JOB DESCRIPTION

The Senior Digital and Data Advisor will lead the assurance of Government Digital and Data delivery and spend, for a number of central government organisations, working with those organisations’ internal assurance functions, service owners, programme and project leaders, serving as a trusted advisor to them.
The UK’s national security depends on advanced digital and data capabilities to meet evolving threats and increasing technological complexity. As part of DSIT’s mission to become the digital centre of government, the Government Digital Service (GDS) has launched the National Security Digital Centre (NSDC) - a central hub for digital matters across the national security community.
The Senior, Digital and Data Advisor for NSDC will lead on the assurance of Government Digital and Data spend across this community.

As a Senior Digital and Data Advisor you’ll:

• advise and support major DDaT Product and Service delivery teams on best practice, and enforce mandatory policies
• make recommendations to senior leaders in Government and DSIT, Cabinet Office and HM Treasury Ministers on the delivery or procurement plans for Products and Services, helping senior leaders and Ministers exercise control over government delivery and spending plans
• build relationships with technology leaders, including at CDIO/CIO/CTO level, across several organisations, providing expert advice to them, and influencing their plans
• support the transformation of the cross-government DDaT Assurance service that we lead, by contributing to continuous improvement workstreams

Many of the Government Products and Services that you are involved with will be of a scale ranging in value from tens of millions to billions of pounds in spend. Some of them will be readily recognisable from the news or will directly impact the lives of people you know, tackling the biggest issues of the day. Your work will help people succeed in tackling these issues.
You will work with immensely talented people from a range of backgrounds, and get a great view of how Government works both in the centre, and on the frontline, where our actions have an effect. There is therefore a unique opportunity to make a meaningful difference to how important large scale citizen services are delivered and influence tangible savings.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

We are looking for someone who is a strong communicator, who understands enterprise scale technology and digital services, and is able to speak confidently and plainly about technology with senior non-technical audiences (such as Permanent Secretaries and Ministers). You will also be someone who enjoys working with people and can quickly build trusted relationships at all levels (including with CDIOs, CTOs, Programme and Project Leaders), understand and respond to their needs. You are well organised and thrive in a busy environment where priorities change, often at very short notice, and are comfortable with navigating uncertainty and a changing environment and service.

We understand that every person will bring something different to the role and expect you to demonstrate the following skills:

• Stakeholder relationship management – negotiating with delivery teams and influencing stakeholders such as programme and project leaders; influencing decisions on the delivery of digital products and services; dealing with challenging situations and removing blockers
• Strategic thinking – working within a strategic context, for example an organisation’s digital or transformation strategy, and communicating how activities (such as delivery plans) meet strategic goals
• Technical understanding – understanding a range of core technical concepts from Agile delivery to modern cloud platforms, and standards relating to digital services and enterprise technology
• Business analysis – investigating problems and opportunities regarding digital products and services, finding and contributing to recommended solutions
• Continuous service improvement – identify optimisation opportunities in the service you deliver and contribute to the implementation of proposed solutions
• Ownership and initiative – own issues until they have been effectively mitigated or resolved
• User focus – identify and engage with stakeholders to understand their needs, as well as the needs of end users of digital products and services, using quantitative and qualitative methods to turn user focus into outcomes
• Delivering at pace – ensuring delivery of timely quality outcomes and maintaining your own level of performance in challenging circumstances.

Your personal statement and CV will be reviewed against the skills of stakeholder relationship management, strategic thinking, technical understanding, business analysis, and continuous service improvement.

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS - FURTHER INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES

1. This post is classed as ‘Reserved’ as per Civil Service Nationality RulesSection 3. In accordance with these rules, ‘only UK nationals may be employed in reserved posts in the Civil Service’1 (Paragraph. 3.1).

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

Open to UK nationals only.

THIS ROLE IS AVAILABLE ON A PERMANENT BASIS OR ON A 2 YEAR SECONDMENT/LOAN, IF YOU HAVE A PREFERENCE PLEASE LET US KNOW ON YOUR APPLICATION.

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

• joining up public sector services
• harnessing the power of AI for the public good
• strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
• elevating leadership and investing in talent
• funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
• committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.
We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.
The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.
Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You’ll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need

We understand that every person will bring something different to the role and expect you to demonstrate the following skills:

• Stakeholder relationship management – negotiating with delivery teams and influencing stakeholders such as programme and project leaders; influencing decisions on the delivery of digital products and services; dealing with challenging situations and removing blockers
• Strategic thinking – working within a strategic context, for example an organisation’s digital or transformation strategy, and communicating how activities (such as delivery plans) meet strategic goals
• Technical understanding – understanding a range of core technical concepts from Agile delivery to modern cloud platforms, and standards relating to digital services and enterprise technology
• Business analysis – investigating problems and opportunities regarding digital products and services, finding and contributing to recommended solutions
• Continuous service improvement – identify optimisation opportunities in the service you deliver and contribute to the implementation of proposed solutions
• Ownership and initiative – own issues until they have been effectively mitigated or resolved
• User focus – identify and engage with stakeholders to understand their needs, as well as the needs of end users of digital products and services, using quantitative and qualitative methods to turn user focus into outcomes
• Delivering at pace – ensuring delivery of timely quality outcomes and maintaining your own level of performance in challenging circumstances

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• a 60 minute video interview. Candidates invited to the interview will be asked to:
• submit a paper (maximum 1,000 words) 24 hours before the interview, on a technology subject shared 1 week prior to the interview, follow up questions may follow at the interview
• provide a short presentation followed by Q&A
• explain how they will approach a given scenario, followed by Q&A
• respond to one behaviour-based question on delivering at pace, and
• respond to one technical question, testing your technical knowledge and ability to communicate in plain English with non-technical stakeholder

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• communicating and influencing
• seeing the bigger picture
• changing and improving
• working together
• delivering at pac

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework for the Senior Business Relationship Manager role:

• Stakeholder relationship management
• Strategic thinking
• Technical understanding
• Business analysis
• Continual service improvement
• Ownership and initiative
• User focu