Vacancy -- Senior Delivery Manager

Working for the Civil Service

The Welsh Government's recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

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

Vacancy Details

Climate Change and Rural Affairs Group
Rural Payments Wales (RPW) - RPW IT
Grade 7 - £53,440 - £63,900
Starting salary would normally be £53,440
Full time (applications are welcome from people who work part time, as part of a job share or who work full time)
Permanent
Pan Wales
'Pan Wales' means that the location in which the vacancy can be based is flexible, subject to the needs of the business. Please note it may not always be possible to accommodate a preference for a specific office location, but requests will be taken into consideration.
TBC

Purpose of Post:

Background

The Welsh Government is the devolved government for Wales with an annual budget of around £15 billion. It is responsible for key aspects of public life in Wales including health, education, the economy, transport, agriculture and the environment.

The purpose of post

The post sits in the RPW IT branch within the Rural Payments Wales (RPW) division. The division is responsible for managing the transition, development, implementation, and ongoing future delivery of the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS) and the National Minimum Standards (NMS) both of which fall under the Welsh Governments Programme for Government (PfG) commitment ‘to create a new system of farm support that will maximise the protective power of nature through farming’.

In addition to this, RPW is the Operational Delivery arm of Welsh Government that will deliver the future Marine and Fisheries support scheme, together with other Environment & Rural Affairs (ERA) grants, including forestry and woodland creation, whilst continuing to deliver the ongoing Basic Payment Scheme and EC RDP and EMFF 2014-2020 programmes in Wales up to the end of 2023.

The RPW IT branch provides the digital service that will underpin the implementation of SFS and NMS, as well as other PfG commitments within the ERA Directorate.  The branch is responsible for the maintenance of existing and future IT systems that underpin the Divisions activity, ensuring development is in line with business requirements, IT industry best practise, EC and UK regulations and Welsh Government policies and strategies. The branch works with external IT service provision contracts and is located at multiple sites across Wales.

The role

The Senior Delivery Manager (SDM) will play a crucial role in delivering across several portfolio projects within RPW IT, as part of the SFS Programme. The SDM will lead the delivery of the agreed Programme IT delivery milestones and the project team on a day-to-day basis, ensuring the project objectives are clearly defined and achieved within agreed time, cost, and quality constraints.

The SDM will work within established Governance arrangements and will maintain effective reporting and Risk/Issue management standards, and working with stakeholders, to ensure the agreed project outputs are delivered to realise the benefits and objectives of the Project and overall Programme.

The Role demands effective control and operational management of team resources within RPW and close effective working with other WG (Welsh Government) departments with sometimes competing demands and timeframes.

Key tasks:

Governance:

  • Support effective governance and decision making for the Project and its successful delivery of objectives.

Delivery:

  • Lead the projects to deliver the agreed outcomes within time, cost, and quality constraints

Project Management:

  • Coach and lead teams in Agile and Lean practices. Act as a recognised expert and advocate for the approaches, continuously reflecting and challenging the team. Create or tailor new ways of working, and constantly innovate.
  • Leading and responsibility for the daily Scrum, working within the Agile methodology used within RPW
  • Provide effective day to day management and leadership of the project and the project teams.
  • Manage effective transition between project phases.
  • Coordinating the project actions into across the project team, management structures and delivery partners. Liaising and driving project timelines and demands to other teams in Welsh Government, as necessary.
  • Liaising with other WG departments to ensure full project delivery and requirements are met in a timely manner and to expected standards

Project Performance & Controls:

  • Cascade vision and translate into delivery objectives for the team
  • Ensure that the project plans are joined up and minimise any Risks/Issues identified
  • Responsibility and day to day management of the RPW DEVOPS pipeline to ensure the project deliverables remain to standard and on track for delivery.
  • Monitoring project performance to ensure timely delivery against Programme milestones,
  • Update and where necessary provide project status updates to the IT Programme Delivery Manager.
  • Liaise with Project teams to ensure standards and milestones are met, and communication channels with Stakeholders are in place and effective.

