Deputy Director, Operational Strategy and Secretariat

Job summary

Increasing private investment, foreign and domestic, is crucial to the UK’s economic growth and the future prosperity of its citizens. Leveraging private investment is also fundamental to delivering energy transition and establishing international leadership as a science and technology driven economy. ​

​The Office for Investment (OfI) was spun out of Downing Street in January 2021 and is now a joint unit between No.10, HMT and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). The OfI is an exciting, creative and dynamic place to work among a motivated and driven team with both commercial and public sector backgrounds. The Office works closely with Secretaries of State, Junior Ministers, and No.10 to deliver the highest-value, highest profile investment propositions. ​

​The team operates a flexible and flat structure which means that staff across all grades have the opportunity to work directly alongside the senior leadership and have direct exposure to ministers and senior business executives. ​

​OfI's vision and mission is to secure investment to drive growth, job creation and increased productivity across the UK. We are proactive and entrepreneurial, delivering ambitious outcomes aligned to the Industrial Strategy and HMG Missions. To become a centre of excellence for attracting and growing investment we want to attract talented people from the private sector and across government who are curious, creative and agile in pursuing emerging opportunities for the UK. ​

​This is a pivotal role at the heart of the new organization. The successful candidate will bring together our strategy and operations in clear and effective support of our frontline delivery of investment into the UK economy. It will oversee the teams working on everything from our in-house L&D offer to some of the most sensitive geopolitical issues. It will be a fast-moving, high-pressure job running multiple projects to challenging timelines. This role will have high visibility with Ministers and the Permanent Secretary. It will need an individual who is comfortable with navigating and influencing the breadth of HMG, credible with commercial stakeholders and plugged into the OfI’s UK and overseas front-line delivery units.

Candidate Information Call ​

The hiring manager for this position; Lucy Buzzoni, will be hosting a virtual call for any interested applicants to discuss the role and answer any questions. ​

​This will be held via Microsoft Teams on Monday 18th May 2026 at 10:30am-11:00am (UK time). ​

Please click here for the meeting link.

Job description

Senior Responsible Owner for five teams: ​

• A secretariat that must ensure senior officials and ministers use their time in the most strategic and effective way to deliver investment including through commercial meetings, visits, and intervention on specific projects. The secretariat will oversee a single HMG pipeline of projects and will have oversight of Parliamentary business and correspondence. ​
• A large, high-performing flexible resource that will lead and deliver strategic investment projects on behalf of ministers and senior officials. This ranges from national security to regional growth. You will also lead and own the overall strategy and vision for the OFI​
• An operational team that will be responsible for delivering value for money throughout the organization and the ongoing optimization of our operating model. ​
• An L&D team that delivers our class-leading investment-specific investment offer for UK and overseas teams and, increasingly, for cross-Whitehall investment teams. ​
• A Private Office team that provides dedicated support to the CEO and the Office for Investment’s Directors. ​

There is significant line-management responsibility for this role. You will directly line-manage seven high-performing G6s. The resource under you will be subject to competing demands from across Whitehall so you will need to be comfortable in a matrix between line-management and task-management and in allocating (and defending) your resource. There is an opportunity to take responsibility for programme delivery of the International Investment Summit 2026, working closely with DBT’s event delivery team. ​

​This role is also a part of the wider OfI senior leadership team. You will be expected to play a key role in the wider culture of the organization. You should be comfortable in representing the organization across Whitehall in complex geopolitical and organisational fora. You should build up direct knowledge of how the Office for Investment operates on the front line to ensure that strategy and operations are properly reflective of that experience and change is effectively embedded. ​

Person specification

• Proven experience in leading and managing teams particularly in a matrix structure, with the ability to motivate, develop, and drive high performance.​
• Experience in setting strategic priorities and delivering high-quality outcomes in a fast-paced environment.​
• Ability to build strong working relationships at all levels, including senior leadership and external partners.​
• Excellent communication and problem-solving skills, with the ability to influence and negotiate at a senior level including with commercial partners. ​
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, work independently and deliver under pressure.

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 24/05/26. ​

​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

2026-04-27 Deputy Director, Operational Strategy and Secretariat Opens in new window (pdf, 6207kB)Accessible Candidate Pack- DD Operational Strategy and Secretariat Opens in new window (docx, 151kB)