Length of employment: 2 Years Job Summary: The Strategy Unit (SU) sits in the centre of DCMS as part of the Corporate Strategy Directorate. We are a friendly, supportive and high performing team of around 30 people supporting the strategic management of the department through: Ensuring DCMS effectively understands and delivers Secretary of State's (SoS's) strategy and priorities; Ensuring SoS's ambition and priorities for funding are effectively articulated to No.10, HMT and Mission Boards; Leading the department through fiscal events and General Election preparation; Ensuring DCMS delivers cross-cutting government and statutory initiatives and obligations, e.g. climate and legislation Providing senior officials and ministers with high quality advice on complex strategic / policy issues; Delivering high profile cross cutting policy, such as economic growth and tech. Our broad team remit means there is plenty of opportunity to get involved in many different aspects of the department's work. Job Description: About role 1: Senior Strategy Adviser - Place and Communities The Place and Communities Lead will focus on how DCMS can drive economic growth across different regions and places in the UK. This role will ensure that DCMS contributes effectively to devolution and wider place agendas by leveraging creative industries, innovation, skills, and investment to support regional economic development. Key Responsibilities: Lead DCMS's contribution to driving local economic growth, ensuring alignment with the government's "Place" and devolution agenda and supporting regional priorities. Work with local authorities, regional bodies, and stakeholders to understand opportunities and challenges, tailoring DCMS's approach to meet diverse regional needs. Lead coordination of DCMS's internal work across different teams, ensuring seamless contribution to wider government priorities and a strong relationship with the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government. Manage timelines, deliverables, and cross-departmental engagement to ensure strategic alignment with the government's priorities. Brief senior leaders and ministers on policy developments, providing analysis and recommendations on how DCMS can further contribute to the government's overarching goals on place and local growth. About role 2: Senior Strategy Adviser - SoS Priorities This role focuses on translating the Secretary of State's key policy priorities into deliverable plans, creating robust processes to track their implementation and demonstrate success. Additionally, the role involves leading the \"Social Cohesion\" objective, revamping the department's approach to stakeholder management, and considering a new system of direct, agile support for the Permanent Secretary. Key Responsibilities Serve as the senior strategy lead for the Secretary of State's priorities. Work with the SoS's private office to create a sustainable, long-term system for tracking delivery of policy priorities Develop and implement a new approach for managing stakeholder relationships better connecting strategic policy objectives with cross-government and industrial outreach Lead the department's efforts on the Secretary of State's \"Social Cohesion\" top-level objective, collaborating with policy teams and the SU place team to ensure a coherent delivery plan Establish a process for rapidly investigating strategic issues or questions identified by senior stakeholders including the Permanent Secretary. Manage timelines, deliverables, and cross-departmental engagement to ensure strategic alignment with the government's priorities. Benefits DCMS values its staff and offers a wide range of benefits to everyone who works here. We're committed to developing talent, and supporting colleagues to have great careers in our department. To support with that, some of the benefits we offer include: Flexible working arrangements and hybrid working - DCMS staff work on a flexible basis with time spent in offices, and time spent working from home 26.5 days annual leave on entry, increasing to 31.5 days after 5 years' service A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% Access to the Edenred employee benefits system which offers discounts to popular retailers and access to various useful resources such as financial and savings advice 3 days of paid volunteering leave Up to 9 months maternity leave on full pay generous paternity and adoption leave Staff reward and recognition bonuses that operate throughout the year Occupational sick pay Access to the Employee Assistance Programme which offers staff 24/7 confidential support and resources such as counselling, debt guidance and management advice Active and engaged staff networks to join including the LGBT, Ethnic Diversity, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Gender Equality Networks Exceptional learning and development opportunities that you can explore alongside your day to day work Season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme and much more! Terms and conditions at SCS grades will vary. Those applying for SCS roles should refer to the candidate information pack for more information on terms and conditions. The ideal candidate will have the following key skills and experience: Essential criteria: Strong understanding of key government priorities, including strategies for growth, improved public services and reducing disparities across regions Strong experience in strategy and policy development. Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to work across local and national organisations to deliver effective outcomes. Proven experience working with senior leaders to drive decisions and policy that support long-term outcomes. Strong communication and problem-solving, with experience briefing senior leaders. Desirable criteria: Experience of working in strategy and/or spending teams. Policy making experience either within a national context, or in local or regional policy development, including work with local authorities or regional stakeholders. We are running an information session where prospective applicants can find out more about the role. This will be hosted by and will take place on: 17 June - 3:30pm The session will be an opportunity to hear more about the role, the team and wider directorate and the department. It will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions. Please register your interest by filling out this form by the date shown and you will be sent an invitation. Please note that the session will not focus on the DCMS recruitment process - please direct any queries that you have on this topic (timelines, reasonable adjustments, onboarding etc) to recruitment.team@dcms.gov.uk To apply for this vacancy, you will need to submit the following documents which will assessed against the experience success profile : A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages and you should insert your CV into the \"Job History\" section on Civil Service Jobs on the Civil Service Jobs application form. A Statement of Suitability (max 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed however these will not be considered in the assessment of your application except in circumstances where there are a high number and calibre of candidates. For the shortlist, we will select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application. In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application. For support in writing your application and interviewing, please refer to the 'Application and Interview Guidance' document attached to the job advert. The interview process will assess behaviours, strengths, and experience throug h a presentation / a scenario based task which w ill be provided prior to interview. The behaviours to be tested at interview are: Seeing the Big Picture Making Effective Decisions Communicating and Influencing Delivering at Pace Prior to the interview you will be sent the behaviour questions in advance. You will not be made aware of the strengths being assessed prior to your interview. As part of your interview, you may be asked to deliver a short oral presentation. Full details of this, including the topic, length of time, and whether or not you will need to use visual aids, will be sent to you prior to your interview. Your interview will take place remotely via GoogleMeets. For indicative sift and interview dates please refer to the attached Candidate Information Pack. Further Information If the vacancy is offered as FTA/Loan, existing Civil Servants must join on a Loan basis only. Prior agreement to be released on loan must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return. This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying. A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Any move to Department for Culture, Media and Sport 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. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. DCMS has a London and a National pay scale. For more information on this, including the circumstances in which each pay scale will apply, please see the 'Candidate Information Pack' attached. If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing stating the job reference number in the subject heading. Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. Reasonable Adjustment We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process. In order to request an adjustment, please: Complete the 'Assistance required' section on 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 a verbal test rather than a written one. Alternatively, contact the Government Recruitment Service via dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Accessibility If you are experiencing accessibility difficulties with any of the attachments, please contact us. Contact details can be found in the 'contact point for applicants' section of the job advert. Feedback To help VERCIDA find roles that are best suited to you at DCMS, we ask you to confidentially share information about yourself with us. Any data VERCIDA receive is securely stored and never shared with third parties. 'Did you know that users who have filled in their profile fully are 42 times more likely to get matched with the right employer?' 'At DCMS we are committed to having diverse interview panels at every grade we recruit.' Applying for a job in Manchester? Find out more about the culture here