Deputy Director Talent and Apprenticeships (Part-Time)

The Deputy Director for Talent and Apprenticeships is part of the senior leadership team in the Capability, Learning and Talent Directorate of People and Capability Group. It is a strategic role which delivers key components of the Department's People Strategy: a continuously learning organisation and leaders who coach, inspire and empower our people to deliver.

In this role, you will lead two centres of expertise and will operate across the whole of DWP and wider-Government, with significant visibility to a broad range of senior, high-profile stakeholders within DWP and across Government.

This is a unique opportunity to make a tangible difference to the future of our department and offers a great mix of strategic, long-term thinking and real-world delivery.

If you are confident that you can provide strong professional leadership, create and sustain long-lasting, trust-based senior relationships at a time of continued change and transformation for DWP, then we would very much like to hear from you.

This is a part-time role, designed to be an opportunity for part-time working at a senior level and the portfolio is weighted accordingly., What are my responsibilities?

• Provide and role model engaging and inclusive senior and visible leadership to both your teams and stakeholders as well as actively contributing to the wider leadership of the Department to build trust and respect at all levels.


• Create, influence and sustain effective, trust-based relationships with a broad range of high-profile senior stakeholders including the Permanent Secretary, the DWP Executive Team, senior leaders across DWP, the Cabinet Office and wider-Government.


• Deliver a talent strategy that supports DWP's strategic outcomes and delivery of our People Strategy, ensuring that the department is making full use of talent schemes to support the development of high potential individuals.


• Personally support the DWP Executive Team to develop the SCS Pay Band 2 (Director-level) cadre across the department, supporting conversations on their development and succession planning.


• Work closely with HR Directors, providing them with the tools and expertise needed for the effective running of talent and succession planning conversations and processes for the SCS Pay Band 1 (Deputy Director) cadre in DWP.


• Design and lead a new DWP SCS Strategy, working in partnership with relevant Centres of Expertise, to bring coherence to all SCS activity and articulate a clear annual cycle for SCS activity in DWP, supporting the development of quality SCS data and insight.


• Set the strategic direction of the apprenticeship agenda across the department, ensuring high-quality apprenticeships are embedded into our skills and capability strategies and supporting the wider cross government apprenticeship reform agenda.


• Ensure the delivery of quality apprenticeships across DWP, working closely with suppliers and stakeholders and connecting to strategic workforce planning.


• Through your behaviours and ways of working make DWP an inclusive place where people feel safe to challenge and can be their best., This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.


As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.,
• 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
  
  This is a high profile and demanding Deputy Director role which requires an ability to work at pace, think strategically and operationally, engage in complex problem solving, and work with others across DWP and beyond.


• Be an excellent, experienced leader with the ability to work at pace and to think both strategically and operationally to make the right connections and deliver the right outcomes;


• Have a track record of successful, impactful delivery at a senior level in the HR/People profession in relation to talent and/or organisational capability. This experience will preferably be in a large and complex organisation;


• Be confident in system leadership, with the ability to implement and translate strategy into action, setting a clear and compelling vision, that teams and stakeholders can align behind to deliver;


• Be able to build a wide range of effective and influential relationships at all levels, both internal and external, working across boundaries to engender trust, build capability, and provide support and challenge;


• Have excellent communication and influencing skills, using your networks and drawing on data and using internal and external expertise, to build a compelling narrative on talent that is engaging, easy to understand and delivers the required outcomes;


• Be a great leader of people and have a passion for building high performing teams through developing capability, coaching and creating an inclusive and collaborative culture which values diversity and encourages openness, approachability and sensitivity.


Applicants must be a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD or willing to work towards this.,
• Leadership


• Working Together


• Changing and Improving


• Delivering at Pace
  
  Learning and development tailored to your role


• An environment with flexible working options


• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity


• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%


Things you need to know