We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.
Overview
We are looking for a highly motivated individual to join the exciting 'Better Outcomes through Linked Data' Programme (BOLD) as a Grade 7.
BOLD is a large and complex programme that consists of sharing data across government, building a linked dataset, and delivering 4 'demonstrator pilot projects' that will use the linked dataset to tackle specific policy challenges across substance misuse, homelessness, victims of crime and reoffending. BOLD is an exciting cross-departmental programme funded by the Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund. This gives us the opportunity to truly work collaboratively across departmental boundaries, working as a single team with a single vision: deliver better outcomes for vulnerable populations through the use of linked data. If you like challenging problems with real-world impact and have always hoped government could learn to use data better, apply for this role and help us transform the use of data to drive outcomes and decision-making across government.
This role will work for the Head of Strategy and Delivery and lead a team of two. The role will be based in the MoJ which is the lead department on the BOLD programme but you will be expected to work effectively with colleagues in each of the BOLD partner departments (DHSC, PHW, DLUHC). The role will encompass strategy but will be very varied, with no two weeks the same and a constant stream of different, motivating work to keep the programme running smoothly and maximise the impact we have across government and for service users in each of the social policy areas (substance misuse, homelessness, victims of crime and reoffending).
We are looking for a dynamic problem solver who can think on their feet, proactively work to solve problems independently before they pose a delivery risk to the programme and integrate seamlessly into a large cross-profession programme. You will need to be an exceptional communicator, an excellent team player and experienced working in teams at the interface of analysis, strategy and policy. A passion to deliver a better way of doing things in the Civil Service is expected and experience of working with data is required. The ideal candidate will be numerate and enjoy engaging with analytical and technical teams as well as being highly credible with operational and policy colleagues. They will understand the value of the data we hold in the Civil Service and be able to spot opportunities to use it to transform outcomes for our service users and for citizens.
The successful candidates will work as integrators and will be comfortable influencing and delivering in a complex strategic landscape, defining appropriate data governance and supporting and/or proposing alternatives to current structures. They will be highly resilient and will be able to maintain enthusiasm and generate momentum in the face of a shifting landscape and priorities.
The post would suit applicants from a range of sectors who are highly skilled interpersonally and enjoy data and digital change, for example (but not limited to) those with a background in Data Analysis, Business Analysis, Project Management, Policy, Strategy, Consultancy, User Research or User Centred Policy Design and Business Change. If you are unsure if you are qualified for the role, please reach out to the hiring manager for an informal conversation. The post is also open on level transfer to existing Civil Servants at Grade 7 (or equivalent) and other eligible Civil Service staff on promotion.
We welcome applications from candidates based across the UK. Candidates will have the option of being based in the Leeds or London HQ offices (with flexible working arrangements available) or your nearest Justice Collaboration Centre or Justice Satellite Office. These are in Liverpool, Leeds, South Tyneside, Nottingham, Cardiff, Ipswich and Brighton. Periodic travel may be required for collaboration with the wider programme team.
Interviews are likely to take place in mid/late May 2022. We will keep a merit list for a year for those who successfully pass the interview board but who are not offered a post immediately as similar posts will become available during 2022.
About MoJ
The Ministry of Justice is one of the largest government departments, employing around 76,000 people, with a budget of approximately £7.4 billion. The justice system is a vital public service that changes people’s lives and our work spans criminal, civil, administrative and family justice. Each year millions of people across the UK use our services - including courts, tribunals, probation and prisons in England and Wales. We are all likely to come into contact with the justice system at some point in our lives, either because we have been a witness to or victim of a crime, to protect and enforce our rights, or to settle disputes.
Why work for the Ministry of Justice?
- Flexible working arrangements – including compressed hours, flexi-time, working for home or commuter hubs outside of London
- Broad and varied opportunities for development and promotion – there are lots of interesting and highly meaningful jobs across the Ministry and great opportunities to expand experience
- Data and Analysis is at the centre of the Department’s decision making – with a ministerial team who are keen for all decisions to be evidence driven
- See the frontline and what your work is influencing – regular opportunities to visit prisons and courts to better understand the areas your work and leadership is affecting
About the Better Outcomes through Linked Data (BOLD) Programme
The BOLD programme is a cross-government initiative delivered in partnership between the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC), Office for Health improvement and Disparities (OHID), Public Health Wales (PHW) and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) and this role offers the opportunity to deliver impact across a broad range of public services.
Public services collect a large amount of data which is used to improve the quality of services offered to the public, but it is often not shared between organisations, making it difficult to understand whether certain services have been effective.
The BOLD Programme, backed by £20 million of investment from HM Treasury, will improve the connectedness of government data so that policy-makers and those working on the frontline of UK public services have better quality evidence on what works in supporting victims, reducing homelessness and substance misuse and helping offenders turn their backs on crime. Understanding what services best help prison leavers into work could help to prevent thousands of people becoming victims each year and save some of the £18 billion annual cost of repeat crimes.
