Portfolio Officer

Job summary

Do you enjoy working with others to deliver change and improve outcomes?

Are you confident bringing people together to turn complex priorities into clear, actionable plans?

If so, we have a significant opportunity for a Portfolio Officer to join our team at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and we'd love to hear from you!

The Corporate Group sits at the heart of MHCLG and is made up of 7 enabling functions: AI, Analysis and evaluation (CHASE), Commercial, Delivery, Digital, Finance and HR. This role sits within the new Corporate Strategy Office. Operating at the centre of the corporate group, this team brings Private office and Portfolio Management Office together to ensure the Corporate Group is delivering its vision: influence, enable, and drive the efficiency and transformation that helps every part of the department succeed.

From this central position, the team directly shapes how strategy translates into action, making a tangible difference to how the department delivers. The Portfolio Management Office is responsible for managing the Groups delivery and corporate landscape, supporting the Director General and Senior Leadership Team. This includes group Governance, Reporting, and support to programmes and priorities that deliver in line with the Governments and Departmental requirements.

As a Portfolio Officer, your focus will be to support the Groups Portfolio Management and Operations. This is a wide-ranging role touching on Risk, Governance and a variety of other Business and Corporate issues and projects. Whilst working closely with Finance and HR Business partners to present a holistic view of the portfolio.

Job description

As the Portfolio Officer your responsibilities will include:

• Secretariat for the monthly Portfolio Board working with the wider office and PMO lead to ensure agendas are maximising the use of senior’s time and delivering strategic direction.
• Working closely with Private office to understand priorities.
• Supporting the coordination of Quarterly Corporate Stocktakes to track and maximise delivery in the group.
• Commissioning monthly returns including delivery updates and monitoring progress against Objectives Key Results (OKRs) and Risk register.
• Building capability with reporting systems and ensuring efficient management of information.
• Supporting larger commissions including Business Planning, Spending Reviews, and other commissions from the Department and HMT/CO.
• Building and maintaining an effective network with the Group as well as our Business Partners to respond to wider operational demands.

Person specification

• Proven ability to plan, organise and prioritise work effectively to deliver to deadlines across multiple competing tasks.
• Ability to understand the wider context (“big picture”) and make sound judgements about trade-offs in a complex environment.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build effective working relationships across a diverse range of colleagues and senior leaders.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to summarise complex information into concise messages and recommendations.
• Strong analytical skills and attention to detail, with the ability to interpret data, identify insights, and draw evidence-based conclusions.
• Proactive approach to learning, with the ability to quickly grasp new subject areas and apply learning in practice.
• Demonstrable experience of delivering business management, risk management and/or operational activities, including working to deadlines and managing competing priorities.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,004, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £12,747 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Staff Benefits Scheme, Childcare Vouchers, and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

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

Application and Selection
The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:

Behaviours , Experience , Strengths

Stage 1: Sift

• Experience:(Lead) - Drawing on your career to date, what relevant experience, skills and knowledge make you the strongest candidate for this role?

• Behaviour: Communicating and Influencing

• Behaviour: Working Together

• Behaviour: Managing A Quality Service

There is a 250-word limit per question.

When writing your application, remember:

• the assessor won’t be reading your answers sequentially

• do not assume that the same assessors will have read all of your answers

• if talking about something in your first answer, make sure that you write the second answer as if you had not written the first (and so on!)

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead behaviour listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview.

If you run into any technical problems when applying through Be Applied (for example, trouble logging in or submitting your application), their support team can help. Please contact them at hello@beapplied.com.

Stage 2: Interview

• Behaviours: Managing A Quality Service, Working Together, Communicating and Influencing, Changing and Improving.

• Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 04/05.

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 18/05 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

How We Recruit

Find out more about our recruitment processes here.

• Applying

• Sifting

• Interview

• Interview Results & Feedback

• Reserve List

• Near Miss

• Civil Service Grades

• We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer

• Reasonable Adjustments

How to Apply

Find out everything you need to know before applying here.

You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly.

• Security Clearance Requirements

• Civil Service Nationality Requirements

• Right to Work

• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles

• CV Declaration

• Sponsorships

• Salary and Grade

• Existing Civil Servants

• Conflict of Interest

• Location and Flexible Working

• Fixed Term Contracts

• Internal Fraud Database

• Appeals and Complaints

Security Clearance Requirements

National Office:

London Office: + CTC

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

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 : Cat Sisman
• Email : cat.sisman@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@communities.gov.uk

Further information

If you are unsure about any part of the process or require additional information about the post to enable you to progress your application, you should speak to the Resourcing team - recruitment@communities.gov.uk. Candidates can appeal at any stage of the recruitment process if they believe there has been:

a procedural irregularity

an infringement of the Civil Service equal opportunities policy

exceptional circumstances which were not notified to the interview panel which might have affected performance on the day.

It is important to note that these are appeals about the process not the decision. In the first instance, an appeal should be directed to the MHCLG Resourcing Hub at recruitment@communities.gov.uk.

If the MHCLG Resourcing Hub is unable to satisfactorily resolve your complaint, you may contact put your complaint in writing to the Civil Service Commission, Room G8,1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or by email to: info@csc.gov.uk