including Number 10 & Cabinet Office appointments liaison/reporting;
• Supporting the wider team in managing their team budget along with the coordination of the Annual Reporting and Transparency processes for the Department and wider sponsored bodies.

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

• Excellent written and oral communications skills, including providing advice and briefing to Senior officials and/or Ministers.
• Experience of working with others and maintaining collaborative relationships with colleagues and external stakeholders;
• Experience of working in a corporate services environment and/or on governance and sponsorship matters.

Desirable Criteria: Previous experience of working with, or managing relationships with, arms length bodies or organisations in a group structure;

Behaviours: We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours at the SEO level during the application sift and interview process:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Changing & Improving
• Communicating and influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Experience: Please provide a CV and statement of suitability no longer than 500 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 requirements set out above.

Security Clearance: Security clearance to SC is required for this post. 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.

Further Information: Further information about the post may be obtained from Stephen Torney via email to All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.