JOB DESCRIPTION

New entrants to the Civil Service will be expected to join on the minimum of the pay range.

Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department’s pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.

The national salary range is £34,140 - £37,105.

BACKGROUND

The Northern Ireland Office supports the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in promoting the best 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 170 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.

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 Political Affairs Group in the Northern Ireland Office works to ensure a thriving democracy at all levels in Northern Ireland. We do this through our strong relationships with Northern Ireland’s political parties, the Executive, the Assembly and with communities and civic, voluntary and academic stakeholders, as well as engaging with international partners. The team supports the stability and peace brought about by the Good Friday Agreement and its successors, and supports the institutions to deliver for the people of Northern Ireland.

The Community Engagement Officer will be responsible for developing relationships with NI community stakeholders, including voluntary and community organisations, faith groups and local councils. As part of the Communities Team, they will help ensure that the NIO is taking account of the views of diverse community stakeholders in our policy development, communicating our work effectively and ensuring that ministers and senior officials have the opportunity to engage with communities across Northern Ireland.

Day to day, the jobholder will be contacting and meeting a range of community stakeholders to discuss policy issues, and arranging and supporting meetings and visits for ministers. They will use their knowledge of the community sector and political environment in Northern Ireland to prepare briefing for ministers, advise on community engagement and keep colleagues across the office and other government departments informed about the viewpoints of different communities across Northern Ireland. The post holder will also provide occasional support to our UK-Ireland Team on high profile intergovernmental events.

The role offers significant amounts of autonomy, and the post-holder should be comfortable with driving forward work and maintaining effective, responsive relationships with a wide range of stakeholders.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

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

• Establish and build effective relationships with civic sector groups, especially grassroots community groups across Northern Ireland.

• Provide advice and briefings to Ministers and senior officials, and support senior official/ministerial visits and engagements with civic sector groups.

• Represent the NIO at events and conferences in Northern Ireland.

• Monitor media reporting and social media, highlighting any developments in community or civic society sentiment and reporting to relevant teams across the NIO.

• Provide support for the UK-Ireland team particularly when delivering high profile intergovernmental events.

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:

• Experience working in a community and voluntary sector organisation, or in a role involving significant engagement with the community and voluntary sector in Northern Ireland.

• The ability to develop and maintain effective relationships with colleagues and a diverse range of external stakeholders, and to work collaboratively to achieve results.

• Strong written and oral communication skills, including the ability to explain complex information clearly, concisely and persuasively to a range of audiences.

• The ability to plan work and deliver results at pace, taking the initiative to solve problems.

DESIRABLE CRITERIA:

• A good understanding of the political environment in Northern Ireland.

• Previous experience of working with Ministers (or equivalent senior decision-makers) and senior officials.

BEHAVIOURS:

We will assess you against the following Success Profiles behaviours at HEO level during the selection process:

• Communicating and influencing (lead behaviour)

EXPERIENCE:

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

You will also be asked to complete a CV with details of your education, professional qualifications, previous skills and full employment history. 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:

You will be assessed against the below behaviours at interview stage:

• Communicating and Influencing

• Working Together

• Delivering at pace

• Making Effective Decisions

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?

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

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 CTC and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 3 years. If you have any questions about residency, please contact the hiring manager.

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

Further Information:

Further information about the post may be obtained from from Rebecca Smyth at Rebecca.smyth@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.