Senior Adviser, Performance and Planning

Job summary

About the Electoral Commission

The Electoral Commission is the UK’s independent body overseeing elections and regulating political finance. Everything we do is about ensuring trust, participation, and integrity in the democratic process.

As we continue to deliver our five-year Corporate Plan, the Commission is building on a period of growth and change, expanding our workforce and modernising how we deliver our services to better support the needs of a changing democracy. As our organisation develops and adapts to meet future challenges, this post will play a vital part in supporting that progress and helping ensure we remain responsive to the democratic needs of voters, campaigners, parties and electoral administrators across the UK.

About the team

You'll join the Planning & Performance Team within the Corporate Services Directorate.

The team leads the Commission's approach to strategic planning, business planning, performance reporting, KPI development and benefits realisation. Working across the organisation, the team supports services to understand and demonstrate their contribution to corporate objectives while providing the performance insight needed to support effective governance and decision making.

Job description

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Commission as our Senior Adviser - Performance & Planning, helping to shape how we measure, demonstrate and improve organisational performance. Acting as a trusted adviser to senior leaders, you will support the development of meaningful performance measures, benefits realisation approaches and governance reporting that enables informed decision making across the organisation.

This role combines strategic thinking with operational delivery. You will work closely with Heads of Service, Senior Leadership Team members, project teams and corporate colleagues to ensure the Commission has high-quality performance information, robust performance frameworks and effective reporting arrangements in place.

The role has significant visibility across the organisation and offers the opportunity to influence senior decision making, shape organisational improvement and support delivery of the Commission's strategic objectives.

Key responsibilities include:

• Embedding the Commission's performance management and benefits realisation frameworks.
• Supporting senior leaders to identify, develop and monitor KPIs and benefits profiles.
• Producing and analysing performance information for Executive Committee, Audit and Risk Assurance Committee and Board reporting.
• Acting as a business partner to assigned service areas, providing expert advice on planning, performance and continuous improvement.
• Facilitating workshops, delivering guidance and supporting colleagues to effectively manage performance and benefits.
• Contributing to organisational improvement initiatives and the ongoing development of performance management processes.

Person specification

Who we’re looking for

We're looking for someone with strong experience of performance management, planning or organisational improvement who can combine analytical thinking with excellent stakeholder engagement skills.

You'll be confident influencing senior leaders, interpreting complex information and translating data and insight into practical recommendations. You'll also be comfortable working across multiple priorities, identifying opportunities for improvement and supporting others to embed effective performance management practices.

To be successful in this role, you'll bring:

• Experience of performance monitoring, reporting and developing performance measures or KPIs.
• Experience of developing, reviewing or implementing performance management or benefits management approaches.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and challenge constructively.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including preparing papers and reports for senior audiences.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to identify improvements and recommend solutions.
• Good IT skills, including Microsoft Office applications and the ability to quickly learn new systems.

Experience of benefits realisation, project management methodologies or delivering training would be advantageous.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,031, The Electoral Commission contributes

£11,596 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• The Role:

This is an opportunity to take on a highly visible role with organisation-wide impact. You'll work with senior leaders, Commissioners and Board-level committees, helping shape how the Commission measures success and demonstrates the value of its work.

The role offers significant variety, exposure and development opportunities. You'll gain experience across strategic planning, performance management, governance, organisational improvement and benefits realisation, while helping influence the future direction of the Commission's performance framework.

You'll also have the opportunity to contribute to the ongoing development of our benefits management approach, helping establish best practice across the organisation and making a tangible difference to how we assess impact and value for money.

The Office:

Our offices provide welcoming, collaborative spaces where colleagues can connect, share ideas and work together across teams. Whether based in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, you will be part of a supportive working environment that balances the benefits of in-person collaboration with the flexibility of hybrid working.

The Benefits:

We offer a strong total reward package, including:

• Flexible working and hybrid model for office-based staff, with a minimum of 40% of working time spent in the office
• Flexi-time scheme, allowing flexible hours with the option to accrue and take flexi leave
• 28 rising to 30 days annual leave + bank holidays
• Civil Service pension scheme (28.97% employer contribution)
• Performance-related pay

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

We are committed to fair and inclusive recruitment. To help reduce unconscious bias and ensure all applicants are assessed solely on their skills, knowledge and experience, we use an anonymous recruitment process.

When applying, please provide an anonymised CV which omits your protected characteristics and any personally identifiable information:

Do not include:

• Your name, address, phone number, email or other contact details
• Your date of birth or age
• Gender, ethnicity, nationality or other personal identifiers
• A photo of yourself
• Remove educational dates as these are a clear indication of your age
• There is no requirement to include your primary education details.

Do include:

• Your employment history including employers and dates of employment
• Explanation for gaps in your history
• Your duties, responsibilities and achievements

If your CV contains personal details (such as your name or contact information), we will be unable to consider your application. Please double-check your documents before submitting, including the file name you use to save and upload your CV.

Supporting disabled applicants

The Electoral Commission is proud to be a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. As part of this commitment, we aim to prioritise interviews for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria listed in the job description.

There may, however, be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. For example, during periods of exceptionally high application volumes or seasonal recruitment activity, the Commission may need to limit the overall number of interviews offered to both disabled and non-disabled applicants.

If you have a disability and would like to be considered under this commitment, please indicate this when you apply. We also welcome requests for reasonable adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process or within the workplace.

Key dates

• Application deadline: Monday 28th September (23:59)
• Interviews (1st stage): Week commencing Monday 12th October
• Interviews (2nd stage): Week commencing TBC
• Anticipated start date: TBC

Interviews are expected to be conducted virtually via Microsoft Teams

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a standard (or equivalent) criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• 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

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the

Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window)

and the

Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window) .

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available.

You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Talent Acquisition Team
• Email : recruitment@electoralcommission.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@electoralcommission.org.uk

Further information

Raising a Concern About the Recruitment Process

At the Electoral Commission, we are committed to delivering fair, inclusive, and transparent recruitment. Our recruitment practices are guided by Civil Service values and comply with the Equality Act 2010 and other relevant legislation.

If you have concerns about the way a recruitment process has been conducted, we encourage you to raise them with us.

How to Make a Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with any aspect of our recruitment process, you can contact us directly by email:

recruitment@electoralcommission.org.uk

Please include the following information:

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