Ministry of Justice

ABOUT THE ROLE: 

The Northern Ireland Office is recruiting an SEO to support delivery of the Government’s Economic Growth Mission, one of the Department’s top priorities. This is vital to upholding political stability in Northern Ireland, driving growth and investment, and supporting the Government’s reset with the regions and nations.  

This role is located in the Fiscal, Economy and Trade Group within the Northern Ireland Office - which aims to drive growth and prosperity in Northern Ireland, focused on driving economic growth in the Northern Ireland economy, working with other Government departments, the NI Executive and wider stakeholders. 

The Fiscal, Economy and Trade Group leads the NIO’s work on the Government’s Growth Mission. Our role is to work with other Whitehall departments and the Northern Ireland Executive to strengthen the Northern Ireland economy, boost innovation, drive investment, and to promote Northern Ireland as a great place to do business. We work with HM Treasury and the Northern Ireland Department of Finance to improve the sustainability of Northern Ireland public finances, as well as leading the NIO’s work on trade and Windsor Framework issues.  

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES  

The postholder will be a member of the Fiscal and UK Government Spending team and will be expected to provide expert advice on fiscal policy, monitoring the NI Executive budget including the Executive’s fiscal policy, implementation of the financial package that supported the Executive’s return, as well as a new fiscal framework. The individual will advise the Secretary of State on the best use of spending levers to ensure good financial management and delivery of the Executive’s Sustainability Plan alongside support to the wider team on transformation of public services, city deals and UKSPF.  

The individual will also lead on analytical policy, working closely with the FET Deputy Director to build capability and best practice in data analysis across the department by working across teams (in a range of policy areas) to help them make better use of data, demonstrate the value of robust evidence and enhance capacity in performance management. Providing data and analysis in support of the Growth Mission and evidence in key UKG interventions will form a core part of this role. 

The post holder will also work closely with a strong and extensive network of stakeholders in the Cabinet Office, other Offices for the Nations, UK Government departments as well as with colleagues in the NI Civil Service and other external delivery partners.  

The holder will also be expected to provide support on key departmental deliverables including PQs, Orals, Correspondence, FOIs, visits, and any other general duties that support and deliver on the work of the Northern Ireland Office. 

In short, this is a great opportunity to take on a substantive, varied role, with tangible delivery and policy outcomes, in an area of the Northern Ireland Office’s work that will only get more important in the months and years ahead, as we seek to address the long and short term economic challenges that face the Northern Ireland economy.  

A collaborative approach is essential to the role, but you must also be capable of working independently and with initiative, while being able to react confidently to emerging issues.   

We welcome candidates wishing to be based in either Belfast or London and offer modern and flexible hybrid working practices. Regular travel between the two sites is not likely to be essential more than once or twice per year, but there are opportunities to travel more frequently than this depending on the role activities and the role-holder’s preferences.

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA: 

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

• Excellent written and oral communications skills, and the ability to influence senior stakeholders including ministers. 

• Strong analytical skills.

• A track record of delivering complex policy and an ability to adjust to deliver against competing priorities. 

• A proven ability to work at pace and under pressure. 

• A strong team ethos including the ability to build and maintain effective and responsive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders

• Ability to think strategically and see the bigger picture with strong policy awareness, and capacity to understand the wider implications of both your work and that of others, including working in a political context. 

DESIRABLE CRITERIA: 

• An understanding of Northern Ireland political and economic issues.

• Experience working on, or understanding of, how devolution operates in Northern Ireland.

BEHAVIOURS: We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours at SEO level during interview process:

• Delivering at Pace; 

• Communicating and influencing; 

• Making effective decisions; 

• Seeing the Big Picture       

EXPERIENCE:

Please provide a CV and statement of suitability no longer than 750 words outlining how you meet the essential and desirable criteria. Both will be used in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.

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.

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

INTERVIEW:

If you are successful at the sift stage and invited to interview, you will be assessed against the aforementioned behaviours at the interview stage and will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated the behaviours. You will be asked to respond to one strength question in the interview. 
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?

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

Further information about the post may be obtained from Luke Sunerton at luke.sunerton@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.