Grant Programme Manager

at  Department for Business and Trade

JOB SUMMARY

The Grant Delivery Directorate (GDD) contributes to the economic growth of the UK by delivering a wide range of business grant programmes on behalf of the Department.
GDD’s current portfolio covers 20 DBT schemes accounting for over £30 billion of government support including support for the automotive sector, small grant awards, administration of the Energy Intensive Industries exemptions and compensation, and legacy schemes such as Covid 19 business support grants.

The Directorate has responsibility for:

• developing new schemes
• overseeing the delivery of schemes (including assessing applications) with due diligence
• finalising awards and monitoring each award to ensure they meet agreed outcomes
• reconciliation, assurance, compliant closure and recovery of government funds as necessary.
• being the gatekeeper for all DBT grant funding.

This is a fantastic opportunity to become part of GDD team working directly with business and other stakeholders as we deliver our schemes and grow our role as new grant schemes transfer to us. Our role in awarding and monitoring grants across a wide range of policy areas requires us to ensure that while working with partners and businesses and designing delivery to place the minimum burden possible, we also comply with the Government Grant Standards and HMT’s Managing Public Money to ensure best value for money and protect the taxpayer.
Given the diverse range of work within the team, a matrix management structure is in place. Whilst you will be allocated to a functional line manager, you may also work with other managers where required.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

We are looking for a candidate who can demonstrate:

Essential

• Significant public sector grant programme management experience.
• Strong organisational skills including ability to simultaneously track multiple queries and lines of enquiry.
• Exemplary negotiating, influencing and persuasion skills.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to challenge or question data when needed.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with the ability to be clear, confident and persuasive.
• Strong ability to collaborate and build effective relationships with a wide range of colleagues across the directorate and department, including legal and finance colleagues and key government functions.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and relationship management skills
• An ability to instil rigour, discipline and robust working processes across the Grant delivery function and ensure appropriate audit trails are maintained.
• A proportionate level of understanding of the relevant policy objectives, the ability to think strategically when considering the bigger picture.
• Managing conflicting priorities to meet ambitious timescales.

Desirable

Experience of working with:

• policy teams, other internal and cross-Whitehall interested parties.
• external local authority, private sector businesses, beneficiaries and stakeholders.
• A good level of proficiency with SharePoint, the Government Grants Information System (GGIS), UKSBS-Oracle and Microsoft Excel would be an advantage.

The key behaviours for the role are:

• Leadership
• Communicating and influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

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)

THE ROLE

We are currently looking for a talented and ambitious individual to join our high-performing team as Grant Programme Manager.
Your workload will form part of a wider oversight of grant development and delivery to provide assurance to Ministers and the Accounting Officer, delivering high-quality outputs that can withstand external audit and investigation.
Whilst line managing a small team you will be required to support and oversee development of new programmes and compliant operational delivery of both new and legacy schemes across their full life cycle.
The successful candidate will sit in the DBT Grant Delivery Directorate and will be expected to juggle a variety of schemes and issues at the same time. You will need to be comfortable understanding each of the schemes in your portfolio sufficiently to translate that into clear, simple recommendations to SCS and Ministers. You will need to be proactive, working across the team and DBT to leverage the expertise of others.

Responsibilities will include;

• Working with internal and external stakeholders maintaining regular communication and ensuring that key achievements and timelines are met.
• Undertaking scheme development preparedness, drafting associated papers, presenting to approval boards and seeking Ministerial clearance.
• Reviewing the grant recipients’ progress against the terms of the funding agreements and approving claims for payment. This will include the testing and confirmation of grant claim evidence and important metrics.
• Identifying and proactively managing delivery risks using your judgement to raise issues where appropriate in a timely manner.
• Ensuring management information and project records are accurate and kept up to date, in accordance with finance, management and audit requirements.
• Undertaking line management duties for SEO / HEO Appraisal and Monitoring Officers.

The key behaviours for the role are:

• Leadership
• Communicating and influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decision