Head of Infrastructure Delivery and PMO at Department for Culture, Media and Sport in Manchester, London

Job summary

Universal Destinations & Experiences (UDX), a division of Comcast NBCUniversal, is building a world class theme park and resort in Bedford, after the UK government agreed a package of support to unlock this £6.4bn inward investment. Opening in 2031, the park will become the UK’s most popular visitor attraction with an estimated 8.5m visitors a year, supporting the creation of 8,000 new jobs and delivering an estimated £50b in economic benefits.

Bedford Visitor Attraction Programme is the DCMS-led programme to support delivery of the park by UDX, and its supporting infrastructure, and facilitate cross-government collaboration with local authorities across the region to ensure the wider benefits are realised.

This includes supporting delivery of new slip roads from the A421 by National Highways, a new railway station at Wixams by Network Rail, adoption of new local roads by the local highways authority and delivery of other key local infrastructure by UDX.

You'll be joining us at an exciting time, leading an innovative and ambitious team to embed disciplined delivery and collaborative behaviours to ensure successful delivery of the programme.

You’ll also make an active corporate contribution in support of DCMS’ wider Project Delivery and Major Events directorate as part of our leadership team.

We currently have around 100 project delivery professionals within DCMS and around 18,000 working across Government. These colleagues work as project, programme and portfolio managers or in specialist roles such as risk and issues managers and project planners.

A career in the Government Project Delivery Profession enables you to make a difference; improving our public services while building and developing your professional skills. Your career here could take you from climate change projects to building new hospitals or schools to equipping our armed forces. The variety and significance of roles is unparalleled.

Our mission is to attract and retain the best individuals by providing a rewarding career, supporting continuous professional development through our robust learning offering which includes accredited and apprenticeship qualifications, and shaping our community in a way that you can all feel inspired by.

For more information on the Project Delivery Profession, please see the Project Delivery Capability Framework which has been created to support the development of all project delivery professionals across government.

Job description

The Head of Infrastructure Delivery and PMO is responsible for driving delivery excellence, effective governance and evidence-based decision-making to support effective delivery of this infrastructure.

You'll play a critical leadership role in coordinating interfaces and managing dependencies across government departments, arm's length bodies, local authorities and industry stakeholders to identify and overcome barriers that could impact successful delivery.

By fostering a culture of collaboration, transparency, accountability and continuous improvement, you'll help teams identify and manage dependencies, robustly analyse and mitigate risks, resolve cross-cutting delivery challenges and create greater confidence in delivery.

Leading a team of six members of staff and functional specialists, you will:

• Build and maintain strong working relationships across our delivery partners and wider stakeholders, developing practical solutions to complex challenges and fostering collaborative delivery approaches that derisk and accelerate infrastructure delivery
• Improve delivery confidence through robust planning and scheduling, dependency management, risk and issue management, stakeholder engagement, governance and assurance, and reporting
• Produce high-quality reports and briefing materials for governance boards and committees to drive data-led decision-making and provide risk-based assurance
• Lead, develop and motivate a multidisciplinary team, creating an inclusive and high-performing culture and building programme and project management capability by promoting continuous improvement and innovation.

Person specification

The ideal candidate would have the following key skills and experience, please note that desirable skills will only be used in the event of tied candidates:

Essential requirements:

• Experience successfully working across organisational-boundaries to identify and resolve delivery challenges on a complex infrastructure project
• A proven ability to improve delivery confidence by leading the development, implementation and improvement of effective project controls including risk, planning, scope, change control, governance and assurance
• Experience building and maintaining relationships across delivery partners and stakeholders to develop collaborative ways of working that successfully provide robust challenge and deliver improved outcomes across partners
• Strong analytical and problem-solving capability with the ability to navigate ambiguity and complexity
• A proven ability support effective decision-making by turning complex information into clear insight in high-quality reports and briefing materials for senior governance boards, committees and strategic stakeholders.

Desirable Skills:

• A recognised and relevant project/programme management qualification, ChPP or have completed the Project Leadership Programme (PLP)

We are running an information session where prospective applicants can find out more about the role. This will be hosted by Emily Taylor-Dawson, Programme Director , and will take place on:

• Tuesday 6 October, 4pm

The session will be an opportunity to hear more about the role, the team and wider directorate and the department. It will also be an opportunity for you to ask any questions.

Please register your interest by filling out this Registration form and you will be sent an invitation. Invites will only be sent after this deadline has passed.

Please note that the session will not be recorded and will not focus on the DCMS recruitment process - please direct any queries that you have on this topic (timelines, reasonable adjustments, onboarding etc) to resourcing.team@dcms.gov.uk

Behaviours

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

• Managing a Quality Service
• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

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

• Technical - the actions and activities that people do which result in effective performance in a job

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £64,903, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes

£18,802 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
• 26.5 days annual leave on entry, increasing to 31.5 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, Experience and Technical skills.

To apply for this vacancy, you will need to submit the following documents which will assessed against the experience success profile :

• A Behaviour Statement of 250 words which will be assessed against the behaviour success profile : Managing a Quality Service
• A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages and you should insert your CV into the "Job History" section on the Civil Service Jobs application form.
• A Statement of Suitability (max 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed however these will not be considered in the assessment of your application except in circumstances where there are a high number and calibre of candidates.

For the shortlist , we will select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial sift will be conducted on the behaviour statement . Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.

For support in writing your application and interviewing, please refer to the ‘Application and Interview Guidance’ document attached to the job advert.

The interview process will assess behaviours , technical skills .

The behaviours to be tested at interview are:

• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

You will also be required to prepare a scenario-based task that will assess your project delivery technical skills. Full details of this, including the topic, length of time, and whether or not you will need to use visual aids, will be sent to you prior to your interview.

Your interview will take place via Microsoft Teams.

Further Information

A reserve list may be held for a period of months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to Department for Culture, Media and Sport from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

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