34596 - Senior Delivery Manager

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Introduction 

These are exciting times at MOJ Digital and Technology. We have a clear vision - to develop a digitally-enabled justice system that works more simply for users - and we’re looking for talented people to help us achieve it.  

We’re making things better by building adaptable, effective services and making systems that are simple to use for staff and citizens. It can be challenging but it’s also important and rewarding.  As well as doing great work, we’re creating a place that’s great to do work in. We offer tip-top kit, brilliant training opportunities and support from expert colleagues. On top of that, you’ll find flexible working, an inclusive culture and a place where your opinion is valued.

The Legal Aid Agency, part of the Ministry of Justice, is transforming at pace. It is our ambition to provide fair access to justice for people in need through user focused services, so that they can find and get legal support. We want to do this by overhauling the legacy technology that underpins our systems; better leveraging our data; and building our services with ever greater efficiency.

The role 

We‘re looking for individuals with a strong digital delivery background, who like working in a delivery focused, agile environment with multidisciplinary teams.  Perhaps you have been a Scrum Master or someone who has taught others a flavour of agile in the past.  

Working at the MOJ opens you up to our Agile Delivery community to share your skills and experiences with others across the MOJ, and across government. 

A senior delivery manager is accountable for effective delivery of complex, high-risk products and services. You'll have strong interpersonal and communication skills and able to engage senior 

stakeholders. You'll have depth and breadth of experience across a range of products and services, throughout the entire lifecycle, and have greater responsibility and accountability as the main point of escalation. You'll be a coach and mentor to other delivery managers. 

You will:

• Coach and lead teams in Agile and Lean practices as a recognised expert who advocates these approaches, continuously reflecting and encouraging the team to work in new ways and always innovating 
• Mediate and mend relationships, communicating with stakeholders at all levels to manage expectations and facilitate discussions across high risk and complexity or under constrained timescales
• Optimise the delivery flow of teams, able to actively address the most complicated risks, issues and dependencies, including where ownership exists outside the team, or no clear ownership exists, and identify innovative ways to unblock issues 
• Identify and challenge organisational processes of increasing complexity and coach the organisation to inspect and adapt processes 
• Lead continual planning in a very complex environment, be able to plan beyond product delivery, identify and work to remove dependencies in plans across services 
• Coach other teams as the central point of expertise and accelerate the teams development cycle 
• Identify problems or issues in team dynamics and rectify them through Agile health-checks with the team and provoke the right responses, engage in varying types of feedback choosing the right type at the appropriate time and ensuring the discussion and decision sticks. 
• Be an active part of the broader delivery management community, receiving and providing coaching and mentoring with your professional colleagues and taking part in informal support networks with peers. 

You'll have 

• Deep knowledge of, and lead on, a range of Agile and Lean tools and techniques, with an ability to coach within and outside of the team, represent and be an advocate for these tools and techniques, be innovative and ensure you keep up to date with the latest trends. 
• Experience of establishing the feedback loop for teams and responsibility for the translation and measurement of value (what you put in and what you will get out) and how this relates to practical government objectives and the user needs. 
• Situational awareness of what each other is working on and ability to ensure that working practices are iterated to achieve effective delivery
• The ability to communicate effectively across organisational, technical and political boundaries, understanding the context. Able to advocate and communicate what a team does to create trust and authenticity. Can successfully react and respond to challenge. 
• Expertise in solving issues and helping teams unblock their own problems, driving teams and setting the pace, ensuring teams are working towards their commitments. 
• A proven track record of managing various dependencies across teams and departments.
• Demonstrable ability to focus outcomes, challenges and improving disproportionate organisational processes where it impacts the pace of the team. 
• The ability to identify what works best for the team and when to utilise certain processes, understand that all steps in a process must add value, ability to influence and make positive changes to the organisation. 
• A continuous approach to planning, forecasting, estimating, managing uncertainty, metrics and measurements, contingency planning and road mapping, 
• The ability to build successful delivery teams and understand team styles and how people work together, maintain, influence and motivate a team, give and receive feedback, facilitating the feedback loop. 
• Experience in ensuring the health of the team and can facilitate conflict resolution, accelerating team performance, transparency and that the work is understood externally.  You’ll also be able to create an open and collaborative environment to work in, be flexible, adaptable and have a willingness to learn, recognise how people best work together, facilitating the best team makeup depending on the situation. 
• Ability to help teams maintain a focus on delivery whilst being aware of the importance of professional development. 