Stakeholder and Commercial Management:

  • Working with Project SRO (Senior Responsible Owner), IT Programme Delivery Manager and Senior Management team in RPW, identify key stakeholders and develop effective relationships, managing internal and external relationships as appropriate.
  • Take responsibility for complex relationships with contracted suppliers. Identify appropriate contractual frameworks suppliers. Negotiate with contracted suppliers to get demonstrable good value.

Benefits Realisation:

  • Ensure benefits are identified, understood, measured, tracked, and owned.
  • Ensure appropriate Benefits Realisation Strategy is in place, and monitor longer term delivery of benefits against the Programme Business Case

Lifecycle perspective:

  • Apply experience in multiple parts of the product life cycle. Recognise the appropriate deliverables and the right people to meet them, working with other Agile delivery operations throughout the product life cycle.
  • Establish appropriate Business as Usual support model for the new service(s)

Change Management:

  • Ensure effective Change Management processes are followed within the Programme, agree and document changes to deliverables as agreed with Project Governance and Project SRO.
  • Communicate changes to deliverables to stakeholders and project teams as appropriate.

Assurance:

  • Provide assurance to RPW IT management that the project will meet objectives on time, within budget and to specified quality.
  • Engage with assurance reviews and support action on recommendations.
  • Organise assurance processes such as gateway reviews, as required.
  • Ensure RPW IT Security compliance and adherence to WG security policies, including appropriate ITHC are undertaken, and actions managed.

Risks & Issues:

  • Reporting and providing advice on the progress of the Project and any delivery Risks/Issues by identifying and maintaining the risk register/issues log.
  • Work alongside Programme SRO and PMO.
  • Develop mitigating actions and escalate as appropriate. Identify and work to manage interdependencies.

Team dynamics and collaboration:

  • Identify problems or issues in the team dynamic and rectify them. Identify issues through Agile ‘health checks’ with the team, and help to stimulate the right responses. Engage in varying types of feedback, choosing the right type at the appropriate time and ensuring the discussion and decision stick. You can accelerate the team development cycle, promoting effective individual and team performance.
  • Show commitment to personal development.

Development opportunities:

This is a demanding post in the forefront of Welsh Government Geospatial digital services, in which the post holder will gain experience of working in a dynamic, customer-focused environment.

The Post holder will have the opportunity to work closely with senior officials both within the Welsh Government and from other organisations.

Working for the Welsh Government has many great benefits, including:

  • You will get 31 days holidays as well as 10 public and privilege days.  
  • We offer flexible working arrangements to help you get the right work/life balance.  
  • You will also be eligible for membership of the Civil Service Pension Scheme

Other benefits

  • Flexible Working – We support staff in managing their work-life balance through working from home (subject to business need and if appropriate for the role)
  • Working Patterns – Different options are available: Full Time, Part Time, Job-Share, Condensed Hours, Term-time etc. (subject to business need and if appropriate for the role)
  • Green Car Scheme – Which allows you to lease a brand new ultra-low carbon emission car and pay for it through salary sacrifice
  • Supportive Finance – Advance of salary loans for a range of situations including: season travel tickets, eye-care, IT equipment, Cycle2Work and more
  • Parental Leave – 26 weeks maternity/adoption leave on full pay and 15 days paternity leave
  • Wellbeing Time – Dedicated wellbeing hour each week for use in office hours. Whether this is a walk in the local park, yoga, meditation or gym, this is time for you
  • Pay – Competitive increments throughout the pay bands
  • Training and Progression - Access to training and development tailored to your role
  • Inclusion and Diversity – We encourage a rich and diverse workplace, where everyone feels able to be themselves, and no one feels discriminated against
  • Staff Engagement – We have a wide range of very active and welcoming networks including: Autism, Carers, Women Together, PRISM (our LGBTQ+ network) and many more
  • Safety and Occupational Health – Dedicated teams to provide staff with help and support needed most
  • Mental Health – Employee Assistance Programme and a dedicated helpline to support staff to manage their mental health
  • Up to date IT Equipment – Laptops with Office 365 will give you greater flexibility in when, how and where you work
  • 3 Unions – There are 3 unions currently active in our organisation

Closing Date:

17/04/2023, 16:00

Eligibility

Posts recruited to as part of this recruitment campaign are broadly open to UK nationals, those with right to remain and work in the UK and those that meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules only. Check your eligibility here:

Prior to appointment, all successful applicants will be required to produce original, acceptable documents as part of the pre-employment checks. If it becomes apparent at a later stage in the process that you aren’t eligible to apply, your application will be withdrawn, or offer retracted.

