Senior Policy Advisor

Job summary

DSIT

At DSIT we’re all about improving people’s lives by maximising the potential of science & technology.

We accelerate innovation, investment and productivity through world-class science, research and development.

We use technology for good by ensuring new and existing technologies are safely developed and deployed across the UK, with the benefits more widely shared.

We are driving forward a modern digital government which gives citizens a more satisfying experience and their time back.

We do all this to enable the Government’s 5 national missions: kickstarting economic growth, making Britain a clean energy superpower, taking back our streets, breaking down barriers to opportunity and building an NHS fit for the future.

Above all, we focus on improving people’s lives. Whether it’s researching new treatments for disease, developing better batteries, reducing burdens through better public services, keeping children safe online, and much more, outcomes for citizens are at the heart of what we do.

Our Inclusive Environment

We offer flexible working benefits, employee well-being support and a great pension. We are enormously proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We support candidates with adjustments throughout our recruitment process. Information about disability confidence and just some examples of the adjustments that you can request can be found in the reasonable adjustment section below.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

Find Out More

We regularly run events where you can find out more about the department and tips for the application and interview process. You can sign up for upcoming events here: https://forms.office.com/e/Jae3B4w7xm

You can also follow our LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/dsitcareers/

Job description

Role and Our Team

Digital identities enable people to prove things about themselves in a secure and trusted way without presenting physical documents. When implemented effectively, they can support economic growth, improve user experiences, and strengthen trust in digital services across the UK economy.

The Office for Digital Identities and Attributes (OfDIA) (www.gov.uk/ofdia) sets the standards, governance and legislative framework that allow organisations and individuals to use digital identities with confidence and leads the government’s work to enable the widespread adoption of digital identity solutions.

You will join a diverse and collaborative team of more than 30 colleagues working across strategy, policy, delivery and technical disciplines. Together, the team is building the framework that defines what high-quality digital identity services look like and how they can be used safely across the economy.

There are four roles available within OfDIA’s Strategy, International Policy and Adoption team, supporting the development and delivery of the organisation’s adoption and international workstreams. The team works to accelerate the uptake of digital identity across the UK economy while ensuring that UK digital identities and credentials are trusted and usable internationally.

Domestically, the work focuses on unlocking practical, high-impact use cases across sectors such as age-restricted goods, gambling, travel and financial services. By supporting adoption in these areas, the aim is to reduce friction for users, strengthen compliance for businesses, and build trust in secure, privacy-preserving digital identity solutions, while supporting innovation and growth in the UK’s digital economy.

Internationally, you will work with the UK’s priority global partners to explore opportunities for collaboration and help ensure that any cross-border use of digital identities and credentials aligns with the UK’s high standards of transparency, security and data privacy.

You will work closely with stakeholders across government, industry and international partners to identify opportunities, remove barriers to adoption and build confidence in digital identity solutions.

These roles would suit strategic and collaborative policy professionals who are comfortable working in complex and evolving policy environments and able to build strong relationships across government, industry and specialist communities. You will help shape the UK’s strategic approach to digital identity adoption and international interoperability, supporting delivery across priority sectors while ensuring that uptake grows alongside appropriate safeguards.

Person specification

Key Responsibilities

Roles focused on enabling the adoption of digital identities in the UK will:

• Develop the adoption strategy: work with the Grade 7 lead to refresh and develop OfDIA’s strategic approach, including mapping the policy landscape, identifying and prioritising use cases, and developing a clear delivery plan.
• Drive adoption in priority sectors: lead work to boost uptake of digital identity in high-value use cases such as age-restricted products (including alcohol, gambling and tobacco), anti-money laundering and property transactions.
• Support devolution considerations: manage policy and delivery implications where digital identity requirements vary across the UK nations.

Roles focused on enabling the use of safe and secure digital identities internationally will:

• Develop international policy and strategy: Work with the Grade 7 lead to shape the UK’s approach to enabling cross-border use of identities and credentials, ensuring all work reflects the high standards, including for privacy and security, established by the UK digital verification framework
• Deliver projects with international partners that enable cross-border use of identities and credentials. Through working bilaterally and multilaterally with OfDIA’s priority global partners, shape and lead projects that communicate the UK’s approach, and which test and develop the grounds for achieving safe, secure and privacy-enhancing interoperability between parties.

All roles will:

• Remove barriers while maintaining safeguards: work with government and industry partners to identify and address barriers to domestic or international acceptance of digital identity services, including supporting legislative, regulatory, guidance or communications changes where needed.
• Coordinate across government: convene and manage cross-government groups to promote consistency, share learning and align approaches to common challenges.
• Engage with industry and delivery partners: build relationships with the digital identity sector to understand priorities and challenges, and support adoption-focused engagement across government and industry.
• Align domestic and international work: help ensure consistency between UK domestic policy and international frameworks, including supporting international use-case testing where required.

Essential Criteria

The team’s broad portfolio requires individuals who can work flexibly across multiple projects while maintaining a strong focus on delivery.

You should be comfortable working in a fast-moving policy environment and engaging with a wide range of stakeholders both within government and externally.

This role provides an opportunity to develop experience in policy development, stakeholder engagement and cross-government coordination.

You should be able to demonstrate:

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain complex information clearly and adapt messages for different audiences.
• The ability to work collaboratively across teams, building and maintaining strong relationships with stakeholders across government and external organisations.
• Experience of working in a fast-paced environment, managing competing priorities and delivering high-quality work to challenging deadlines.
• The ability to analyse complex information, including data, and use evidence to inform policy development.

We recognise that candidates may not meet every criterion listed. If your experience differs from what is described but you believe you could contribute to the role and the team, we encourage you to apply.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience or understanding of digital identity or wider technology policy.
• Experience of working in industry-facing or international roles.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,415, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £11,708 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
• A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Applications will be sifted on CV and Personal Statement.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 750 words) to outline why you are applying for this role and explain clearly how you meet the essential or desirable criteria.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the personal statement only.

The interview will consist of behaviour and strength-based questions.

Interviewees will be asked to deliver a presentation; further details will be provided nearer the time.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

A reserve list of candidates may be kept for up to 12 months.

To help you to prepare for your interview, for this campaign behaviour questions will be shared in advance of interview if you are successful at sift stage. These questions should be treated as confidential and should not be shared.

The interview panel may ask you other questions which will not be shared with you in advance, including any follow-up questions, and other elements listed in the job advert, for example, experience, abilities, strengths and technical skills. The panel will be looking for examples of your own work, experience, and ability so do try and avoid using AI written answers without any human oversight.

Further Information

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

Information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that we offer to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during our recruitment process can be found in our DSIT Candidate Guidance. A DSIT Plain Text Version of the guidance is also available.

We encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Candidates who meet the minimum benchmark may be placed on a Reserve List for consideration for similar roles, including those at a lower grade. Candidates who narrowly miss the benchmark and are not placed on the Reserve List may still be considered for an offer in a similar role at a lower grade.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service /Disclosure Scotland on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Feedback

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.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.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 : Paul Donati
• Email : paul.donati@dsit.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dsitresourcing.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance DSITrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk . If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Click here to visit Civil Service Commission/Complaints.

Attachments

DSIT T&Cs v1.2 Opens in new window (docx, 179kB)