Ministry of Justice

Background

The Northern Ireland Office supports the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in promoting the interests of Northern Ireland. We make sure that Northern Ireland interests are represented within the UK Government and that UK Government responsibilities are fully and effectively represented in Northern Ireland. We are the centre of expertise on Northern Ireland issues across Government.

The Northern Ireland Office employs around 165 staff, with offices in Belfast and London. As a small Department, we adopt a flexible project-based approach to ensure that we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place to support the delivery of our key objectives.

Due to our structure and size, we are able to offer extensive exposure to Ministers and the opportunity to work on a far wider portfolio of policy and responsibilities than might be the case in a larger department. This creates an interesting and stimulating work environment.

Our key priorities are set out in our Operational Delivery plan and include:

• Supporting greater inclusion, tolerance and openness in Northern Ireland
• Contributing to a safer Northern Ireland, where terrorist and paramilitary groups are less able to cause harm to communities
• Ensuring that governance in Northern Ireland is responsive, transparent and able to deliver effective public service.
• Addressing the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland

For more information about what we do:

Visit:https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/northern-ireland-office https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice.

About The Role:

The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) is recruiting a Senior Executive Officer (SEO) to lead the engagement and delivery functions for Intertrade UK, a newly established body focused on facilitating and boosting trade within the United Kingdom. This is a pivotal role dedicated to supporting the work of Intertrade UK and helping achieve its core aim of boosting trade within the United Kingdom. This role will sit in the Fiscal, Economy & Trade Group (FET) at the NIO.

Intertrade UK is a new non-statutory advisory body. It is chaired by The Rt Hon. the Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee DBE, with five expert members with extensive experience in business and trade in Northern Ireland and further afield. The body’s core mission is to provide strategic advice and insight that strengthens the UK internal market and drives economic prosperity.

As the lead for Intertrade UK’s engagement plan, you will be responsible for a critical function that enables the body to deliver its published work programme. You will act as a key link between the advisory body and its diverse range of stakeholders. You will be expected to work independently and with initiative, reacting confidently to emerging issues while maintaining excellent stakeholder relations. For more information about Intertrade UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/intertrade-uk

Duties And Responsibilities:

The main responsibilities of the roles include but are not limited to:

• Leading the development and implementation of a comprehensive external engagement plan to support Intertrade UK’s published work programme.
• Arranging and supporting in-person delivery of external engagements/events.
• Procuring research with external partners that delivers on Intertrade UK’s specific requirements.
• Building and maintaining excellent working relationships with senior stakeholders across Whitehall and external partners to ensure Intertrade UK’s equities are represented and prioritised.
• Identifying opportunities to contribute to wider team objectives where they directly benefit the delivery of Intertrade UK’s work programme.

The role will also require:

• Working closely and effectively with the wider Fiscal, Economy and Trade team within the NIO, to proactively identify opportunities to promote and deliver on Intertrade UK’s objectives

Essential Criteria:

The post holder will need to demonstrate the following in their application:

• Experience in or a clear understanding of external procurement processes, including commissioning services and managing external delivery partners or contractors.
• Experience delivering events for professional audiences.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders including ministers. 
• A track record of working independently and with initiative whilst delivering against competing priorities.
• A proven ability to work at pace and under pressure. 
• The ability to build and maintain effective and responsive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders, particularly those that are externally facing.
• Ability to think strategically and see the bigger picture, and capacity to understand the wider implications of both your work and that of others, including working in a political context.

Selection Process

The selection process will consist of two stages:

1) Sift:

Experience:

Please provide a CV with details of your education, professional qualifications, previous skills and relevant employment history; and a statement of suitability no longer than 500 words outlining how you meet the essential criteria. 

Your statement of suitability needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the requirements set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirements needed. You don’t have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. 

Share with us what makes you suited to this role and why. What you can do, the skills you have that are transferable and the life experience or passion you have that are linked to this role. If you don’t have work-based examples then give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in. 

Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement. Your CV will be used to add context to your personal statement.

In the event of a large number of applications, the sift will be scored according to the lead Civil Service Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing.

2) Interview:

If you are successful at the sift stage and invited to interview, you will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated the behaviours listed below at the level appropriate to the post.

Behaviours:

• Communicating and Influencing; 
• Delivering At Pace
• Making Effective Decisions; 
• Seeing the Big Picture 

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:   

WHO- What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? or

STAR- What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take?  What were the Results of your actions?

Strengths:

The interview will also consist of two Strength-based questions:

It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this.

If you do not have work-based examples then please give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in.  

More information on behaviours, strengths and success profiles can be found here.

All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.

Presentation

You will also be asked to provide a short presentation as part of the interview. You will have the opportunity to prepare for this presentation. Further details will be provided if you are selected for interview.

Offer

Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first.

The successful candidate will be notified of a start date following successful security checks.

Additional information received after the closing date will not be considered.  Failure to provide sufficient information in support of an application prior to the closing date will not be considered as grounds for an appeal if an applicant is not shortlisted for interview.

Security Clearance:

This role requires National Security Vetting given the access to sensitive information afforded by the job role.  You can find more information by reviewing the information held in the following links:

United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The vetting charter - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

In addition, there is a minimum UK residency requirement set by the Cabinet Office which is dependent on the security level required for the role.

This role requires SC and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 5 years

Neither Detached Duty terms nor relocation costs will apply to this post.

Further Information:

Further information about the posts may be obtained from jordan.auburn@nio.gov.uk 

All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.

This job description should not be taken as constituting conditions of employment.

Please note that due to the high interest in NIO opportunities, feedback cannot be given if you are unsuccessful at the sift stage. Feedback is available on request if unsuccessful following the interview.

Complaints:

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.  Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles.

Please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@sscl.gse.gov.uk) in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages:

http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/

https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/code/

Reserve Lists:

In the event that the advertised post following interview, identifies more appointable applicants than available posts, we may hold applicant details on a merit/reserve list for a period of 12 months from which further future appointments can be made. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact

MoJ-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com to be removed from the reserve list.