Chief Digital Officer - Chief of Staff

The Digital Strategy, Engagement and Transformation (DSET) team is responsible for the delivery of significant transformation across the Defra Group. In November 2023, the ExCo and Arm's Length Body CEOs signed off on the first ever Defra Digital and Data Transformation Strategy. Since then, the DSET function has been established to drive forward the delivery of the strategy. The Chief Digital Officer works across the Group to build consensus, drive transformation and innovation both directly and indirectly. As a result, their role is extremely varied and intense with a high demand on their time, expertise and input from both the Core Department and ALBs. In recent months this engagement has included significant involvement in the Spending Review process, leading the DDTS Operating Model design, involvement in the FST led Savings and Efficiencies review and supporting work relating to Defra Group Change. You will work directly with the Chief Digital Officer and work closely with their Deputy Directors. You will be responsible for the running of the office and managing staff. You will need to be conscientious and reliable, self-motivated, organised and able to co-ordinate activity across the Directorate, react quickly and calmly to changing circumstances; think imaginatively to deliver under pressure. You will have a strong understanding of the transformation agenda the Chief Digital Officer is delivering, key stakeholders and relationships required to deliver that agenda and be able to make informed decisions about best next steps on a range of issues including priority of stakeholder meetings, HR and finance related matters., * Acting as a point of contact for the Director, ensuring that they are appropriately briefed for all meetings, leading the coordination of commissions and providing early drafts, lead the management and completion of correspondence and briefings.

• Being a strategic advisor to the Director and Deputy Directors, providing clear and rapid analysis of key issues and plans. You will provide independent advice and challenge on high profile priority work.
• Co-ordinating and quality assuring work produced by wider team, challenging where appropriate, to ensure that the Director has the necessary information to clear swiftly and ensure deadlines are met.
• Lead on briefings across the teams, ensuring commissions are clear and completed in line with deadlines. You will also be involved with supporting with wider briefings from across the directorate, submissions and correspondence.
• Build and own relationships with other Chiefs of Staff and Private Office teams for key stakeholders for the Service Transformation agenda, predominantly at a Director to Permanent Secretary level and across departments.
• As business manager, you will maintain workforce plans, ensuring recruitment is aligned to business plans and supporting the on-boarding of new starters to the directorate as appropriate.
• You will monitor and track budget and spend and lead the risk management process for the directorate.
• You will work with HR, finance and operations colleagues to ensure the Director has accurate management information.
• Monitor and track key actions for the Director and senior management team, showing attention to detail to ensure nothing is missed, and prioritise tasks so the most urgent and important issues are addressed.
• Support with the day to day running of the directorate by building, developing and leading a high performing team of executive assistants that support the SCS in your directorate.
• Support SCS in your directorate to ensure they are joined up and operate with maximum impact., We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: o Communicating and Influencing o Seeing the Big Picture o Working Together o Delivering at Pace, Where the location is 'National' the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra's location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes. Successful applicants currently employed by the hiring organisation (Defra) may choose to remain in their current contractual location or may choose to change contractual location to one of those listed above. This should be discussed and agreed prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes. The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations. Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee. The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time. Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD. Our main Defra DDTS hubs are in York, Warrington, Newcastle, Reading and Bristol, however the successful candidate may be contractually based at any Defra office. Please be aware that space within the London office is restricted and it may not be possible to be based in this location. Artificial Intelligence Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. Reserve list A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Merit Lists Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be posted in merit order by location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application., Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter All of these posts require the successful candidate to hold basic security clearance. Job offers to these posts are made on the basis of merit. Security vetting will only take place after the receipt of a job offer. Childcare Vouchers Any move to DEFRA 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; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website. Feedback 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: o UK nationals o nationals of the Republic of Ireland o nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK o 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) o 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) o individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020 o 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).

Apply and further information This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative. The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window). Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

• You will need to be self-motivated and able to work at pace pressure and across multiple priorities at once, prioritising your workloads as necessary while maintaining progress towards the realisation of long-term goals.
• Strategic focus and understanding of Service Transformation to support the leadership team. Strong critical thinking skills to unpick issues and understand how to resolve them.
• Ability to see the bigger picture and think strategically and systemically.
• Excellent track record of working collaboratively with a wide range of challenging stakeholders to deliver outcomes.
• Strong organisational skills with an eye for detail. Ability to look ahead and forward-plan to maximise efficiency and effectiveness of the team.
• Excellent track record of delivering quality written products at pace to stakeholders at all levels.
• Very strong stakeholder engagement and interpersonal skills, with the ability to work collaboratively and form strong stakeholder relationships with internal and external stakeholders including SCS.

Alongside your salary of £56,375, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £16,331 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. o 25 days' leave (rising to 30 days over 5 years) plus bank holidays. o A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%. o A day off per year for the King's birthday. o Access to a range of retail discounts (these include supermarket, tech, gym, holiday, phone and more). o Flexible working options such as condensed hours, part-time and flexi time. o 3 paid volunteering days per year. o Funding for professional membership of a recognised professional body. o Learning and development tailored to your role and budget for training or qualifications. o A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity. o Cycle to work scheme. o Health cash plan to help you manage health costs for a reduced monthly fee. o Access to the Employee Assistance Programme open 24 hours, 7 days a week, that provides support to you during any times of stress or difficulty. o Free access to Headspace for wellbeing. o Season ticket loan for public transport. Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) 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 and the Civil Service D&I Strategy, New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest. Visa Sponsorship Statement Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship. Criminal Record Check If successful and transferring from another Government Department, a criminal record check may be carried out.

Defra is the UK government department responsible for safeguarding our natural environment, supporting our world-leading food and farming industry, and sustaining a thriving rural economy. Our broad remit means we play a major role in people's day-to-day life, from the food we eat, and the air we breathe, to the water we drink. Digital, Data, Technology and Security (DDTS) is the trusted team for digital across the entire Defra Group. We have around 1000 colleagues across DDTS and our ambition is to make it easier and faster than ever for people to interact with Defra. If you are ready to drive innovation and push boundaries, we want to hear from you. Join us and together we will create a great place for living, and a green and healthy future for all. Find out more about DDTS: Defra digital, data and technology blog