Director – UK, International & Trade
Department for Transport
Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 13th October 2024
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About the job
Job summary
At the Department for Transport (DfT) we’re working to improve every kind of journey. We’re harnessing new technology to create safer, more sustainable transport. And, creating better connections between people and places, we’re enabling greater growth opportunities for communities UK-wide. It all means that here, you are part of something very different and special.
DfT and our agencies employ around 15,000 staff, of whom about 3800 are in the core Department, and we have the largest and most complex capital project portfolio in Government, delivered principally through delivery partners including Network Rail, HS2 Ltd and Highways England.
We are broadening our presence around the country and are growing new locations in Leeds and Birmingham.
Our Secretary of State has set out her 5 strategic priorities, putting transport at the heart of mission-driven government.
They include:
- improving performance on the railways and driving forward rail reform
- improving bus services and growing usage across the country
- transforming infrastructure to work for the whole country, promoting social mobility and tackling
regional inequality - delivering greener transport
- better integrating transport networks
More information about DfT can be found on our website here
Departmental Vision
All DfT employees are guided by the Civil Service core values of honesty, integrity, impartiality and objectivity.
Everything we do to achieve this is reinforced by our values:
Confidence: to challenge, to take action, to innovate.
Excellence: in our professionalism, in our delivery, in our learning.
The Government is committed to resetting the UK government’s relationship with the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. This includes having a more collaborative approach, working in partnership including, where appropriate, on international engagement. The Government also aims to strengthen
Britain’s influence abroad, including resetting the UK’s relationship with the European Union. In championing prosperity, the Government is targeting trade agreements with other countries to bring prosperity to communities across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The Director – UK, International & Trade (UKIT) leads a newly combined team of around 60 staff based in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast which works across DfT to lead these objectives from a transport perspective, by setting direction for the Department’s cross-UK and international engagement and leading our work supporting trade, including promoting UK transport-related exports and inward investment.
Job description
Responsibilities include:
Relationship with the devolved governments
Shaping and implementing the Government’s approach to transport in the devolved governments, including ensuring the Second Permanent Secretary can effectively fulfil her role as the Department’s ‘place’ lead for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This means strategically deploying the engagement and partnership teams for the three nations in policy making, stakeholder engagement and ministerial activity. It also involves ensuring the Department’s investment in infrastructure studies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is delivered to time and to budget. To underpin effectiveness, the team designs and delivers a programme of work to improve capability and understanding of devolved matters and how to work with colleagues in the devolved governments.
International strategy and engagement
Leading the development and implementation of the Department’s cross-cutting international strategy, prioritisation of ministerial and senior official international engagement, and building individual and collective international capability and skills. The Department has significant international interests, including in a range of transport-specific and other multilateral bodies. Being an engaged, capable and influential international department is critical to our success, for example in securing global action to tackle climate change. Modal teams across the Department lead on much of our day-to-day international work. UKIT ensures a joined-up and coherent approach on international matters and leads in bodies which are cross-cutting, across transport modes, particularly. the International Transport Forum (ITF), an OECD affiliated intergovernmental organisation which acts as a think tank for cross-modal transport policy. UKIT also leads the Department’s overall relationship with the EU, ensuring ongoing effective implementation of DfT’s responsibilities under the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA), and the team is leading the Department’s input into cross-Whitehall work preparing for the TCA review in 2026.As we start this new parliamentary term, we are refreshing the Department’s overarching international strategy.. This includes strengthening our international engagement teams to focus on building relationships with priority countries. These teams are a valuable resource for the whole Department in enabling effective international influencing.
Trade policy
Leading and co-ordinating the Department’s contribution to the Government’s programme to negotiate Free Trade Agreements (FTA) and on all aspects of trade policy, including addressing market access barriers. This includes working across the Department to develop the negotiating position on transport services for each country and being a dynamic part of the Department for Business and Trade (DBT)-led negotiating teams throughout, including advising ministers on any trade-offs affecting transport interests.
Exports and investment
Working with DBT, the Office for Investment (OfI) and others to support the cross-government effort to boost UK prosperity through the promotion of UK exports and investment opportunities. The Department promotes the UK transport sector’s exporting capability at international trade events. For example, we are co-funding the UK’s presence at the Osaka Expo 2025, which runs for six months from April 2025, and delivering a transport programme for the UK pavilion. We sponsor Crossrail International, a small, specialist company, wholly owned by the Secretary of State, which provides expert strategic advice globally on developing and implementing complex rail schemes. The company seeks to leverage expertise gained through the delivery of the Elizabeth Line to generate opportunities for the UK supply chain. Investment into the UK transport sector is essential to UK prosperity. We are working to develop a pipeline of transport-related investment opportunities which our ministers can target with foreign investors.
Shared leadership of Decarbonisation, Technology & Strategy (DTS) Group
In a Group without a Director-General, the Directors in DTS work together to support the Second Permanent Secretary in personifying and promoting the Group’s identity, purpose and value, including ensuring that it is well run, in line with the Department’s corporate policies, procedures and practices.
A consistent theme across all of the work of the directorate is effective collaboration with teams across the Department, and the ability to build trust and credibility in external relationships, including with international and other stakeholders and across Whitehall, at senior level, including representing the Department with tact and impact. The ability to develop and lead effective relationships is fundamental to the role.
Person specification
You will need to be able to show, through your application, that you have the professional skills, breadth of experience and personal qualities for this post, as well as the leadership skills to succeed at Director level in the Senior Civil Service.
