Senior Change Partner

Job summary

The Senior Business Change Partner will support change readiness, engagement and adoption for the What We Offer workstream within the Activating our Strategy programme. Working closely with the Workstream Lead, Delivery Manager, PMO colleagues and change partners across the Business Capability & Change team, the role will help ensure change impacts are identified, planned and successfully embedded.

The role will work with stakeholders across Innovate UK to understand the people impacts of change and develop proportionate engagement and communication activities that support successful adoption. This includes helping teams understand upcoming changes, gathering feedback and ensuring staff are well supported through transition.

Working as part of the wider Business Capability & Change team, the postholder will contribute to a joined-up view of change across Innovate UK and UKRI, helping to identify dependencies, support change planning and ensure activities align to programme objectives.

The role will also support the assessment and tracking of change readiness and adoption, using insights and feedback to inform engagement approaches and help deliver successful outcomes for the What We Offer workstream.

Job description

• Partnering with senior leaders and team/s across Innovate UK to develop mature, authentic and collaborative relationships to assess change needs and develop tailored, high-quality change, communication and engagement strategies.
• Improve the process of engagement and adoption of business change across the leaders and team/s you partner with and more broadly Innovate UK, collaborating with colleagues and senior stakeholders to support delivery of change.
• Working with team/s to improve consistent engagement and adoption of business change across the organisation and aligning with/influencing of the overall UKRI approach.
• Working collaboratively with other Change Business Partners and more broadly the Business Capability and Change team to continue to evolve change and adoption methodologies and practices, keeping them innovative and current.
• Designing, baselining and tracking adoption and engagement for planned changes. Producing and delivering communications and engagement strategies and/or advise delivery team/s, checking actions are in place to drive adoption and engagements.
• Developing a single roadmap for engagement and adoption of business change for the team/s you partner with, aligned with the organisational level roadmap to ensure change lands successfully creating minimum disruption for the organisation.
• Work closely with Business Capability and Change Leadership team, Senior Business Change Partners, Delivery Leads, Workstream Leads and business owners to develop a compelling narrative around change and the overall story about the Innovate UK change journey.
• Development of clear, meaningful, proportionate, compelling and high-quality communications which engage stakeholders and audiences at all levels.
• Coaching at all levels of the organisation, including ELB and Director level on the practice of good change management and change leadership. Developing guidance that can be cascaded throughout the organisation.
• Advising, mentoring, and challenging senior staff and stakeholders to ensure Business Change can deliver complex and disruptive change in the most effective ways.
• Contribute to the development and evolution of frameworks to be used by Programme and Project Managers to drive increased engagement and provide smooth transition of change projects into BAU.
• Work closely with Business Capability and Change Leadership, Senior Change Business Partners, Change Business Partners, Delivery Leads, Workstream Leads and business owners to develop a compelling narrative around change and the overall story about the Innovate UK change journey.
• Supporting Programme and Project Managers in the co-ordination and production of engagement activities which drive effective adoption, smooth transition of change into BAU and ensuring benefit realisation.
• Management of engagement and adoption channels, tools and techniques to support the delivery of business change, ensuring the channels of communication are complimentary and appropriate to the organisation’s needs.
• Working across IUK with the aim of influencing and improving the Staff Survey results relating to Management of Change.
• Managing Business Change Partners and resources as required including line management and budget.

This is not an exhaustive list and you might be encouraged to undertake any other duties across the wider directorate, commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post holder has the key experience and/or training.

Person specification

Shortlisting criteria

(S) – Assessed at shortlisting

(I) – Assessed at interview

(S&I) – Assessed at both shortlisting and interview

Person Specification:

Experience & Qualifications:

Essential –

• Change Management qualification or equivalent experience (S).
• Project Management or Continuous Improvement qualification or equivalent experience (S).
• Significant experience of and in-depth understanding of change and the implications of taking individuals, teams and organisations on a change journey (S&I).
• Proven ability to build and maintain mature and collaborative relationships with individuals and teams, particularly at senior/executive leadership level (S&I).
• Proven experience of leading and advising on change strategies and approaches specifically to support change programme goals (S&I).
• Extensive experience of developing, writing and editing high quality, engaging communications for a wide range of audiences and channels, with excellent knowledge of how to use different channels to maximise effectiveness (S&I).
• Exceptional verbal and written communications skills and the ability to translate complex information into clear and accessible messages (S&I).
• Strong organisational and project management skills and the ability to manage multiple projects, deadlines and stakeholders (S&I).

Competencies:

All team members demonstrate compatibility with and capability against our Core Competencies such as:

Thinking and Problem Solving – Stakeholder management – Communication skills – Influencing – Self-awareness/self-management – Strategic awareness – Working with others– Project management

Some of the above competencies will be assessed at interview stage, in addition to the criteria’s listed in the person specification.

Travel Requirements:

There will be a requirement to travel, mostly national, and there is some flexibility in this. Innovate UK staff make extensive use of telepresence tools for meetings to minimise unnecessary travel. In general, you will need to work in the Swindon office once a week and may have four to six nights away from home per month on average to attend conferences and events.

Please note, if you will require sponsorship to work in the UK, as part of your sponsorship application, you and any dependants travelling with you, will be required to pay costs directly to The Home Office for the application before you start your role with us. UKRI is normally able to reimburse some, or all of these fees after you have become an employee and this can be discussed with the Hiring Manager. For more information, please visit https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa/how-much-it-costs or contact Recruitment@ukri.org.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £70,752, Innovate UK contributes £20,496 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• 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

1st inyterview including presentation.

Interviews will either take place remotely via Teams or in person face to face.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a standard (or equivalent) 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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.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

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 : Recruitment Team
• Email : recruitment@ukri.org

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@ukri.org