Planning and Engagement Analyst

Job summary

We are looking for an experienced Planning and Engagement Analyst to join our Data Engineering and Enablement Division that reports into the Digital and Data Directorate. It’s an exciting time to join as we seek to create leading Health Protection data capabilities that enable data scientists and data analysts to develop insights that inform public health decisions with resilience platforms and curated data assets.

The core activities of Data Engineering and Enablement include the ingestion of data sources, building data pipelines, curated data views and data capabilities fused from data, models and software that enable the exploitation of data by analysts, data scientists and MI teams. We are seeking to mature our advanced capabilities with standardised practices, machine learning and agility needed to proactively detect and respond to new public health issues.

You will support the development of delivery and capability roadmaps and drive their agreement with stakeholders and facilitate Engineering teams to deliver to these priorities.

Working for your organisation
We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.

UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.

Job description

You will be involved in the delivery lifecycle from engaging with stakeholders on new initiatives, analysing use cases, developing optimal designs that where possible re-use and extend capabilities, and implement and operate the design. Our teams work collaboratively in an agile multi-disciplinary team mode and we are looking for a Planning and Engagement Analyst to support resource management (capacity, sizing and estimation) to optimise work allocation and planning and lead the engagement comms of developing our engineering community of practice to share knowledge, enhance our standards and processes to provide a strong foundation to develop individuals, teams and innovation.

You will draw from an extensive background of experience in planning and estimating within a software and data lifecycle environment. You will support the Head of Engineering Enablement and Product to deliver effective planning within an multi-disciplinary framework. Working across all aspects of the delivery lifecycle from stakeholders and product owners through to lead scrum master’s to ensure allocated and prioritised work is delivered on time to quality requirements.

You will develop the stakeholder relationship across Digital and Data and UKHSA to deliver a successful roadmap understanding and drawing out the strategic deliverables for UKHSA. You will have experience of developing and building communications to inform on progress, work status and governance. The key skills required include, excellent delivery planning, strong data analysis, clear and concise communications both verbally and written and ability to develop business partnering.

• Roadmap planning – You will be responsible for establishing and developing with Stakeholders a roadmap of prioritised strategic deliverables. You will manage and continuously improve a living resource and work allocation plan/roadmap that is utilised as a key Engineering asset with delivery leads and scrum masters providing inputs. As required, act as the plan lead with key stakeholders and governance forums, engaging and collaborating to ensure all deliverable goals are met without any impact to quality.
• Resource planning – You will support the delivery of the Work Allocation plan collaborating with Delivery Leads and Scrum Masters to ensure all deliverables are allocated, prioritised, delivered on time and to quality requirements. You will own, lead and drive continuous agile/scrum methodology improvements working with Data Engineering Heads, Product Manager, Delivery Leads and Scrum Masters to implement efficiency improvements.
• Risk Management – You will be the risk leads across engineering teams, assessing risk and advise on mitigations. Assessing any risks and issues raised and implementing process policy change across the engineering teams. Manage risks that are escalated and owned by Digital and Data senior leadership team.
• Communication framework – You will deliver the communication mechanism to update stakeholders on delivery status and work allocation. By developing a business partnering framework stakeholders are routinely informed on progress. You will actively motivate Delivery Leads and Scrum Masters to adopt behaviours where communication, engagement and collaboration are managed as part of all deliveries. You can support and host discussions within a multidisciplinary team, with potentially difficult dynamics. You will be an advocate for the team externally and can manage differing perspectives.

Person specification

Essential criteria

• Demonstrate strong planning, including MS planner skills
• Highly developed organisational skills, working effectively across boundaries
• Proven track record of delivering high quality and effective communications, and facilitation skills evidenced through verbal and written means to a wide range of stakeholders up to senior director level.
• Ability to build relationships with a wide range of stakeholders to facilitate collaborative and agile ways of working
• Experienced working in Agile Scrum teams
• Ability to work as part of a team to develop and deliver end-to-end data warehouse solutions or similar software development lifecycles
• Experience of using strong governance within a software delivery lifecycle

Desirable criteria:

• Experience of working with JIRA (or Azure DevOps or similar tools) within an Agile/Scrum environment
• Experience/understanding of software and data lifecycle management
• Knowledge of data management platforms
• Analytical skill set with an ability to understand data requirements and support the development of data solutions

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,185, UK Health Security Agency contributes £16,276 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

Stage 1: Application & Sift

Success profiles Success Profiles - GOV.UK

You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the listed (7) essential criteria, and this will be in the form of a:

• Application form (‘Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)
• 1250 word supporting statement.