Equality and Diversity

The Welsh Government is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and which promote equality of opportunity. This is underpinned by the Equality Act 2010 and will be adhered to at each stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure that these commitments are also embedded in our day-to-day working practices with all our customers, colleagues and partners.

We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and increasing diversity in the Welsh Government by removing barriers and supporting all our staff to reach their potential. We are committed to recruiting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people and disabled people who are currently under-represented in Welsh Government.

We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, marriage and civil partnership (both same sex and opposite sex), impairment or health condition, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender identity or gender expression.

We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion and a Disability Confident Level 3 (Leader) organisation. Key to supporting this work and providing peer support are five Board sponsored Staff Networks (Disability Awareness and Support (DAAS); Minority Ethnic Support Network (MESN); Mind Matters (Mental health and well-being); PRISM (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex +) and Women Together.

Disability Confident

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

Welsh Language Requirements

The Welsh Government is a bilingual organisation and Welsh language skills are considered an asset to the organisation. We encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills in the workplace. 

The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the line manager on behalf of the Welsh Government of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.

Not necessary to undertake the duties of this post

Social Partnership

In Welsh Government, the relationship between the employer and trade unions is based on social partnership. We believe our goals can best be achieved by management and trade unions working together.

Our 3 recognised trade unions are:
•         PCS
•         Prospect
•         FDA

This relationship is underpinned by a partnership agreement. This sets out how our unions work with Welsh Government on issues such as:
•         pay
•         terms and conditions
•         policies and procedures
•         organisational change.

Our Welsh Government trade union colleagues work together to give their members a real say in the workplace. They make sure that the interests of their members are promoted and protected. They also help reduce inequalities and improve terms and conditions.

The Welsh Government has an excellent track record of working in partnership with its trade unions. We encourage staff to get involved. We support you to join a recognised trade union, to ensure your voice is heard in the workplace. and to learn more about trade unions and partnership working.

Competencies / Job Specific Criteria

Competencies;

Candidates will be assessed against Behaviours from the Civil Service Success Profiles and DDaT frameworks.

These behaviours will be tested at interview.

Seeing the Big Picture - Ensure plans and activities in your area of work reflect wider strategic priorities and communicate effectively with senior leaders to influence future strategies.

Working Together - Actively build and maintain a network of colleagues and contacts to achieve progress on shared objectives. Challenge assumptions while being willing to compromise if beneficial to progress.

DDaT Skills Linked to Framework: Delivery manager - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Maintaining delivery momentum. You can optimise the delivery flow of teams. You can actively address the most complicated risks, issues and dependencies including where ownership exists outside the team or no clear ownership exists.

Communicating between the technical and non-technical. You can mediate between people and mend relationships, communicating with stakeholders at all levels.


Job Specific Criteria;

The following technical skills are ESSENTIAL for success in this role.  Please ensure you attach a CV, no longer than 2 sides of A4, which demonstrates your ability in relation to these skills.

  1. Experience of working in a fast paced agile environment, utilising current project management techniques to meet objectives and goals.
  2. Experience of working alongside Delivery partner organisations, such as a Service Integrator to establish systems and processes that fulfil business outcomes.
  3. Experience of delivering effective IT solutions, maintaining effective plans and project controls, managing Risks and Issues, and managing Stakeholders.

Assessment Process

Your application will be assessed in three stages:

  1. An initial sift will be carried out against your CV and the essential job specific skills. As part of your application you will be asked to upload a copy of your CV. This should be no more than 2 sides of A4. Anything above 2 sides of A4 will be discounted and will not be considered as part of the sift. Please remove from your CV your name and address to support us in undertaking a “name free” sift.
  2. Candidates who have passed the initial sift will be invited to participate in a Technical Exercise
  3. Candidates who have passed the Technical Exercise will be invited to participate in an Interview

Further information about these stages will be provided following the sift stage.

