Head of Evaluation Ref. 2292

Stonewall Top Employer AwardSocial Mobility Foundation AwardThe Times Top 100Disability confident leader

Finance, Audit and Procurement
Central London, South West England
£101,144 to £102,093 depending on location

This role has now closed for applications.

Context

As part of the Civil Service Modernisation and Reform agenda we are seeking to appoint a Head of Evaluation to strengthen the use of evaluation, robust evidence and data to drive improved decision making, enhanced performance assessment and the achievement of better outcomes within our shared financial services department.

This is a new post and represents a rare opportunity to play a leading role in developing a specialist evaluation capability, that all three agencies can share and benefit from through the provision of actionable insights which maximise real-world impact.

The Role

You will build and lead the Evaluation Team and meet the varied evaluation needs of the agencies by being priority-focused, agile and flexible. Whilst the team is being established you will report to the Finance Director in our joint Corporate Services organisation, which serves all three agencies. You will recruit and lead a team of four analysts and create a high performing Evaluation Team with a reputation for integrity, insight and independence.

Each of the agencies has mature performance management and reporting and you will build effective working relationships with these teams, cultivating an ethos of collaborative working, knowledge sharing and professionalism. You will establish a centre of excellence that these teams can draw on and partner with and set standards across the agencies for evaluation, maintaining the necessary degree of independence and objectivity required to ensure professional standards are rigorously applied.

Early priorities will include the development of an Evaluation Strategy to steer and direct the design and delivery of robust, proportionate and value add evaluation. This will involve mapping and assessing current evaluation activity and identifying and prioritising areas for improvement. You will provide professional leadership to key evaluation studies, activities and research, providing professional judgment on the approach, techniques and insights drawn. This will involve operating in an environment of fiscal constraint and making a persuasive case for the financial benefits of evaluation.

You will also play an active role in the development of the agencies next Spending Review bid, by using data and evaluation to articulate the benefits of the Spending Review offer and help mature and design the underpinning metrics that will later be used to track the delivery of funded outcomes. Your team will also support improvements to investment decision making, by maturing the approach to assessing the economic and societal value of business cases.

It’s vital that we learn from and share knowledge with others, including the Government Analysis Function, Cabinet Office and HM Treasury, so you will also be responsible for developing strong collaborative working relationships with key external partners.

Our organisation prides itself on our collaborative and inclusive working environment. We believe that you can seldom work alone and achieve the best outcome and so, to enable us all to perform to our very best, together we’ve created a culture that is friendly, supportive, and respectful. The range of backgrounds and skills of our workforce is huge and varied, however we are all connected by our motivation to keep the country safe.

Person Specification

Essential


  *   The successful candidate will be an excellent, experienced analytical leader, comfortable working at very senior levels.

  *   You will have significant and demonstrable experience in analysis and evaluation roles, gained whilst working to put evaluation and insight at the heart of decision making.

  *   A strategic mindset is required to develop an evaluation strategy, translate the strategy into an effective work programme and set the direction of the team to maximise the impact of the evaluation capability.

  *   You will have strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate actionable insights from evaluation to influence senior decision-making, both verbally and in writing.

  *   As a dynamic leader you will have the ability to set a clear direction to deliver and inspire change.

Desirable

  *   Ideally you will be a member of one of the four principal analytical professions (economics, operational research, social research, and statistics) and have a good understanding of other emerging analytical disciplines such as data science, social media analysis and behavioural science.

  *   Experience of setting up a new team is desirable.

  *   Appreciation of the legal & advisory framework for analysis and evaluation within the Public Sector (National Statistics Act, Aqua Book, Magenta Book etc)


Benefits

•    25 days annual leave (rising to 30 days after 5 years’ service) and 10.5 public and privilege holidays
•    Financial support for learning and development
•    Interest free season ticket loan
•    Excellent pension scheme
•    Cycle to work scheme
•    Subsidised gym, restaurant and coffee bar

For further information on the benefits we offer, please visit our website at: www.mi5.gov.uk/careers/benefits 


BEFORE YOU APPLY

This role is based in London or South West England. Please note, we do not cover relocation costs.

Honesty and integrity are crucial if you want to work for the UK Intelligence Agencies. Giving misleading information or omitting or concealing information during the recruitment and vetting process is viewed very seriously. You should ensure that you follow our guidance from when you apply.


RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Initially, we will ask you to complete our pre-screening questions to find out if you meet our initial criteria. If you meet these criteria we will then ask you to begin an application.  

You will need to create a login and provide your full name, email address and memorable password. Once you have successfully created a personal account, you will be required to complete a registration form, providing contact details and equal opportunities monitoring information.  

You will then be invited to copy and paste in your CV and complete an online application form. If you pass the sift, you may be required to attend a telephone interview which should last approximately 30 minutes and will check that you have the potential skills and motivation to work for us.

Successful applicants may then be invited to a final interview, which will include competency based questions and further exploration of your motivation to work for the security agencies.

Successful candidates may then be asked to attend a security interview with a vetting officer. This is an important part of the selection process. It is an interview to explore your life and experiences and is not a competency or capability-based interview.

Please note, you must successfully pass each stage of the process in order to progress to the next.

Offer of Interview

As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. This is known as Offer of an Interview. To secure an interview for this vacancy, the minimum criteria (in order of application process) are:  
 
Eligibility Questions – You will be asked a series of questions relating to this vacancy.  If you meet the criteria here, you will be directed to the initial application form.  

Upon successful completion of the full application form and passing the sift, you will be invited to interview (this could be either a telephone, video or face to face interview).  This is our Offer of an Interview.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
 
To be eligible to apply, you must be a British Citizen. One of your parents must be a British Citizen or must have one of the nationalities or citizenships from one of the following: British Overseas Territory, British Subject, British National (Overseas), British Overseas Citizen, British Protected Person, citizenship of a country in the Commonwealth, citizenship of a country in the European Economic Area (EEA), or citizenship of the United States of America (USA). If deceased, they should have had such citizenship or nationality before death. If you hold dual nationality, of which one component is British, you will nonetheless be considered. If successful, you will not normally be required to give up your non-British citizenship but, as a condition of your employment or secondment, MI5 may impose restrictions on your postings, work travel and/or general use of that nationality. Candidates must normally have been resident in the UK for seven out of the last ten years. This is particularly important if you were born outside the UK. Each case will be carefully considered on its own facts. You can apply at the age of 17 years and 6 months, if successful you will not be offered a start date prior to your 18th birthday. Discretion is vital. You should not discuss your application, other than with your partner or a close family member. Please note, you should only launch your application from within the UK. If you are based overseas, you should wait until you visit the UK to launch an application. Applying from outside of the UK will impact on our ability to progress your application. Further information on our eligibility criteria can be found on the Applying section.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

The UK Intelligence Agencies (MI5 / MI6 / GCHQ) are Equal Opportunities employers, committed to Reflecting the Society we protect. Our recruitment process is fair, transparent and based on merit. We particularly welcome applications from diverse and underrepresented groups. We particularly welcome applications from women, Black, Asian, minority ethnic candidates, candidates with a disability, LGBT candidates.

Please be aware that we withhold the right to bring forward the closing date for this role from the original closing date once a certain number of applications have been received. Please be mindful of this and submit your application at your earliest convenience to avoid disappointment.

This Program / Vacancy is closed to applications.