Deputy Director, Funding Delivery

Job summary

DBT’s Grant Delivery Directorate is at the heart of our department’s mission to drive economic growth. We bring together expertise in funding, programme delivery and counter-fraud; partnering with the department to deliver maximum impact for people and business.​

​This is an opportunity to play a critical role in driving forward the work of this directorate. This is a senior leadership role requiring a combination of grants, commercial and business finance expertise. Bringing these together you will play a critical role, working closely with stakeholders in the department and with businesses, to ensure public investment delivers value for money and critically, outcomes that drive growth and benefit communities.​

​Our people are central to the work of the Directorate and therefore I’m looking for candidates who will be proactive members of my Senior Leadership Team and will work with me to create an environment where our people can thrive.​

​This is an exciting, challenging and meaningful role for someone who thrives in complexity, leads with confidence, and wants to make a tangible difference to the public good. If you are excited by the sound of this and have the skills and experience to lead this critical area we would love to hear from you.​

Job description

• Provide senior leadership over a complex portfolio of schemes, including major grant schemes and investments central to DBT’s economic growth objectives.​
• Apply strong commercial acumen and financial judgement to oversee affordability, deliverability and value for money across the portfolio.​
• Act as a senior partner to policy teams across DBT, HM Treasury, senior business stakeholders and delivery partners, shaping interventions and challenging assumptions to ensure proposals are credible and deliverable.​
• Lead negotiations with key stakeholders on potential funding packages aligned with departmental objectives, shaping terms and partnerships to maximise strategic impact and deliver value for money.​
• Hold responsibility for large programme budgets, ensuring accurate forecasting, strong in‑year control and clear articulation of financial risk and opportunity.​
• Lead engagement with assurance and scrutiny bodies (including the National Audit Office and internal audit), providing confidence in DBT’s stewardship of public money.​
• Lead and develop at team of around 25 staff in multiple Grade 6 teams, building strong capability in grant delivery, commercial judgement and financial literacy.​
• Contribute to the strategic leadership and transformation of the Grant Delivery Directorate and to wider DBT priorities.​

Person specification

• Senior leadership experience overseeing major investments and/or multi-year grant programmes or portfolios.​
• Experience of creating an environment for multidisciplinary teams to successfully deliver meaningful impact, leading a culture where empowered teams can innovate, learn fast, and adapt.​
• Demonstrable commercial acumen, with the ability to understand, interpret and challenge business finance (cashflow, funding profiles, balance sheets and performance forecasts) to drive delivery decisions, timely interventions and risk management.​
• Experience managing large, high‑risk budgets and taking decisions and/or trade-offs under fiscal constraint to protect value for money.​
• Experience of contributing to the design and delivery of grant or programme-based funding, with an understanding of relevant governance or assurance frameworks.​
• Experience of grant delivery and the Government Grants Functional Standards. ​
• A track record of influencing senior stakeholders and providing confident leadership under scrutiny.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, Department for Business and Trade contributes £23,465 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

How to apply​​​

Please follow the online instructions on the Civil Service Jobs website to apply for this role. Applications must be submitted no later than 23:55 on 07/06/26. ​

You will be asked to upload the two documents outlined below.

It is essential you add your full name to both documents:​​

1. A CV setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role. Please provide reasons for any gaps within the last two years.​​​
2. A Supporting Statement of around two pages of A4, providing examples of how your experience meets the essential criteria.​​​

​Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification. ​​​

​If you encounter any issues or are unable to apply online please contact SCSRecruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk in the first instance​.

DBT now host Senior Civil Service (SCS) Candidate Support sessions for those wanting to learn more about the application and recruitment processes for SCS roles within DBT, if you are interested, please register for a session here - https://registration.crowdcomms.com/dbtscsrecruitment

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

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 security 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.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 : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : SCSRecruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : SCSRecruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact DBT by email at SCSRecruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Civil Service Commission Complaints​

Attachments

2026-05-08 Deputy Director Funding Delivery (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 6006kB)Accessible Candidate Pack - DD Funding Delivery (1) Opens in new window (docx, 171kB)