Sectors Briefing Hub Lead

Job description:

We are looking for a SEO Sector Lead to manage the team’s work across the busy Construction, Rail, and Infrastructure portfolio. These are priority sectors for the Government and attract scrutiny from politicians, the media, and the public.

The construction sector is crucial for the UK economy and a significant driver of growth. Despite facing numerous challenges, it remains one of the largest sectors in the UK, and a key source of employment. Infrastructure is essential for the success of any modern economy, as it boosts productivity, creates jobs, fosters growth, and establishes the networks that enable businesses and organizations to thrive.

 

The role is multifaceted and fast paced – you will be responsible for the following activities:

Providing tailored draft replies to Ministerial and Treat Official correspondence.
Advising Ministers on invitations and meeting requests from stakeholders.
Drafting responses to Parliamentary Questions, both Written and Oral.
Ensuring the team’s correspondence and PQ targets are met, and supporting the maintenance of statistics as needed.
Drafting and maintaining core briefs and standard lines.
Building positive relationships with the sector teams to understand their policy priorities, ensuring they are sighted on “hot issues” emerging from correspondence and to build and maintain their confidence in the work of the team.
Maintaining excellent links with Ministers’ offices, Parliamentary Branch, and Special Advisers.
Co-ordination of briefing requests, drafting cross-cutting and policy specific briefing and speeches to support Ministerial and senior official engagement on the policy team’s meaningful topics.
Drafting briefing and speaking notes for Parliamentary Debates and Urgent Questions.

 

We are a collaborative team that adapts flexibly to respond to immediate priorities. In this role you may also be required to contribute to additional workstreams outside of those listed above in support of the wider team. The work is dynamic and fast paced and you should be confident in commissioning actions from others, taking ownership of work from inception to delivery.

 

The Person:

The below is a list of characteristics which may be helpful in this role. These will not be assessed throughout the recruitment process, but are laid out to help candidates understand more about the role.

This role would generally suit someone who;

Enjoys working in a team at the centre of Ministerial and Departmental objectives.
Can ensure Ministers and senior officials have the right messages to deploy at any time and for any purpose.
Develops close working partnerships with sector teams and other partners and to become proficient in their work across a breadth of issues.
Enjoys leading a varied and occasionally demanding workload, often to very tight time-frames demonstrating the ability to prioritise and delegate work optimally, to enable them to deliver finished products to the high standards demanded by Ministers.
Appreciates a significant amount of autonomy in managing their workload but can also be relied upon to support other team members when required.

 

Skills & Experience:

The below criteria are essential and will be assessed at application stage;

Communicating and influencing – You will need strong communications skills, both written and oral, to provide a high-quality service to Ministers and the Construction, Rail, and Infrastructure policy teams. You will work with a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders and need to communicate clearly and effectively.

Delivering at Pace: You will manage a varied and occasionally demanding workload, often to very tight deadlines. You will need to demonstrate the ability to act promptly, prioritise effectively and seek help from other team members, when necessary, to deliver finished products to the high standards demanded by Ministers.

Seeing the Big Picture: You will need to develop your understanding of how your and the policy team’s work supports the achievement of DBT’s priorities. Making linkages with other Departmental priorities and drawing them into your work will be an important skill.

Making Effective Decisions: You will need to develop strong relationships with policy experts and others in order to obtain the most accurate information and use sound judgement in assessing how this information is used.

 

Benefits:

Learning and development tailored to your role
An environment with flexible working options
A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

 

We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities.

 

Selection process details:

This vacancy is using Success Profiles , and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.
Interviews for this vacancy will be conducted virtually. We will, however, consider in-person interviews by exception.

Please ensure that you check your emails regularly as all updates from us will be sent to you this way.

 

Candidates who pass the initial sift of the CV will either progressed to a full sift where the Personal Statement is then assessed, or progressed straight to further assessment/interview.

Candidates who pass the sift will be invited to interview, where we will assess you on the Success Profiles elements of Behaviours and Strengths.

It is likely that the sift will take place 1-2 weeks after the closing date, with interviews 3- 5 weeks after the closing date though this is subject to change.

Tagged as: pts