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles, a flexible framework, to assess candidates against a range of elements using a variety of selection methods, therefore giving you the opportunity to demonstrate the various elements required to be successful in the role.

At the interview we will be assessing your technical/specialist skills and experience, testing your ability through relevant assessments and asking you questions around the behaviours we require to be successful in this role. The behaviours we assess are:

• Leadership
• Communicating and influencing
• Working together
• Developing self and others
• Making effective decisions
• Delivering at pace
• Seeing the big picture
• Changing and improving
• Managing a quality service

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status or disability status.

Selection process details

Candidates must submit

• a current and relevant CV;
• a Cover letter (1 page max) setting out why you are interested in the role and how you meet the essential skills and experience required.

At the CV review/sift stage we will use the specialist skills and experience to determine your suitability for the role. At the interview we ask you questions based on the specialist skills and experience as well as behaviours outlined.

At the Interview we will ask open-ended questions to which they are seeking answers/evidence of essential, previous skills, experience and behaviours in order to guide their hiring decision.

Note: interviews are expected to last one hour.

Note: due to the volume of applications we receive we are unable to provide feedback after the CV review (sift) stage.

Salary and working arrangements

If successful, the salary we offer you will be within the advertised range and will depend on the skills and experience you demonstrate at the interview. Therefore in your cover letter it would be helpful to the hiring teams if you can indicate your salary expectations and if possible your notice period.

Benefits:

• 37 hours/week and flexible working options - working from home or remotely, working part-time, job sharing, or working compressed hours.
• We have a fantastic learning and development offer 
• £1000 of learning and development spend per year 
• A civil service pension with employer contributions of 26-30% depending on salary.
• 25 days annual leave, which increases 1 day per year up to maximum of 30 days (plus bank holidays), and an extra day off for the Queen’s birthday.
• Great maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too!
• Bike loans and secure bike parking (subject to availability and location)
• Season ticket loans, childcare vouchers and eye-care vouchers.
• 5 days volunteering paid leave.
• Free membership to BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.

Things you need to know

Security and Immigration checks

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

Candidates will be subject to UK immigration requirements as well as Civil Service nationality rules.

If you're applying for a role requiring security clearance please be aware that foreign or dual nationality is not an automatic bar. However certain posts may have restrictions which could affect those who do not have sole British nationality or who have personal connections with certain countries outside the UK.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK, Commonwealth and European Economic Area (EEA) and certain non EEA nationals. Further information on whether you are able to apply is available here.

Eligibility

Candidates in their probationary period are not eligible to apply for vacancies within this department.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Contact point for applicants- for further information regarding this role please contact MoJ D&T Recruitment.

Further information

All Civil Servants will adhere to the 'Civil Service code’, which outlines the Civil Service's core values, and the standards of behaviour expected of all civil servants in upholding these values.

Note for current Civil Servants: If successful, the salary offered would normally be determined by applying the MoJ salary progression rules. If the appointment is on level transfer your substantive salary (excluding any allowances) will remain unchanged, unless it exceeds the maximum stated within the MoJ pay band, and unless your current salary is below the relevant MoJ grade minimum. If the appointment is on temporary or substantive promotion the salary will be increased by the appropriate promotion percentage or moved to the minimum of the relevant MoJ grade minimum, whichever is the greater. Civil Servant Applicants should be aware there may be an opportunity for you to be transferred on a permanent basis if this role has been advertised as a fixed term appointment.

Note for non Civil servant applicants: This post is open to UK Nationals, Commonwealth Citizens, EEA Nationals of other member states and certain non-EEA family members. There must be no employment restrictions or time limit on your permitted stay in the UK. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for at least 3 years and in some cases 5 or even 10 years preceding your application due to the requirement to have a checkable history for security vetting purposes. If you answer 'No' to the questions regarding nationality then it is unlikely your application will be pursued. If you are unsure as to your eligibility on any of these points, please contact the recruitment team for clarification or advice. Non Civil Servant Applicants should be aware there may be an opportunity for this post to be converted to permanency if it has been advertised as a fixed term appointment.