Strategic Priorities Lead

Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills

Apply before 11:55 pm on Tuesday 12th November 2024

 
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Details

Reference number

376619

Salary

£63,612 - £67,449
£63,612 (National), £66,812 (London) per annum. Rising to £64,249 (National), £67,449 (London) per annum on successful completion of probation.
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Job grade

Grade 7
Band A APT

Contract type

Fixed term
Loan

Length of employment

2 years

Business area

Strategy and Engagement

Type of role

Strategy
Other

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

This role can be based at either one of the offices: 23 Stephenson Street, Birmingham, 2 Rivergate, Bristol, Clive House, London, Piccadilly Gate, Manchester or Foss House, York

Job summary

We are recruiting a Strategic Priorities Lead to join our Strategy Delivery Unit.

As the Strategic Priorities Lead, you will be at the heart of an open and transparent programme of engagement that will shape Ofsted’s strategy for the future. Your innovative ideas and strategic thinking will directly influence decision-making processes at the highest levels, ensuring that Ofsted continues to put children and learners first – especially the most disadvantaged and vulnerable.  

You will work at the heart of Ofsted reform in the new Strategy Delivery Unit, leading engagement with the Department for Education and the organisation’s most important internal and external stakeholders to facilitate the delivery of Ofsted’s strategic priorities. Reporting directly into our Head of Strategic Priorities and working closely with the Director, Strategy and Engagement.

You will work closely with policy teams from both Ofsted and the Department for Education on strategic priorities such as inspection reform, legislative changes, and policy related to disadvantaged and vulnerable children. You will brief the Chief Inspector and other senior officials, input on key priority policies and strategic decisions, as well as help to drive through the reforms set out in the Big Listen response.

You will be an excellent leader of people, able to role-model our behaviours of courtesy, empathy, respect and professionalism. Throughout your work, you will always be professional, empathetic, courteous and respectful.

Job description

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Person specification

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

  • Seeing the Big Picture
  • Delivering at Pace
  • Making Effective Decisions
  • Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

  • Track record of working effectively across organisational boundaries to solve emerging challenges and unexpected issues.
  • Outstanding written and verbal communication skills. Experience of writing concise, persuasive papers and briefings.
  • Proven policy development and analytical skills, preferably within a government or public sector context.
Alongside your salary of £63,612, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills contributes £18,428 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Full details of the benefits available can be found in our Ofsted Offer brochure.

Ofsted is devoted to equality, diversity and inclusion. Within our Ofsted Strategy 2023-2027 we have stated that we will improve the representation of under-represented groups across the organisation and publish our progress on this annually. We are always looking to expand on our diverse workforce by recruiting candidates from varied backgrounds and differing experiences. We are proud to be a Disability Confident – Leader, we continually engage with our 5 staff networks for protected characteristics, and highlight the work of our Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Group. We ensure all candidates are treated with fair and open competition, with all appointments being made on merit and we use our Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) to provide assurance to all candidates of this.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Application and Shortlisting:

The selection panel will assess your 750 word personal statement based on the evidence you have provided against the essential criteria as set out in section 3 of the job description.

You will also be asked to provide information within the “Employer/Activity History” section of the application form. This information is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV setting out your career history (this may be used in the sifting process).

At sift, your personal statement will be assessed against the following:

  • Track record of working effectively across organisational boundaries to solve emerging challenges and unexpected issues.
  • Outstanding written and verbal communication skills. Experience of writing concise, persuasive papers and briefings. 
  • Proven policy development and analytical skills, preferably within a government or public sector context.

In the event we receive a high number of applications, the business will sift on the following criteria:

  • Proven policy development and analytical skills, preferably within a government or public sector context.

Applications that meet this criterion will have a full sift undertaken on the remaining essential criteria’s.

Assessment and Interview

Candidates who pass the benchmark at the shortlisting stage will be invited to a interview where you will be assessed against a combination of the the Civil Service behaviours and the technical/experience skills set out in section 3 of the job specification.

We will invite the most suitable candidates to attend a remote assessment and interview via Microsoft Teams during the week commencing Monday 2 December 2024.



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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

  • UK nationals
  • nationals of the Republic of Ireland
  • nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
  • nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
  • nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
  • individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
  • Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

  • Name : Talent and Resourcing Team
  • Email : Jobs@ofsted.gov.uk
  • Telephone : 0300 013 1487

Recruitment team

  • Email : Jobs@ofsted.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should email Ofsted recruitment at jobs@ofsted.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recrutiment

Attachments

Job specification Opens in new window (pdf, 201kB)

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