Deputy Director, Experimentation, Systems and Enablement

Locations

Glasgow or London.

Working Pattern

Full Time, Compressed Hours, Flexible Working, Job Share

Job Summary

Want to know more about the role? Join us on our Candidate Engagement Session, which will be held at 15:00 – 15:45 on Wednesday 21st January here.

Job Description

This is a pivotal and highly influential leadership opportunity for a creative and delivery-focused Deputy Director. You will be responsible for leading two of the most critical functions within the Civil Service Strategy Unit: the Engagement Team and the Experimentation and Openness Team.

Deputy Director roles within the CSSU are stretching and developmental. As a small team in the Centre, the role holder will have significant exposure to senior officials and Ministers and need to navigate government. Their success will in part be down to their approaches, their network and the way they build an empowered and talented team around them.

Your primary role is to act as a catalyst for a movement of reform across the Civil Service

By your nature, you will be an agile problem solver, able to quickly define the problem through data and analysis, developing options and communicating recommendations.

You will develop and successfully deliver a triage approach to new work requests. Assessing through scoping their impact, effort and your ability to influence. You will ensure a stretching yet achievable ‘stack’ of experiments which are carefully phased over quarters to ensure deliverability.

You will be a visible role model of reform - utilising new technology, ways of working, outcome focused delivery and user-centric design - all in the aim of higher productivity and increased outcomes for the public. Your team will reflect your role modelling, including in terms of being a thoughtful, collaborative, corporately-minded and caring leader.

Person Specification

It is important that, through your CV and supporting statement, that you provide evidence of the professional skills, breadth of experience and personal qualities for this post.

Essential Criteria:

• Exceptional flexibility and agility, with the ability to respond to new and changing strategic priorities. This includes the ability to create clarity in ambiguity by working iteratively on proposals and solutions, often in a sprint-based approach.
• We require critical problem-solving skills to perform effectively in a complex environment and a proven capacity for influencing and delivering through others to ensure strategic objectives are met.
• Analytical thinking: You will be highly proficient in gathering, analysing, and interpreting both quantitative and qualitative data. You’ll use data to form evidence-based conclusions and recommendations.
• Senior Stakeholder Management & Influence: Exceptional skills in engaging with and influencing very senior leaders e.g. C-suite, Board, Ministers, Senior government officials etc and inspiring them to champion reform.