Head of Policy and Engagement, Office for Place

Are you interested in how we create and curate the places that surround us?
The Office for Place is a newly established non-departmental public body that will develop and share evidence, advice, tools and learning to support the creation and stewardship of places that are beautiful, sustainable, popular, and healthy.
It has its origins in the Building Better Building Beautiful Commission Report ‘Living with Beauty’ which has influenced national planning policy and, through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Act, the requirement for all local authorities to produce a design code for their area, developed through local community involvement and engagement.
This is an exciting opportunity to be part of an organisation whose objectives are to:
+ Catalyse a fundamental change within and across all levels of government, communities, and the development, planning and design industries, to support the creation and stewardship of popular, healthy, beautiful, and sustainable places.
+ Help neighbourhoods, communities and public servants working on their behalf, to ask for and deliver new places, and manage existing places, to be popular, healthy, beautiful, and sustainable.
+ Support public sector planners and the British design and development industries to be the best place makers in the world aided by improving UK and international data on happiness, health, popularity, and sustainability.
Are you willing to help us meet this challenge?
You will be joining a new organisation chaired by Nicholas Boys Smith MBE and a board of non-executive directors. You will be able to help shape its programme of work from an early stage. The Office for Place will be subject to the standard review of public bodies which will take place after 3-5 years to ensure continuing delivery for government and the taxpayer.
You can find out more about our work here: Office for Place - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
An information session to find out more about the work of the Office for Place will be held on Thursday 30th May 1-1.45pm. Please register here: https://forms.office.com/e/hhsdCYLaDc
We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other underrepresented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work., + Leading the Office for Place’s role in advising on, and supporting the implementation of, government policy. This will include overseeing the development of a strategy to effectively engage the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, other Government departments and arms-length bodies, and membership organisations to positively influence placemaking policy. You will need to highlight and propose solutions to potential tensions and barriers created by policy that affect the delivery of better places.
+ Overseeing the development of initiatives stemming from policy engagement, working with the Head of Supporting and Accrediting to develop appropriate support for local authorities and the wider sector to facilitate the implementation of government policy. This will include producing good practice guidance and gathering evidence and insights from communities, councils and the wider sector to inform Office for Place input to shape government policy and programmes.
+ Leading on the production and publication of the Office for Place’s annual placemaking report setting out progress on its mission and evidence on the current ‘state of the nation’ in relation to placemaking and design, engaging relevant officials in DLUHC and other government departments, as appropriate.
+ Building relationships with external stakeholders to promote the work of the Office for Place and overseeing the organisation’s strategic external engagement and communication function. This will involve highlighting both the importance of creating beautiful, popular, sustainable and healthy places and the benefits to communities, councils and the sector of setting clear standards of design for new development. It is expected that you will regularly attend, and speak at, external stakeholder and policy events to represent the Office for Place. You will also support the Office for Place’s expert advisory panel, working with external partners to ensure quality and timely input to Office for Place strategic and delivery priorities.
+ Management of a network of regional ‘design advocates’ to promote and share best practice, raise standards, lead engagement and gather insights from local authorities across the country.
+ Development, monitoring and accountability for the Office for Place’s KPIs and metrics, including evaluation and outcome monitoring that will determine the Office for Place’s performance. You will support the Chief Executive as Accounting Officer on performance reporting, including to the Office for Place board, DLUHC sponsor team, Cabinet Office Public Bodies review team, the National Audit Office and others, as required.
+ Oversight of a £400k p.a. research programme, working with the Research Lead to set the strategic direction for Office for Place research, ensuring that it makes the case for good quality design, supports the delivery of government policy, generates useful and practical insights from best practice and responds to stakeholder feedback and the strategic direction of the Office for Place, as set by the board. You will need to ensure that the research commissioned follows correct procurement procedures, is of a high standard and is delivered on time, within budget and represents value for money by addressing key themes that are in line with the Office for Place’s annual business plan.
+ Oversight of a £175k p.a. training and events programme, working with the Training and Events Lead to deliver training places for councils, communities and the wider sector, to support skills development. This is alongside the delivery of national and regional events to advocate for the creation of beautiful and popular places, provide practical support and share best practice, including the Office for Place’s annual conference attended by c.200 delegates. You will need to ensure that the events and training are impactful, align with the strategic direction set out in the Office for Place’s annual business plan, that spending represents good value for money and that the correct procurement processes are followed.
+ Reporting, and being accountable to, the Office for Place board and DLUHC sponsorship team, for the leadership and delivery of the areas of the Office for Place work programme for which you are responsible.

