Public Bodies - HEO

The Civil Service Strategy Unit (CSSU) is at the heart of the government's agenda for change, aimed at growing the economy and improving people's lives right across the United Kingdom. We are an active part of the Future Civil Service Group (FCS), whose mission is simple: to make it easier for people to get great things done across the civil service and wider public sector. With FCS colleagues, we aim to improve speed, efficiency and innovation in improving public services, making them joined-up, resilient and effective in meeting the public's needs and expectations.

In CSSU we ensure that priority, cross cutting reform initiatives are developed, prioritised, delivered and scaled. With a direct link to the Civil Service Chief Operating Officer and liaison with Ministers, we have the ability to champion reform issues at the highest levels of government. This is an ambitious role looking at all aspects of the Civil Service, it is focusing on how we can radically improve our people, organisation, and digital use in departments, functions, professions and public bodies. We are a delivery-focused "think-and-do" tank where you can iterate, test, and fail fast, learning lessons on the way to find what truly works. CSSU has been newly reshaped in order to be more agile to the key strategic issues. The Directorate consists of around 50+ staff, located across the UK, who work together to deliver high quality strategic advice.

The role

This is an exciting opportunity for a highly motivated individual to join the newly formed Priority Projects and Arms Length/ Public Bodies Team within the Civil Service Strategy Unit. This role is within the Public Bodies pillar, which is responsible for shaping and driving public policy to reform Arm's-Length Bodies (ALBs), aligning with the Prime Minister's vision for a simplified and more efficient state.

Working in close collaboration with and supporting Policy & Strategy Advisors (G7s and G6s), you will be instrumental in providing the foundational research and analysis that underpins strategic change across the complex ALB landscape. Arm Length Bodies are a topic of high interest with parliamentarians and the public, this role will also involve providing rapid and fast turnaround support to respond accurately to enquiries.

Job description

Duties Involved:

• Deliverable Contribution: Working at pace to draft responses to questions relating to ALBs. Support the drafting and refinement of high-quality outputs, including briefing papers, strategic options analyses, and presentation decks, ensuring accuracy and clarity.
• Policy and Problem Research & Data Gathering: Conduct thorough research into complex ALB policy and strategic challenges, identifying relevant data sources (qualitative and quantitative) and gathering information from across government and external sources.
• Meeting Preparation & Support: Assist in preparing materials for client and stakeholder meetings, including background research, agenda drafting, minute-taking, and workshop hosting.
• Agile Sprint Contribution: Manage assigned tasks and work packages within defined agile sprints, ensuring timely completion and adherence to quality standards. Proactively flag any potential issues or blockers to your line manager.
• Knowledge Management: Contribute to the team's collective knowledge base by organising research materials, documenting findings, and sharing relevant information.
• Project management of ALB reform: ensuring that the ALB reform programme is on track to meet its deliverables and generating and updating the forward look of ALB reform announcements. Lead on the identification and tracking of programme risks and issues, escalating them to senior colleagues as appropriate.
• Policy development and management: Lead a team to conduct thorough research into ALB policy challenges and best practices related to ALBs, identifying and gathering relevant qualitative and quantitative data.

Skills required

The work of this team is highly dynamic and requires a proactive approach.

• Communication (Written & Verbal): Clear, concise written communication and the ability to draft professional documents. Effective verbal communication for internal team discussions.
• Working at pace: Proven capability to deliver high quality outputs at pace, in a complex and dynamic environment.
• Policy and Research Skills: Proven capability to conduct effective research, identify relevant sources, and gather and interpret information systematically.
• Analytical Aptitude: Strong ability to understand and process complex information, with a keen eye for detail and accuracy. Problem-Solving Orientation: A proactive approach to identifying issues and contributing to solutions.
• Collaboration: A proactive and supportive approach to working within a team, eager to learn from and contribute to collective success.
• Organisation & Time Management: Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple tasks and meet deadlines in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

We would welcome qualifications/certifications in public policy and strategy development, but they are not essential.

Additional information:

Cabinet Office policy is that a minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. For some roles, due to their nature and the business need, this may be up to 100%. Requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.