Chief of Staff

Job summary

This is a pivotal senior leadership position supporting the Director of Communications in their oversight of communications functions across six organisations. As Chief of Staff, you will be the Director's trusted adviser, ensuring the smooth operation of a complex, multi-organisation communications directorate.

You will routinely be expected to represent the directorate on operational, financial and corporate matters, with a strong network across the group and the Government Communication Service (GCS).

You will provide strategic coordination, enable effective decision-making, and drive the directorate's priorities forward. The role demands exceptional judgement, the ability to navigate ambiguity, and skill in building relationships at all levels across a diverse group of stakeholders.

You must be able to manage large and complex budgets and be experienced in financial management, risk assurance and governance.

You will be experienced in managing large, complex change projects.

Experience of leading a private office or equivalent senior operational support team in a challenging environment is a must for this role.

Job description

Strategic support and coordination

• Act as the Director's principal adviser on strategic and operational matters, providing clear, evidence-based counsel.
• Oversee the directorate's governance arrangements, ensuring effective decision-making processes are in place.
• Represent the Director at senior meetings and forums, deputising where appropriate.
• Manage the Director's forward look, ensuring their time and attention are focused on the highest priorities.

Directorate operations

• Oversee business planning, risk management and assurance processes for the directorate.
• Work closely with the Private Office to ensure effective diary management and briefing.
• Lead on workforce planning and coordinate recruitment activity across the directorate.
• Manage the directorate's budget, ensuring efficiency targets are met.
• Drive continuous improvement, identifying opportunities to strengthen ways of working.

People and capability

• Support the development and implementation of the directorate's People Plan.
• Role model the behaviours expected of senior leaders, fostering a collaborative and inclusive culture.

Stakeholder management

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with senior stakeholders across all six organisations, including at Director General level.
• Act as a key point of contact for escalations and cross-cutting issues.
• Lead stakeholder engagement on behalf of the Director where required, including with Cabinet Office and the Government Communication Service.

Person specification

• Proven experience leading or managing a private office or equivalent senior operational support team in a complex, fast-paced environment, including supporting a senior leader at Director level or above.
• Demonstrated experience managing large, complex budgets including financial planning, monitoring, efficiency delivery, and risk assurance.
• Significant experience leading complex organisational change and development programmes, including workforce planning and operational redesign.
• Strong track record building and sustaining senior stakeholder relationships across multiple organisations.
• Experience overseeing governance arrangements and assurance processes in a large directorate or equivalent organisation.
• Exceptional judgement and ability to provide clear, evidence-based strategic counsel to senior leaders under pressure and in ambiguous circumstances.
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills, including the ability to represent a senior leader credibly in high-profile meetings and forums.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with ability to synthesise complex information quickly and identify priorities.
• Ability to influence without direct authority across diverse stakeholder groups, building trust and credibility at all levels.
• Demonstrable ability to manage competing priorities simultaneously while maintaining quality and pace.

Behaviours

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

• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £73,165, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £21,195 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

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, Strengths and Experience.

Application process

As part of the application process you will be asked to submit:

• a CV
• a personal statement of no more than 500 words. Your personal statement should provide detailed evidence of how you meet the criteria in the person specification section of the job advert.
• Statements (no more than 250 words per statement) for the following Civil Service Behaviours: Changing and Improving, Making Effective Decisions, and Managing a Quality Service.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Sift

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the personal statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Sift and interview dates, as well as the interview location, to be confirmed.

Interview

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on:

• Civil Service Strengths
• the following Civil Service Behaviours: Changing and Improving, Making Effective Decisions, and Managing a Quality Service.

A presentation/additional exercise may also be assessed.

Further Information

Location

As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).

Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.

Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.

New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to DEFRA from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Government Recruitment Service via defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Visa Sponsorship Statement

Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.

Merit Lists

Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be appointed in merit order for each location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application.

Criminal Record Check

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Internal Fraud Database Check

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

All of these posts require the successful candidate to hold basic security clearance. Candidates posted to London may be subject to a higher level of clearance because of the security requirements for that location. Job offers to these posts are made on the basis of merit. Security vetting will only take place after the receipt of a job offer.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Christian Cubitt
• Email : christian.cubitt@defra.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact Government Recruitment Services via email: defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: here