Senior Adviser

Job summary

The Government is committed to delivering 1.5m homes in this Parliament, including the biggest increase in social and affordable housing in a generation. Vital to this will be ensuring that schemes already in the planning and development cycle can build out at pace.

The New Homes Accelerator works with local authorities, landowners and developers to identify and unblock the issues that are impacting progress on sites. This is an exciting opportunity to join the team leading this programme. We are recruiting for 8 SEOs across the programme, covering both the Programme Management (3 roles) and Policies and Systems (5 roles) teams.

Postholders in the Programme Management team will be responsible for supporting the overall management of the programme, including site selection, data and reporting, and briefing Ministers and senior officials on the progress and impact of the programme. The role also involves close partnership working with Homes England and with planning and other housing teams within the Department.

The Policies and Systems team identifies issues blocking development, working with stakeholders and across government to deliver system-wide change and accelerate delivery at sites. This is achieved through a dual approach:

• working with Homes England, developers, local authorities and others on specific sites that are not progressing as quickly as they could; and,
• understanding and diagnosing system-wide issues and potential interventions to remove systemic barriers and streamline processes, which may benefit multiple sites both now and in the future.

This is an opportunity to work on one of the government’s top priorities, operate in a challenging and collaborative environment to deliver ministerial priorities and work across organisational boundaries, including with Homes England, other government departments and the Greater London Authority.

These are stretching and rewarding roles as part of a friendly, collaborative and inclusive team. You will have the chance to make a real impact on the delivery of homes this Parliament, working on a high-profile government programme with significant interest from the sector, across government and Ministers.

Job description

Post-holders in the Programme Management team (3 roles) will have responsibilities including:

• Leading on critical aspects of programme delivery including the selection of new sites for New Homes Accelerator support and overseeing their progress and contribution to the target of 1.5m homes this Parliament.
• Developing and maintaining strong relationships with legal, finance, analytical and commercial colleagues, as well as Homes England to support management of the overall programme.
• Supporting the team to identify and proactively answer strategic questions about the programme including how we manage sites, measure success and impact, and how the New Homes Accelerator links into other live government programmes.
• Leading on pieces of advice, ad hoc briefings, correspondence and commissions related to the programme.

In the Policies and Systems team (5 roles), post holders’ responsibilities will include:

• Managing relationships with specific sites, including local authority officials, developers, and others who have an interest in the success of sites.
• Leading on policy and systems workstreams. This currently includes local education and health provision, transport infrastructure, building safety regulations, utilities connections and working with statutory consultees, but will expand as more sites come forward and more barriers become apparent.
• Maintaining strong working relationships with stakeholders, including government agencies and regulators, developers local authorities, and relevant leads in other policy areas.
• Working across policy areas and responsibilities in a matrix management structure, contributing to sites and policies led by others where relevant and necessary.

All roles will involve contributing to a supportive and inclusive culture in the team.

Person specification

Post holders across all roles will need to demonstrate:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to understand complex information and present it concisely and clearly to senior officials and ministers.
• The ability to build and maintain positive working relationships with a range of colleagues and stakeholders.
• The ability to pro-actively and confidently drive forward distinct areas of work independently.
• The ability to work collaboratively at pace and to adapt to shifting priorities.
• Confidence in working with large data sets with the support of analysts.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,890, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £12,135 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 Childcare Voucher 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 , Strengths

Stage 1: Sift

• Behaviour (Lead Behaviour): Communicating and Influencing

• Behaviour: Changing and Improving

• Behaviour: Seeing the Big Picture

• Behaviour: Working Together

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.

Stage 2: Interview

• Behaviours: Communicating and Influencing, Changing and Improving, Seeing the Big Picture, Working Together

• 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 16th February 2026.

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 2nd March 2026 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

• Artificial Intelligence

• 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 - Internal Fraud Register

• Appeals and Complaints

• Conflict of Interest

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 : Dave Anstice-Pim
• Email : David.Anstice-Pim@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

Attachments

1a. MHCLG Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 834kB)1b. Candidate Guidance Opens in new window (pdf, 355kB)1c. Success Profiles Candidate information Opens in new window (pdf, 936kB)Darlington Economic Campus Career Pathways Opens in new window (pdf, 452kB)