This should outline how you consider your skills, experience and knowledge provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.

You will receive a joint score for your application form and statement. (The application form is the kind of information you would put into your C.V –please be advised you will not be able to upload your CV. Please complete the application form in as much detail as possible).

Please do not email us your CV.

Healthjobs UK has a word limit of 1500, but your supporting statement must be no more than 1250 words. We will not consider any words over 1250 words.

Longlisting:

In the event of a large number of applications we will longlist into 3 piles of:

1. Meets all essential criteria
2. Meets some essential criteria
3. Meets no essential criteria

If used, the following will proceed to shortlisting:

1. Meets all essential criteria

Shortlisting:

In the event of a large number of applications we may conduct an initial sift, on the lead criteria of:

• Proven track record of delivering high quality and effective communications, and facilitation skills evidenced through verbal and written means to a wide range of stakeholders up to senior director level.
• Demonstrate strong planning, including MS planner skills

Desirable criteria may be used in the event of a large number of applications/large amount of successful candidates.

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview & assessment.

Feedback will not be provided at this stage.

Stage 2: Interview

You will be invited to a single remote interview.

Behaviours, Strengths, and Experience will be tested at interview.

There will be a presentation which will assess the following:

- Your communication abilities and planning experience, with a focus on how this supports the effective operation and delivery of Data Engineering within UKHSA.

Full details will be provided at interview stage.

The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Communication and Influencing - Lead behaviour
• Managing a Quality Service

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Location

This role is being offered as hybrid working based at any of our Core HQs. We offer great flexible working opportunities at UKHSA and operate using a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce. As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, (averaged over a month) working at one of UKHSA's core HQs (Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and London).

Our core HQ offices are modern and newly refurbished with excellent city centre transport links and benefit from co-location with other government departments such as the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).

Security Clearance Level Requirement
Successful candidates must pass a basic disclosure and barring security check before they can be appointed.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Baseline Personnel Security Standard.

Eligibility Criteria – External

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including internal applicants).

Salary Information
If you are successful at interview, and are moving from another government department, NHS, or Local Authority, the relevant starting salary principles for level transfers or promotions will apply. Otherwise, roles are offered at the pay scale minimum for the grade, but in exceptional circumstances there may be flexibility if you are able to demonstrate you are already in receipt of an existing, higher salary.

Pay increases are through the relevant annual pay award for the role and terms.

Please be aware that the salary is based on the office location.

Grade 7

• £56,185- £66,581 (National)
• £58,340- £68,574 (Outer London)
• £60,494- £70,566 (Inner London)

Future location
UKHSA is investing in a new state-of-the-art National Biosecurity Centre in Harlow, Essex, which will eventually bring together teams currently based at Canary Wharf,Colindale and Porton Down. For more details, please see: Huge biosecurity centre investment to boost pandemic protection - GOV.UK.
The new facilities will start becoming operational in the mid-2030s, with full completion by 2038. Staff will move in phases as facilities become available. If you're appointed to a role currently based at Canary Wharf, Colindale or Porton Down, please note that we'll continue investing in these sites for the next decade. As we get closer to the transition, we'll provide full information about relocation support available to staff.

Reasonable Adjustments
The Civil Service is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone. To help you during the recruitment process, we will consider any reasonable adjustments that could help you. An adjustment is a change to the recruitment process or an adjustment at work. This is separate to the Disability
Confident Scheme. If you need an adjustment to be made at any point during the recruitment process you should contact the recruitment team in confidence as soon as possible to discuss your needs.

You can find out more information about reasonable adjustments across the Civil Service here: https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/

International Police check
If you have spent more than 6 months abroad over the last 3 years you may need an International Police Check. This would not necessarily have to be in a single block, and it could be time accrued over that period.

Internal Fraud Check
If successful for this role as one aspect of pre-employment screening, applicant’s personal details – name, national insurance number and date of birth - will be
checked against the Cabinet Office Internal Fraud Hub, and anyone included on the database will be refused employment unless they can show exceptional circumstances. Currently this is only for external candidates to the Civil Service.

Careers website
Please visit our careers site for more information https://gov.uk/ukhsa/careers

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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.

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

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 : Gurkamal Bhambra
• Email : gurkamal.bhambra@ukhsa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@ukhsa.gov.uk

Further information

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the
basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's
Recruitment Principles.
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 the UKHSA Complaints team via email at: Complaints@ukhsa.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can
contact the Civil Service Commission. Visit the Civil Service Commission website for
further information: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.u