Deputy Director, Arts (Maternity Cover)

Job summary

We are looking for a high performing and motivated individual to lead the Arts Team as a maternity leave cover for up to one year.

Job description

Responsibilities for the role include:

• Leadership of a c20 person team and a visible leadership role in the wider Culture Directorate as part of its Senior Management Team;
• Develop close and strong relationships with stakeholders across the arts sector, understanding their businesses and art forms and representing their interests across central government to improve the arts offering for citizens.
• Senior sponsorship of Arts Council England (ACE) – one of DCMS’s largest Arm’s Length Bodies. Sponsorship includes managing senior relationships and working closely with ACE on their strategic objectives and design and deliver of some of their core programmes. Sponsorship also includes oversight and assurance of their governance, budgets and representing theirs and the wider arts sectors’ interests at Spending Reviews and Fiscal events.
• Along with ACE, implementing the findings of the independent Review of the Arts Council.
• Developing future funding models and policy to ensure the sustainability of the arts sector – including acting as SRO at DCMS for a number of ACE delivered programmes, such as the £425m Creative Foundations Fund.
• Developing and delivering policy across government on core issues affecting the arts sector – including working with Department for Education on cultural education and skills policy, and on other core issues such as philanthropy, devolution, cultural taxation, among others.

Person specification

• Leadership : a track record of visible, inclusive, and empowering leadership and a proven ability to build, engagement, and coach high-performing, diverse teams while actively contributing to broader directorate and departmental corporate leadership.
• Seeing the Big Picture: proven ability to lead strategic policy development and navigate complex political environments, and credibility to act as a trusted adviser to ministers and senior officials and stakeholders
• Innovation : demonstrated ability to foster a culture of creative thinking and continuous improvement, identifying emerging opportunities to reform policy approaches, tackle complex structural challenges, and deliver high-value outcomes in a changing environment.
• Making Effective Decisions: excellent evidence-based strategic and analytical skills, with experience of formulating, leading and implementing strategies, policies and programmes, including when under pressure. Experience of driving value for money and representing strategic interests during fiscal events.
• Communicating and Influencing : Highly-developed written and oral communication skills, with the ability to brief on complex and often sensitive issues with a track record of building collaborative, trusting relationships to build consensus and drive outcomes.

Desirable Skills

An understanding of the UK arts and creative economy landscape, including the operational, financial, and regulatory drivers affecting major cultural institutions and Arm's Length Bodies.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £86,000, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes

£24,914 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).

DCMS values its staff and offers a wide range of benefits to everyone who works here. We’re committed to developing talent, and supporting colleagues to have great careers in our department. To support with that, some of the benefits we offer include:

• Flexible working arrangements and hybrid working - DCMS staff work on a flexible basis with time spent in offices, and time spent working from home
• 25 days annual leave on entry, increasing to 30 days after 5 years’ service
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Access to the Edenred employee benefits system which offers discounts to popular retailers and access to various useful resources such as financial and savings advice
• 3 days of paid volunteering leave
• Up to 9 months maternity leave on full pay + generous paternity and adoption leave
• Staff reward and recognition bonuses that operate throughout the year
• Occupational sick pay
• Access to the Employee Assistance Programme which offers staff 24/7 confidential support and resources such as counselling, debt guidance and management advice
• Active and engaged staff networks to join including the LGBT+, Ethnic Diversity, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Gender Equality Networks
• Exceptional learning and development opportunities that you can explore alongside your day to day work
• Season ticket loan, cycle to work scheme and much more!

Terms and conditions at SCS grades will vary. Those applying for SCS roles should refer to the candidate information pack for more information on terms and conditions.

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours.

To apply for this vacancy, you will need to submit the following, via the Civil Service Jobs portal, which will assessed against the essential criteria for the role :

• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. • Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained.
• The CV should not exceed more than 2 sides of A4 and you should copy and paste your CV into the "Job History" section on Civil Service Jobs application form.
• A Statement of Suitability explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role. • You must make direct reference to the essential criteria and back-up your statement with evidence rather than relying on assertions.
• This should be 2 sides of A4 and no more than a maximum of 1000 words.

For the shortlist , we will select applicants who demonstrate the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application and how this meets the essential requirements. Following the shortlist there are no further pass/fail assessment stages and all candidates shortlisted will be invited to the final interview stage.

Should you encounter any issues with your online application please get in touch with: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

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

• This role has a minimum assignment duration of 1 year. An assignment duration
• is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them
• to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through

building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above.

This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions.

• Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and
• conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your
• personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any
• absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you

to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

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

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window) .

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window) .

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

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window) .

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.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

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

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window) .

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 : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
• Email : scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dcmsrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact the Head of Resourcing at recruitment.team@dcms.gov.uk, in the first instance.

• Attachments
• DD, Arts (Maternity Cover) - DCMS SCS Candidate Information Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 4428kB)
• DD, Arts (Maternity Cover) - DCMS SCS Candidate Information Pack (Accessible Document) Opens in new window (docx, 908kB)
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