Civil Service Jobs Manchester – Labour Market and Sectors Strategy

Overview

Position Title: Labour Market and Sectors Strategy

Company: UK Civil Service

Location: Manchester, UK

Job Description

Skills policy is critical to an effective labour market that delivers for people and employers, driving future economic growth and tackling some of the big strategic challenges facing our country. Short-term shocks such as the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are combining with long-term trends – such as an ageing society and increased automation – to change the shape of the labour market and the kinds of skills in demand from employers. The Government therefore has a crucial role in working with industry to identify and fill skills gaps in sectors which will deliver high-quality, high-productivity jobs – both now and in the future.

Responsibilities:

• Developing skills policy offers for a small number of priority sectors aligned with the Government’s Build Back Better labour market strategy.
• This will include developing expertise in skills issues in the sector, building an assessment of the extent to which skills and training offers can meet the scale of existing and future need, and where appropriate working with policy teams to consider what more could be done to meet this need.
• The post-holder will also own relationships with key sector bodies and counterparts in sponsoring Departments and identify and act on opportunities to influence relevant skills strategies being led by other Departments.
• Developing and maintaining excellent working relationships with colleagues inside the Department – including policy, communications and analysis – and in other departments to deliver on departmental and wider Government priorities.
• Managing a fast-paced workload with a degree of autonomy.
• Leading the Department’s engagement with the Build Back Better Business Council, directly supporting the Senior Responsible Officer (SRO).
• This will involve, leading preparation and briefing for the quarterly meetings of the Council (chaired by the PM), supporting the SRO’s engagement with the Council outside of meetings, drafting advice to Ministers updating them on the work of the Council, and overseeing and developing a skills ‘delivery plan’ in line with the Department’s priorities.
• Across these responsibilities the post-holder will be required to build and maintain excellent relationships within the
• Department, with the PM’s Office and HM Treasury, and with Council members and their teams.
• Providing high-quality verbal and written briefing to Ministers and other senior stakeholders.
• Providing additional support to priority projects in the Labour Market and Sectors Strategy team.

Requirements:

• Be motivated by improving the lives of service users and doing policy work that has real, positive impact on the ground.
• Be data-driven and able to interpret a wide range of quantitative and qualitative sources.
• Be able to demonstrate policy experience.
• Possess strong stakeholder engagement, relationship management and interpersonal skills, including when working with senior internal and external stakeholders.
• Be able to demonstrate an ability to ‘deliver through others’ to drive progress, given the high number of interdependencies involved in skills policy.
• Possess specific expertise in policy relating to skills and/or labour markets.
• Demonstrate an ability to work at pace and to tight deadlines – thriving in a fast-moving and flexible working environment and using their own initiative to unblock problems wherever possible.
• Possess strong conceptual and analytical skills and be comfortable oscillating between the big picture and drilling down into the detail when faced with complex policy challenges.
• Be an effective written and verbal communicator, able to quickly distil complex information and communicate the salient points succinctly while capturing the key detail.