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136,000+ live jobsOn-site in London·Full-time·Added yesterday (last checked 11 Oct)
£86,000 - £117,800 a year
Gross, as stated in the ad.
About £5,040 - £6,280 a month after tax.
Full-time
Per the ad.
Apply by Sunday 1 November
The date the employer’s listing closes.
Work on-site in London
No relocation package mentioned.
Have senior-level experience
Director-level role.
28.97% employer pension
Paid in by the employer, per the ad. The legal minimum is 3%.
Essential Criteria
Candidates will be assessed against the following behaviors and essential criteria:
£86,000 - £117,800
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Alongside your salary of £86,000, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 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).
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Project Delivery
Senior leadership
Strategy
The post holder will lead an ambitious change agenda at the heart of the department. This is an exciting role for somebody to make a substantial impact on the development and delivery of strategic change at Defra. The role provides strategic direction, specialist change delivery capability and strong leadership, to drive the successful design and implementation of Defra's change agenda.
The role works at the centre of the Department working closely with strategy, policy and delivery colleagues to ensure that change across the Defra group is coherent and supports delivery of Defra's outcomes. The Deputy Director leads a team of people to enable delivery of a series of organisational shifts that will put Defra in the best possible position to successfully delivery its outcomes, ensuring change is aligned to the Future Civil Service Programme. The successful candidate also leads a portfolio of change projects and programmes to deliver Defra's efficiency targets, identifying and implementing interventions that ensure the department operates within its spending envelope.
The Deputy Director will engage senior colleagues across Defra group to ensure change is impactful and delivers its intended outcomes. They will work closely with senior colleagues responsible for delivering specific projects and programmes, and functional directors and their teams delivering organisational change. They will build excellent relationships in order to enable and facilitate the delivery of others, whilst at the same time assuring and challenging the delivery of change to ensure it is both ambitious and feasible.
Permanent
Full-time, Job share
Bristol, London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, York
484821
SCS Pay Band 1
1
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
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 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.
Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 1st November 2026
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
As part of the application process, candidates are asked to complete a CV and Personal Statement (no more than 1000 words) on how your relevant skills and experience meet the essential criteria. Completed applications must be submitted no later than the closing date of 23:55pm, Sunday 1st November 2026.
A sift will be conducted against the essential criteria above based on your CV and supporting statement. Applications will be assessed by the selection panel and shortlisted.
These assessments will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel's decision-making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.
Prior to interview, shortlisted candidates will be offered an informal conversation (not assessed) via MS Teams to find out more about the role with the vacancy holder. Details of how to arrange an informal conversation with the vacacy holder will be included in the email inviting you to attend an interview.
You will be asked to attend a panel interview, to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the essential criteria for the role. As part of the interview, we will ask you to prepare a short presentation. This will be confirmed in the interview invitation.
Interviews will be held face to face in London at 2, Marsham Street, SW1P 4DF
Can I claim back any expenses Incurred during the recruitment process?
No. Unfortunately we will not be able to reimburse you.
Strategy and Change Group
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.
Please let us know what adjustments we can put in place to help you through the recruitment process if you are disabled. To discuss your requirements in more detail, please contact: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk in the first instance.
Candidates who pass the interview criteria but are not offered a post may be kept on a reserve list for 12 months and may be offered similar roles across the department.
Defra Is committed to 'name blind' sifting. That means that identifying characteristics such as your name, gender, age, or address are removed from your application until after shortlisting for interview has taken place. On this basis, please do not include any personal data that could identify you on either your CV or Personal Statement.
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.
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.
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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
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.
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