ONS Local Engagement Lead

About the job

• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

Location

The locations for these roles are Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the South of England.

The nature of ONS Local roles requires regular in-person engagement within the communities and locations covered by the post. Although contracted as home-working, postholders will be expected to travel frequently within their allocated area, attending ONS offices and other locations as required to undertake their duties.

Roles are being advertised for the following areas:

South of England (1 post)

Devolved Nations (1 post)

Applicants considering future moves within ONS should note that these arrangements are specific to ONS Local’s place-based delivery model and may differ from those applying to other ONS roles.

About the job

Job summary

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK's largest producer of official statistics, providing trusted data and analysis that helps inform decisions affecting people, communities and businesses across the country.

We are recruiting for two Grade 7 leadership roles within the ONS Local Engagement Service, part of the ONS Local Statistics and Analysis (OLSA) Division.

The ONS Local service supports users to access, analyse and understand government statistics and data to inform decisions at a local level. These roles offer a unique opportunity to influence how evidence and insight are used to support place-based decision making across the UK.

The ONS Local Statistics and Analysis (OLSA) division is a centre of excellence for local statistics, analysis and dissemination. The ONS Local service works closely with local, regional and national partners to understand evidence needs, identify data gaps, and ensure decision-makers have access to high-quality statistics, analysis and insight.

We are recruiting for the following roles:

Head of ONS Local Engagement: South England covering : South East (E12000008) & South West (E12000009)

Head of ONS Local Engagement: Devolved Nations covering: · Wales (W92000004) , Northern Ireland (N92000002), Scotland (S92000003)

The successful candidate will become the senior ONS Local lead for their assigned geography, representing ONS externally, building strategic partnerships, and ensuring stakeholder needs are effectively understood, prioritised and delivered.

Job description

Greater devolution and the increasing demand for locally relevant evidence mean decision-makers across the UK need more local data and insight than ever before to support policy development and evidence-based decision making.

As a ONS Local Engagement Lead , you will provide strategic leadership across your assigned geography, leading ONS Local's engagement activity and ensuring users can access the data, analysis and expertise they need. You will be responsible for delivering and evolving the ONS Local offer within your area, developing services in response to stakeholder requirements, emerging priorities and identified evidence gaps.

Reporting to the Head of ONS Local Engagement Service, you will work closely with ONS Local leads across England and the Devolved Nations, helping to strengthen ONS's capability to meet the evolving needs of users across the UK. You will collaborate with analytical and development teams to ensure stakeholder priorities are translated into impactful statistical outputs, analysis and services.

This role requires exceptional stakeholder management and relationship-building skills, a strategic mindset and an understanding of analytical approaches. We are looking for someone who can develop and sustain influential networks, understand complex user requirements and work collaboratively with colleagues and partners to ensure data and evidence are effectively used to support decision-making.

You will have line management responsibility for a Senior Engagement Officer, and there may be further opportunity to matrix manage projects and colleagues across ONS Local and the wider ONS. As a member of the ONS Local leadership team, you will contribute to strategic priorities, foster a culture of continuous improvement and collaboration, and support the wider Social, Local and Census Statistics Directorate in delivering its objectives.

Stakeholders are likely to include local government leaders and analysts, mayoral strategic authorities, Welsh Government, Scottish Government, NISRA, MHCLG, other government departments, academics, local industry representatives and colleagues across ONS, particularly those working on subnational and regional statistics.

As a place-based leadership role, regular engagement with stakeholders across your assigned geography is essential. You will be expected to build strong local relationships through a combination of virtual and face-to-face engagement and travel regularly within your portfolio area to meet stakeholders and support local delivery activities.

For the South role, applicants should be ordinarily resident within the South East or South West and be willing to travel across both regions as required. For the Devolved Nations role, applicants should be ordinarily resident in Wales, Scotland

or Northern Ireland and be willing to travel across the devolved nations to support stakeholder engagement and partnership working. Travel undertaken for business purposes within your assigned geography will be reimbursed in accordance with ONS travel and expenses policies.

Where applicants choose to live outside their assigned area(s), additional travel costs from their home address will not normally be reimbursed.

Some of our offices are based within the areas listed for these roles, regular access to workstations within these offices (in addition to the expectation to travel to stakeholder-based locations) can be arranged. Offices within these areas include Titchfield (Fareham), Newport (Wales), Edinburgh and Belfast.

Occasional travel to other UK Statistics Authority sites and external venues may also be required.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• A proven track record of building and maintaining relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders, securing buy-in, shaping priorities, and both providing and embracing constructive challenge.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts, statistical evidence and complex analysis clearly to technical peers and non-technical audiences.
• The ability to solve issues and unblock problems, when working across boundaries to identify and leverage the most effective data and insights, to ensure the delivery of high quality, user-focused outputs that enable robust evidence-based decision making.
• Ability to demonstrate inclusive and effective leadership, creating a culture of personal development, and engaging a team to deliver improved outcomes and seek new ways of working.
• The postholder needs to be able to travel regularly within their assigned area, as well as other ONS office locations.

Behaviours

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

• Working Together
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,861, Office for National Statistics contributes

£16,472 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 Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.

Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.

Inclusion & Accessibility

At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.

If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.

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 and Experience.

For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.

At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

Right to Work and Nationality Requirements

To work at ONS, applicants must meet the Civil Service nationality requirements, satisfy UK right to work requirements and, where applicable, meet the relevant security clearance requirements.

If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying . Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.

Application Process

Number of Stages: 2 stage process

• Stage 1: Application
• Stage 2: Interview

Stage 1 – Application

The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your CV and personal statement . It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.

A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum wordcount allowed is 1250 , which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.

When a high volume of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted. Candidates will be invited to interview based on their merit order, with those achieving the highest scores being prioritised. Applicants who score below the adjus