Reserve List

Unsuccessful candidates who have achieved the minimum score across the assessment, will have the opportunity to be held on a WG ‘reserve’ list for 12 months from the date of the outcomes being issued.  If additional roles become available or existing roles become vacant during this time, WG may offer the role to the highest scoring candidate on the reserve list.  If they decline, WG may offer the role to the next highest scoring candidate and so on.

Other Information

  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘actual starting salary’, all candidates will start at the minimum of the pay scale being appointed to (this includes existing civil servants).This is not negotiable.
  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘type of opportunity’, this recruitment advert is not open on a Loan or Secondment basis.
  • For more information on the eligibility criteria and terms and conditions for Loan and Secondment positions in Welsh Government, please see external recruitment candidate guidance.
  • Unless stated otherwise in ‘Location of Post’ the role/s recruited to via this campaign can only be worked in the UK, not overseas.

The Welsh Government published its strategic equality objectives in 2016 and these included a commitment to be an exemplar in equality and diversity.  Welsh Government welcomes applications from everyone regardless of age, marriage (including equal/same sex marriage) and civil partnership, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, disability, race, religion or belief or pregnancy/maternity.  

In recent years we have been awarded Level 3 Leader Status for being a Disability Confident employer, we are currently 8th in the UK for Stonewall Workplace Index which supports Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender (LGBT) employee’s, we have signed up to the Race at Work Charter and are included on the list of organisations that have been recognised as an inclusive employer for race. We have also been awarded Gold status by a:gender the inclusive support network for staff in Government Departments and Agencies, covering all aspects of gender reassignment, gender identity, gender expression and Intersex. We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, an organisation in which people want to work and are proud to work. For this reason, we have put the principles of human rights, equality, fairness, dignity and respect at the heart of our values.

Welsh Government has adopted the social model definition of disability, which recognises that barriers in society act to disable people who have impairments or health conditions or who use British Sign Language. We are committed to removing barriers so that all (or potential new) staff can perform at their best. The Equality Act 2010 uses the medical model definition of disability (“a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term impact on a person’s ability to carry out normal day to day activities”).

Contact point for further information  

Shared Service Helpdesk - sharedservicehelpdesk@gov.wales - 0300 0255454

How to apply

All applications for this vacancy should be made online via the Welsh Government's online application system.  If you have a disability which would prevent you from applying on-line, please e-mail SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales to request an application pack in an alternative format, or to request a reasonable adjustment related to a disability in order to submit your application.

To apply, you'll need to have an account on our online application system.  Click the 'Apply' button below, and you'll be asked to 'Log in' if you already have an account, or 'Register' if you don't yet have an account.  Registration takes just a few minutes to complete.  You'll need an e-mail address to be able to register.  Once you've registered for an account and logged in, you'll be taken to the online application form, which you'll need to fully complete and submit before the deadline on the closing date.  

If you’d like to apply for this vacancy in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

When evidencing your suitability for the post, it is recommended that you refer to the Civil Service Competency Framework (link)

Hugh Morgan - RPWCommunications@gov.wales

How to apply

All applications for this vacancy should be made online via the Welsh Government's online application system.  If you have an impairment which would prevent you from applying on-line, please e-mail SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales to request an application pack in an alternative format, or to request a reasonable adjustment related to an impairment in order to submit your application.

To apply, you'll need to have an account on our online application system.  Click the 'Apply' button below, and you'll be asked to 'Log in' if you already have an account, or 'Register' if you don't yet have an account.  Registration takes just a few minutes to complete.  You'll need an e-mail address to be able to register.  Once you've registered for an account and logged in, you'll be taken to the online application form, which you'll need to fully complete and submit before the deadline on the closing date.  

If you’d like to apply for this vacancy in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.

For further information regarding the Welsh Government recruitment process, please see the Recruitment Guidance for External Candidates (link).

Grievance and Complaints

Anyone who believes they have been treated unfairly, or has a grievance or complaint, about how the process was conducted should either write to the Head of Resourcing, Welsh Government, Cathays Park 2, Cardiff CF10 3NQ or email SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales.  If you are unhappy with the outcome of the complaint raised with the Welsh Government and feel that the principles of appointment on merit through fair and open competition have not been met you have the right to pursue your grievance with the Civil Service Commission.

This vacancy is closed to applications.