Were looking for someone to help stabilize the team and maintain excellent service for our customers, while ensuring compliance with departmental governance frameworks. This role sits within the 3rd Party Recruitment and Resource Governance Team and is one of four SEOs. Youll lead a team delivering a high-quality managed service for DTG, recruiting contingent labour to fill capability and capacity gaps. Working closely with stakeholders across DTG, DWP, and the wider Civil Service, youll make sure all third-party recruitment activity complies with departmental and government policies. As the escalation point for issues, youll use data and stakeholder input to develop and present solutions to senior audiences. Youll also support operational contract management for departmental strategic contract, collaborating with Commercial colleagues and contract users, and act as a subject matter expert to ensure suppliers meet operational expectations. Youll have line management responsibility for several staff and will need to combine creative thinking, problem-solving, and excellent stakeholder engagement to deliver high standards across all service lines. Youll influence and understand our People Plan, ensuring your team enables its delivery. Working with Commercial and suppliers, youll identify cost-effective, robust, and dynamic solutions to meet changing demands. Youll also develop and present options to senior managers, up to Director level, to inform decision-making. Person specification See selection process for further details. Behaviours We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: Leadership Benefits Alongside your salary of 44,447, Department for Work and Pensions contributes 12,876 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes: Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours. Generous annual leave at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (prorata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave. Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme. Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly). Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 years continuous service. Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes. An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Womens Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more. Hybrid Working This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office. If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert. Salary Information New entrants to the Civil Service will join on band minimum. Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer should maintain their current salary. Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion will move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or receive a 10% increase in salary, whichever is greater. Things you need to know 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 (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience. Stage 1: Application Your application will consist of five parts: 1. A Personal Details application form. 2. Civil service Judgement Test- After submission of the first stage of your application you will be invited to complete the civil service Judgement Test. If you successfully pass thisyou will be invited to complete the final stages of the application. Please complete the online tests as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended). The closing date for a fully completed application is 30th December 2025 at 23:55hrs. Please allow sufficient time to complete the online tests and your full written application before the deadline. If you fail to complete the online tests and full written application before the deadline your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the tests will be available when you are invited to take the tests. The tests are administered online and accessed via the CS Jobs website. Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance between 4:00pm and 7:00pm on 14th December 2025. There will be up to 1 hour during this time where candidates will not be able to access tests. All online tests will be affected. Impact for candidates Candidates who are taking a test when the downtime starts will have their test paused. They will be able to pick up where they left off after the downtime. They can do this by accessing the test again from their application centre. Candidates will not be able to launch new tests during the downtime. Candidates reporting issues should be advised to return to take the test after 7:00pm on 14th December 2025. Following successful completion of thetests, you will then be asked to complete 3. Employment history - this should contain your work experience and any skills, qualifications and accomplishments relevant to the jobs you have completed. 4. Personal statement - up to 1000 words. This statement should be used to provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria below: Proven ability to engage and influence stakeholders across multiple departments and organisations, ensuring compliance with complex policies and governance frameworks. Ability to act as a point of escalation, using data and stakeholder input to develop, evaluate, and present effective solutions to senior audiences. Experience supporting operational contract management activities, working collaboratively with Commercial teams and contract users to ensure effective delivery and compliance. Demonstrable ability to provide expert advice and support, acting as a subject matter expert to ensure suppliers consistently meet operational and contractual expectations. 5. Behavioural statement (up to 250 words). The following statement is aligned to the required Behaviour of Leadership. Leading a team to provide a high-quality managed service across an organisation to meet strategic demands or business objectives. Ensure that all examples provided in your statements are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. If you choose to use gen-AI to support your statements, you must follow the guidelines outlined in the Artificial intelligence and recruitment guide. The sift panel will use the information in your employment history, personal statement, behavioural statement and civil service judgement test to assess your experience, skills and knowledge. An initial sift will be conducted using the behavioural statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to a full sift. If you do progress to a full sift, you will be provided with one combined overall assessment score for both your employment history and Personal Statement. For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital. Important Information You will be asked to complete your employment history. Any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form. Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered. If your employment history, personal statement or behavioural statement contain any personal details your application will be withdrawn. Stage 2: Interview If youre successful at the sift stage, youll be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams. During the interview, youll be assessed against the experience criteria listed under both the essential and behavioural skill. You will also be assessed on strengths. To help you prepare and settle into the interview you will be sent the interview questions in advance of the interview, at least 5 days prior to your interview. These questions should be treated as confidential and should not be shared. The interview panel may ask you other questions which will not be shared in advance, including follow-up questions, and those about your experience and abilities. Candidates may be asked further probing questions if their response is deemed to require further information to determine suitability for the role. Candidates are strongly encouraged to secure their interview slot promptly to ensure fairness in preparation time with the questions provided in advance. Interviews will take place from the end of January 2026. Interview dates to be confirmed. Other information: If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards. All successful candidates and those placed on reserve will be posted in merit list order by location. For these vacancies, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply. Please note that while we consider sponsorship requests in accordance with current DWP guidance and Home Office policy, sponsorship cannot be guaranteed. Reasonable Adjustment At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via DigitalRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the Reasonable Adjustments section in the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if youre deaf, a Language Service Professional. For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How we recruit page. Find out more about Working for DWP A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. Reserve list candidates will be posted in merit order by location. The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action. 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: 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). 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. Contact point for applicants Job contact : Name : Chloe Poole Email : Chloepoole@dwp.gov.uk Recruitment team Email : DigitalRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk Further information Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles. If you wish to make a complaint, please find further details here: https://careers.dwp.gov.uk/how-we-recruit/. Attachments DWP Terms and Conditions January 2024 Opens in new window (docx, 17kB) Success-Profiles-Candidate-Overview (18) Opens in new window (pdf, 635kB)