Small Business Commissioner (OSBC) - Chief of Staff'

Job summary

About the Role

The Chief of Staff is the senior strategic adviser to the Small Business Commissioner and a leader of the Office of the Small Business Commissioner (OSBC). The role has overall responsibility for organisational strategy, corporate governance, operational performance and business transformation, ensuring the OSBC delivers its mission to make life easier for small businesses by improving payment practices and enabling money to move more quickly through the economy.​

As the most senior corporate leader within the organisation, the Chief of Staff provides strategic leadership across all aspects of OSBC activity, including policy, legislation, regulation, operational delivery, communications, stakeholder engagement, research and insight, finance, governance and people management. The postholder will lead the organisation through a significant period of growth and transformation as the OSBC expands its statutory remit and develops into a more independent and influential regulator.​​

The Chief of Staff acts as principal adviser to the Small Business Commissioner and is responsible for translating ministerial priorities and strategic objectives into effective organisational delivery. The role requires extensive engagement with Ministers, senior government officials, Parliament, business representative organisations and external stakeholders, maintaining the OSBC's reputation as a trusted and authoritative voice on payment practices and small business issues.

Candidate Information Call

The hiring manager for this position; Emma Jones, Small Business Commissioner and Paul Drabwell, Deputy Director and Policy Sponsor (BIST) will be hosting a virtual call for any interested applicants to discuss the role and answer any questions. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process and the ​session will not be recorded. ​
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This will be held via Microsoft Teams on Thursday 5th November 2026 at 10:00am.Please click here for the meeting link Candidate Information Call link​

If you would like to join without your full name being displayed in the meeting, please ensure you access the link on a personal device and select 'Join without signing in’.

Job description

Strategic Leadership and Corporate Management

• Act as principal adviser to the Small Business Commissioner, providing strategic counsel on priorities, risks and issues and deputising when required.
• Provide strategic leadership for the OSBC, setting organisational priorities and driving delivery against ministerial and corporate objectives.
• Lead corporate planning, performance and transformation, ensuring effective decision-making, continuous improvement and an organisation that remains fit for purpose.

Governance, Risk and Accountability

• Lead corporate governance, risk and compliance, ensuring high standards of propriety, transparency and public accountability.
• Maintain effective governance and internal control frameworks, including sponsorship arrangements, advisory board effectiveness and risk management.
• Deputise as Accounting Officer when required, providing assurance on expenditure, value for money and organisational compliance.

Financial Leadership and Commercial Oversight

• Lead financial strategy, planning and stewardship, ensuring effective and sustainable use of public resources aligned with organisational priorities.
• Oversee financial controls, audit, procurement, funding and assurance, ensuring robust financial management.
• Provide strategic financial advice to support informed decision-making and effective resource allocation.

Policy, Legislation and Regulatory Development

• Take a senior lead on policy, legislative and regulatory development, including implementation of the Commercial Payments Bill and supporting frameworks.
• Oversee the expansion of OSBC’s statutory powers, ensuring organisational readiness and effective delivery of new responsibilities.
• Build strong cross-government relationships, influencing policy and securing support for OSBC priorities.

People and Organisational Leadership

• Lead and develop a high-performing, inclusive organisation, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability and continuous improvement.
• Oversee workforce planning, organisational design and capability, ensuring the organisation attracts, develops and retains talented people as it grows.
• Champion Civil Service values, promoting wellbeing, diversity and inclusion across the organisation.

External Engagement and Corporate Reputation

• Lead strategic engagement with Ministers, Parliament, industry and key stakeholders, representing the OSBC at senior and high-profile engagements.
• Oversee reputation, communications and stakeholder relationships, ensuring effective and consistent organisational messaging.
• Provide senior assurance and sign-off for Parliamentary Questions, FOI responses, ministerial correspondence and other formal communications

Operational Delivery

• Provide strategic oversight of statutory services, including the complaint's function and Fair Payment Code, ensuring high-quality, customer-focused delivery.
• Drive organisational performance and impact, using data and insight to improve services and demonstrate outcomes.

Person specification

In your application you should provide evidence and examples of provenexperience against the following essential criteria:

• Significant knowledge and experience of prompt payment policy, with the ability to operate effectively in a complex policy and regulatory environment.
• Strong strategic, inclusive and operational leadership, with a proven ability to set direction, lead through change and deliver organisational priorities.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, with experience of building effective relationships and navigating complex issues with senior stakeholders.
• A confident and credible senior representative, with strong public speaking and presentation skills.
• Proven experience of leading multidisciplinary teams and services, including casework management, stakeholder communications and the effective administration of a Code or similar framework.​
• A track record of providing strategic financial oversight and leadership ensuring effective financial governance, clear accountability and value for money and using financial insight to inform senior-level decision-making.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £86,000, Department for Business and Trade contributes £24,914 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

How to Apply

Please follow the online instructions on the Civil Service Jobs website to apply for this role. Applications must be submitted no later than 23:55 ​ on 15/11/2026.

You will be asked to upload the two documents outlined below. It is essential you add your full name to both documents:​

• A CV, maximum of two pages setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role. Please provide reasons for any gaps within the last two years.​​​
• A Supporting Statement, maximum of two pages, which sets out your interest in the role and explains how your experience meets the criteria listed in the Person Specification.

Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification. ​​​

Please contact SCSRecruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk if you encounter any issues or are unable to apply online.

Your Supporting Statement

This is your opportunity to give examples and show how your skills and experience fit the job requirements.​

When writing a supporting statement, it is important that you:​

• Read the job specification carefully to understand the role and its requirements.​
• Structure your statement around the essential criteria listed in the advert.​
• Provide evidence for each criterion, for example, if the advert says “experienced in leading high-performing and diverse teams and promoting inclusivity”, explain when have you led a team, how large, what did you do to promote inclusivity, how did you handle diversity.
• Please show the impact of your actions and use measurable outcomes or statistics where relevant.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (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

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.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 : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : scsrecruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scsrecruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact DBT by email at SCSRecruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Civil Service Commission Complaints​​

Attachments

Small Business Commissioner (OSBC) - Chief of Staff Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 2755kB)Accessible Domestic Candidate Pack - Small Business Commissioner (OSBC) - Chief of Staff Opens in new window (docx, 270kB)