Deputy Director - Materials Analyst

The Materials directorate works to ensure the UK has internationally competitive construction and rail sectors, and resilient supply chains for strategically important materials and products such as chemicals, steel, aluminium, critical minerals, glass, ceramics, cement, and other construction products. This supports economic prosperity, national security, and the net zero transition.

Within this directorate, the Steel and Services Analysis team is a multidisciplinary analytical team, leading a high-profile and influential programme of analysis that shapes the work of several directorates within Business Group.

The Steel and Services Analysis Team plays a leading role in advising Ministers on key decisions relating to the steel industry, including major spending decisions and trade policy, as well as the wider services industry, infrastructure and technology, and responses to economic shocks.

This embedded analysis team builds strong relationships with steel policy leads, contributing to policy development from inception. The team draws on a wealth of technical analytical skills and wide-ranging sector expertise to deliver evidence-driven insights that shape the Directorates priorities.

• This is a senior leadership role, supporting the Governments growth agenda. The role holders key objectives are to:

  • Provide inspiring and inclusive leadership for a multidisciplinary team of around 20 analysts, including statisticians, social researchers and economists. This includes direct line management for two Grade 6 analysts. Create a motivating working environment while prioritisingcompeting demands on the teams resources.
  • Work on high-level strategic issues, providing evidence-based analysis to help senior stakeholders, such as Ministers and Directors, to make sound investment decisions that support businesses and the economy.
  • Lead teams to provide analysis of the sectoral implications of free trade agreements and other aspects of trade policy.
  • Work across government to ensure that analysis, evidence and an understanding of business priorities are highly influential in developing UK policy positions on steel and services.
  • Develop capability within the team to deliver innovative and cutting-edge analytical approaches to support policy development, including the use of modelling and AI.
  • Make an active contribution to the culture and corporate life of the Materials Directorate as part of its SLT, and as SCS champion for some of its corporate workstreams.
  • Play an active role in the cross-cutting Analytical Leadership Team (ALT) of all senior analysts in DBT, helping to build analytical community and capability, strengthen external engagement on analysis, innovate new analytical techniques, and ensure the analytical function supports high-quality policy delivery across DBT.
  • The postholder will be line managed by the Director of Materials and will work closely with both the Director for Steel Transactions and the Director for Analysis.

To be successful in this role, you must be able to show evidence of the following essential criteria:

• Badged member of a Government analytical profession* or be willing to be successfully badged as a GES member as part of the recruitment process (please see attachment).
• Demonstrated ability to lead and manage teams effectively, including experience leading multi-disciplinary and multi-location teams at senior levels: setting clear direction, prioritising resources and developing people to deliver analysis and advice that supports high-priority decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to influence and communicate with impact, using evidence and analysis to shape outcomes across organisational and departmental boundaries. This includes strong oral and written communication skills, with experience translating technical analysis into clear messages for non-technical audiences, including senior stakeholders such as Ministers, C-suite executives or senior officials.
• Demonstrated ability to provide intellectual leadership on analysis and working as an analyst in a complex, large-scale organisation. This includes leading a multidisciplinary team of analysts across the analytical professions and interpreting and drawing insights from a range of technical data analysis.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience in leading Value for Money assessments of high-value spending policies.

*You can be a badged member of any of the following professions: Government Operational Research Service (GORS), Government Economic Service (GES), Government Statistical Service (GSS) or Government Social Research (GSR)