Chief of Staff, One Login

Job description

The Chief of Staff is key in managing and developing strategic relationships between the Director of GOV.UK One Login, the programme, wider GDS colleagues, Cabinet Office and government. Representing the Director, the Chief of Staff drives forward their priorities, working closely with the Senior Management Team to contribute to and help drive activities. You will embody an outward-facing, engaged and authoritative style for the Director’s office and support her to amplify key messages and priorities.

As Chief of Staff, you will:

• work with the Director and her office to maximise value, by ensuring a clear focus on priorities, routing and collating work effectively and using your judgement to support the work of the directorate both within and outside GDS 
• act as an informed advisor to the Director of the programme, providing clear and rapid analysis of key issues and strategies across the programme and wider stakeholder landscape, providing situationally aware advice and handling plans for emergent issues
• be responsible for ensuring join up across the Directorate SMT and that wider inputs into GDS Leadership team issues are well considered, joined up and timely 
• run and participate in the weekly Digital Identity SMT and both curate a thoughtful agenda as well as deliver on cross cutting actions and outcomes decided on by the group, leading on workstreams as and when appropriate to deliver initiatives from concept to completion 
• manage and act as a point of contact for the programme team, senior stakeholders and Ministers and Permanent Secretaries on behalf of the Director, liaising and sharing information on key priorities and ensuring connections are made as necessary

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This role requires:

• experience in leading a high performing team that can operate at pace within ambiguity, in a high profile, politically sensitive environment
• an ability to shape and influence teams and stakeholders to ensure that organisational priorities are realised, surfacing tensions and resolving conflicts when they occur
• an ability to digest a wide range of information at pace; handling both quantitative and qualitative evidence to provide situationally relevant and appropriately nuanced recommendations for senior stakeholders
• an ability to manage a large number of issues, workstreams and initiatives concurrently and be able to track things over the line to completion in a timely manner, including when they are being delivered through others

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Person specification

We're interested in people with:

• experience of leading a private office or similar corporate advisory role (at C-suite, SCS3 etc); this could wider advisory roles for example in policy or strategy
• a highly strategic thinker, with experience of converting vision into deliverables with visible outcomes
• an ability to maintain effective performance in difficult and challenging circumstances, encouraging others to do the same
• experience building and maintaining a strong network of people across a range of skills and seniority levels
• ability to understand the impact of actions on both the immediate and long term at both an individual and organisational level
• delivery-focused with knowledge of agile ways of working and experience of working alongside multidisciplinary DDaT teams across multiple locations
• operational experience of working in a complex digital, data or technology environment - ideally within government

Benefits

The benefits of working at GDS

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for The King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• paid volunteering leave
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to children's holiday play schemes across different locations in central London
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

GDS offers hybrid working for all employees. This means that everyone does some working from home and also spends some time in their local office. You’ll agree to your hybrid working arrangement with your line manager in line with your preferences and business needs.

Any move to Government Digital Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Things you need to know

Selection process details

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• a 60 minute video interview
• and in addition to this, there will be a fireside chat for successful candidates with our Director, Natalie Jones

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours: 

• leadership
• communicating and influencing
• working together
• making effective decisions
• delivering at pace

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status.

Successful applicant will be expected to clear Security Clearance in post.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.