Shadow Football Regulator - Head of Governance and Private Office

Job summary

Shadow Football Regulator

We lead the Government's work on the future governance of football. At present, the Shadow Football Regulator comprises over thirty members of staff, led by an interim Chief Operating Officer, undertaking a range of activities in preparation for passage of the Football Governance Bill, which is currently in Parliament.

The Shadow Football Regulator is a dedicated team within DCMS which is responsible for setting up the Independent Football Regulator. It is ensuring the regulator has the right skills, governance and corporate functions so it can start work as soon as possible after the Bill receives Royal Assent.

This post, and its recruitment, is dependent on progress of the Bill, and the intention is for this role to transfer to the Regulator once it's legally established.

Please note that the Independent Football Regulator will be based in Greater Manchester but an exact location has yet to be determined.

Job description

As the Head of Governance and Private Office you will operate at the heart of the new regulator. You will advise the CEO and Chair on a wide range of issues, support them in leading the organisation, and visibly drive forward their priorities. You will provide leadership to the Governance team, helping develop the board secretariat and executive governance functions to support robust and timely decision making.

You will need to show strong judgement, and have an outstanding ability to prioritise and organise. You will be strategic, able to spot key issues as they arise, consider competing viewpoints and advise the Chair and CEO appropriately, staying calm and resilient under pressure.

You will be able to build and maintain strong working relationships with other, often more senior stakeholders, as well as holding them to account for delivery. You will have significant leadership experience and strong communication skills, be comfortable leading and developing a new team and representing the Chair and CEO at all levels.

Person specification

Essential Requirements

• Experience of working with, and delivering on behalf of, senior stakeholders.
• Leadership: outstanding leadership skills, both of developing teams and corporately; with the ability to build a strong team culture and ethos, and to motivate and manage a team to deliver at pace on a challenging and complex agenda.
• Seeing the big picture: the ability to understand and analyse complex policy and delivery issues at pace; and to use your judgement to provide clear, strategic advice.
• Communicating and influencing: the confidence to deliver difficult messages with clarity and sensitivity, being persuasive when required; and to communicate with others in a clear, honest and enthusiastic way in order to build trust and explain complex issues.
• Delivering at pace: the ability to translate priorities into objectives for managers and teams; provide clarity about the action required to achieve results and address unexpected developments; and establish a culture which allows people to deliver their objectives.

Desirable Skills

• Knowledge of the football pyramid.

We are running an information session where prospective applicants can find out more about the role. This will be hosted by Laura Nell and will take place on:

Monday 17th March at 11.30

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 thisform and you will be sent an invitation. The invites will be sent the night before the session.

Please note that the session will not focus on the DCMS recruitment process - please direct any queries that you have on this topic (timelines, reasonable adjustments, onboarding, etc.) to [email protected]

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £59,003, Department for Culture, Media and Sport contributes £17,093 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

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.
• ACivil 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

Selection process details

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

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

• 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 Civil Service Jobs 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 statement of suitability. Those who are successful in the initial sift will then be scored on all elements of the application.