The successful candidate must therefore be able to demonstrate their capabilities and experience in the following areas:
- Strong experience of leading, motivating and developing high-performing, diverse and inclusive teams, including across locations and organisational boundaries.
- Ability to understand where the Department sits within and aligns across wider government policy and to create clear, long-term, evidence-based strategies enabling transport specific objectives to complement and contribute to broader government priorities.
- Proven experience of working effectively with a wide range of senior internal and external stakeholders, including demonstrating the ability to understand, articulate and balance competing views, build trust and confidence and agree and implement a way forward.
- Experience of working collaboratively to deliver professional excellence and expertise particularly in support of high-quality Ministerial engagement with stakeholders, demonstrating understanding of and responsiveness to their requirements, and the ability to maximise impact while promoting effective use of resources and value for money.
Desirable Criteria
- Direct experience of working in an international context, whether in a UK-based role, overseas posting or with devolved administrations.
Benefits
Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously, and want to enable you to build a really successful career with the Department and wider Civil Service.
It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead, and you’ll benefit from regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
The Civil Service values and supports all its employees.
We have strong and pro-active staff networks, special leave policies for hospital appointments, reasonable adjustments put in place for those who need them, and diversity talent programmes to help everyone irrespective of background, to achieve their potential.
Pension
Your pension is a valuable part of your total reward package.
A competitive contributory pension scheme that you can enter as soon as you join where we will make a significant contribution to the cost of your pension; where your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken; and where your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire. Visit Civil Service Pension Scheme for more details.
Generous Annual Leave and Bank Holiday Allowance
25 days annual leave on entry, increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service (allowance is pro rata for part-time employees). This is in addition to 8 public holidays.
This will be complimented by one further day paid privilege entitlement to mark the King’s Birthday.
(Leave is Pro rata basis for part time/job share)
Staff Wellbeing
- Flexible working including part-time or time-term working and access to Flexible Working Schemes allowing you to vary your working day as long as you work your total hours.
- Generous paid maternity and paternity leave which is notably more than the statutory minimum offered by many other employers.
- Childcare benefits (policy for new employees as of 5 April 2018): The government has introduced the Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme. Working parents can open an online childcare account and for every £8 they pay in, the government adds £2, up to a maximum of £2000 a year for each child or £4000 for a disabled child. Parents then use the funds to pay for registered childcare. Existing employees may be able to continue to claim childcare vouchers, so please check how the policy would work for you here. Any move to the DfT from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments.
- Onsite facilities Opportunity to use onsite facilities including fitness centres and staff canteens (where applicable).
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Application
To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online form. This should be completed no later than 23:55pm Sunday 13th October.
The application will include:
- A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
- A Statement of Suitability (no longer than 1000 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the person specification.
Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.
As part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say’.
All monitoring data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not be provided to the selection panel.
Should you encounter any issues with your online application please get in touch with us via scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Your application will be acknowledged when it is received.
Selection Process and Shortlist
Paul Kernaghan Civil Service Commissioner, will chair the process. More detailed information can be found at the Civil Service Commission website:
The panel will select a shortlist of candidates whose applications best demonstrate suitability for the role, by considering the evidence provided against the essential criteria set out in the Person Specification.
Candidates applying under the Disability Confident Scheme who meet the minimum selection criteria in the job specification are guaranteed an interview.
Assessment
Shortlisted candidates may be asked to take part in a series of assessments which could include:
- Individual Leadership Assessment - a combination of psychometric assessments
- Staff Engagement Exercise - a presentation and Q&A with a representative staff group from across the DfT.
These assessments will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.
Informal Discussion
Shortlisted candidates will have the opportunity to speak to Jo Shanmugalingam prior to the final interview. This is an informal discussion to allow candidates to learn more about the role and is not part of the assessment process.
Interview
You will be asked to attend a panel interview in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification.
The Success Profile Framework will be used to assess and recruit the most suitable candidate. As well as Experience, the following four behaviours will be used at the interview stage:
- Leadership
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
Further information about Success Profiles can be found here:
Interviews are expected to take place face to face in our London office, all shortlisted candidates will be asked to prepare a 5-minute presentation.
Offer and Feedback
Unfortunately, due to the anticipated number of applicants for this role, we are unable to provide feedback to those not successful at shortlist stage. Candidates who are shortlisted and attend an interview will be offered verbal feedback from a member of the interview panel.
The timeline later in this pack indicates the date by which decisions are expected to be made, all candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter, and we will advise on any delays.
Expected Timeline
We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for assessments or interviews. You are therefore asked to note the below timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process, in order to meet the dates given. Please note that these dates may be subject to change.
The anticipated timetable is as follows:
Advert Closing Date: 23:55 on Sunday 13th October 2024
Shortlist: Tuesday 22nd October 2024
Assessments: W/C 28th October 2024 & 4th November 2024
Panel Interviews: Tuesday 12th November 2024
Contact Us
Should candidates like to discuss the role in more detail before submitting an application, please contact: dftscsresourcing@dft.gov.uk
This campaign is being run on behalf of the department by the team at Government Recruitment Service, part of Government Business Services, a central government expert service specialising in the attraction, assessment and recruitment of senior civil servants.
The team is regularly commissioned by departments and other government organisations to deliver end-to-end recruitment for some of society’s most important leadership and specialist positions.
Our work is regulated by the Civil Service Commission where necessary and supported by the equality campaign group Stonewall.
Cabinet Office is a Disability Confident employer.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.
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Working for the Civil Service
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).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : SCS Recruitment Team
- Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Further information
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: Visit the Civil Service Commission website Here