You will be ideally bring experience of working as a leader in - and have a deep understanding of - the urban design and placemaking sector, combined with experience of leading on policy and engagement. You will have excellent inter-personal skills and an ability to deliver meaningful change. You will be familiar with central government, local government policy development, and the built environment sector, able to confidently navigate between policy and delivery to make an impact.
Essential
Leadership: you will be a strategic and empowering leader, able to set direction and establish a high performance culture. You will have experience of managing and motivating a team, keeping a large programme of work on track, agreeing priorities, managing complexity and being part of a senior leadership management team.
Seeing the big picture: you will be a strategic policy thinker with a deep understanding of urban design, able to solve complex policy challenges in relation to placemaking, assess the evidence and deliver outcomes in line with organisational objectives and Government policy.
Communicating and Influencing: you will have strong communication and interpersonal skills, able to quickly gain the confidence of the board and be able to respond to their direction. You will have a track record of building effective relationships and proven ability to credible engage with senior stakeholders across government, local government and the wider design, planning and development sector.
Making effective decisions: you will be confident analysing and interpreting data and evidence to support decisions, with a focus on driving outcomes, working with externally commissioned partners and responding to stakeholder needs to find an effective way forward.
Technical experience: you will be confident operating in the urban design, built environment or architectural sector, able to understand technical detail and engage credibly. You will be expected to demonstrate an affinity with the work of the Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission and an understanding of, and willingness to deliver, the Office for Place aims and objectives.
Desirable
Technical experience: a built environment qualification and a track record of practical placemaking experience., + Seeing the Big Picture
+ Making Effective Decisions
+ Leadership
+ Communicating and Influencing, Technical Ability

Important - To apply for this role you will need to submit a CV and covering letter. These need to be merged into one document. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter. There are further details in the Selection Process section further below in this advert.
We are looking to appoint a Grade 6 senior team leader, responsible for leading the Policy and Engagement team which will form one of three teams comprising the Office for Place structure. Policy and engagement are a key part of the Office for Place’s vision to engage local authorities, communities and the wider design, planning and development sector. This is needed to advocate for, and support the delivery of, more beautiful homes and places, rooted in evidence, and bring about real and significant change.
You will lead a team of seven but will play a strong role in establishing that team as the Office for Place builds its capacity during 2024-25. You will be part of the Office for Place’s executive management team, supporting the Chief Executive to lead an organisation of c.24 FTE and, with the Head of Supporting and Accrediting, helping set the strategic direction and work programme of this new organisation, to ensure it has real and lasting impact. You will support leadership of the transition to a fully independent arms-length body, helping to create a specialist advisory service with a strong performance culture and delivery focus.
We are currently working in a start-up phase and will be recruiting to several roles across different disciplines. We expect all appointed candidates to work flexibility across the organisation and to recognise that job roles may be adjusted as the organisation grows to full capacity over the coming year.
The successful applicant will initially be recruited into the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and will be subject to a TUPE transfer in the second half of 2024. Terms and conditions for the new organisation are to be confirmed but will be no less favourable than DLUHC.
It is expected that the successful candidate will be available to start no later than 1st October 2024.

Alongside your salary of £61,599, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £16,631 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
+ 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 average employer contribution of 27%, 2. How you meet the essential skills and experience required and what you would bring to the Office for Place.
Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page.
The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of experience, technical, behaviour and strength based questions as listed in the advert. The strength based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.
In full the campaign will test the below Success Profile Elements:
Behaviours: Seeing the big picture, Making effective decisions, Leadership and Communicating and influencing.
Experience: Yes
Technical: Yes
Strength: Yes
Candidates shortlisted for interview will also be asked to prepare a presentation. Further details will be provided following sift.
We do not consider direct CV applications – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs:
Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign
Grade 6 salary
+ The salary for this role is £61,599 (National).
+ For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable. If you apply for a role that requires a transfer of location, for example if you are transferring from London to a National location, your salary will be adjusted in accordance with our policy on transfer between HQ pay ranges.
Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions.
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.