The BOLD vision is to enable better evidenced, joined-up and more effective cross-govt. services to support and protect vulnerable adults at specific touchpoints in their interactions with government funded services, supported by timely linked data and evidence. The programme is ambitious and sits across 5 government departments. A flagship initiative for collaborative, cross-department working, BOLD intends to conduct data linkage on a scale never seen before in the UK government, aiming to link key datasets to aid policy makers in doing more evidence-based policy design and prioritisation, support management to make performance decisions to better meet needs across services and to provide more targeted support for individuals - driving better outcomes for vulnerable adults.Â
The programme has 4 demonstrator pilot projects focusing on substance misuse, homelessness, victims of crime and reoffending, which aim to utilise the linked dataset when it is created. The demonstrator projects are so named because they are pilots for the ethos behind BOLD, striving to demonstrate the value of linking data across departmental boundaries, in this first iteration, to support adults who interact in different ways with the Criminal Justice System.
Robust evaluation strategies underpin BOLD, aiming to promote the successful facets of the programme into future years of funding and share lessons learned across the rest of government. BOLD aims to help other data initiatives stride forward with the collaborative mindset of BOLD, so we can achieve success together. All BOLD team members are expected to share and implement best practices across the virtual teams they work within.
Key Responsibilities of the Role
The successful candidates will play a critical role as part of the delivery engine of the BOLD programme, sitting within the Strategy & Delivery team, who lead and drive forward the work, translating the BOLD vision and strategy into tangible deliverables and outcomes, whilst working with end-users to ensure solutions best meet their needs. They will work as an integrator between business need, data scientists, analytical teams and digital solutions. They will feel comfortable negotiating at a senior level and delivering across a complex strategic landscape. They will help define appropriate standards and approaches for using, sharing and linking data and be able to articulately communicate the value of data sharing to a range of stakeholders.
We hope to use this campaign to retain a merit list for subsequent roles coming on-stream in the next few months. These roles will face off to all corners of the MoJ. These include Prisons, the Probation Service, the Courts & Tribunals Service and Corporate and HQ functions. Some roles are more technically-focused and some more strategically focused. As such we encourage applications from all professional backgrounds.
The work may include:
- Building strong relationships with stakeholders across government to get buy-in for the ambitions of the BOLD programme
- Developing strategies, comms packs and other materials to promote the vision and ethos of the BOLD programme
- Working with analysts, data scientists, data engineers, data architects, digital teams, policy and operational teams to leverage our data and build innovative solutions to longstanding and emerging data issues
- Delivering BOLD’s Data Ethics approach
- Delivering user-research to ensure that BOLD’s key outputs are delivering for service users
- Designing new data and analytical products and services to meet user needs, and testing prototypes with users
- Acting as a translator across technical and non-technical areas to ensure effective problem definition and benefits realisation
- Identifying data opportunities early, challenging stakeholders to think in the medium to long-term, and ensuring solutions contribute to a strategic vision and roadmap
- Creating a shared organisational understanding of key decision-makers and decision points: exploring, advancing and/or building products to improve decision-making
- Creating a shared organisational understanding of the data we do/should/could collect, how to manage it, and how to utilise and share it effectively to drive improved outcomes
- Proactively solve problems relating to things like data access, comms, programme design and strategy
The ideal candidates:
- Are strong communicators who work collaboratively to build consensus in a fast-changing strategic and delivery environment
- Are self-starters: someone who takes a vision and goals and makes them reality
- Are highly motivated do-ers – people who drive and shape work rather than waiting to be given it
- Are dynamic problem-solvers who relish the opportunity to work on highly complex, cross-departmental challenges
- Have a demonstrated track record of managing complex and diverse stakeholder relationships
- Have a demonstrated track record of managing complex project plans
- Understand how to work in multi-disciplinary teams and collaborate to achieve shared outcomes
- Understand the value of evidence & analysis in delivering public service outcomes – and therefore the importance of high-quality data
- Are comfortable changing their approach to respond to emerging issues and risks, while maintaining a strong focus on strategic goals
- Can influence a range of people without direct control or a managerial relationship outside of the BOLD programme
- Have a track record in working with data and data systems
- Are already highly aware of digital ways of working or are willing to get up to speed quickly in understanding the potential (customer centricity, agile methodology, prototyping, automation, etc.)
- Understand and values public service users, and work hard to deliver quantified value for them
Our team is innovative and fast-moving, while being highly collaborative and focused on supporting others to do their best work. We focus on outcomes over process, and we get things done. We change our approach as needed if we see a better way through. We look for do-ers, positive thinkers, and team members that people want to work with and be around.
Details Required In Your Application
We will ask for a CV and a Statement of Suitability (i.e. cover letter) to assess your Experience and your Technical skills. Based on this, we may invite you to interview where we will ask you to deliver a short technical presentation. Details are below.
Experience
You will be asked during the application to submit an anonymised CV, which must be no more than 2 sides of A4. Only applicants who submit this document will be considered for an invite to interview. Please remove all personal information and do not save the file with your name.
Technical
In your Statement of Suitability, please explain why you are the right candidate for these roles, based on the skill requirements below. You will have up to 1000 words to use in your statement. Please try to cover as many of the bullets as possible using work you have completed to demonstrate how you meet each one. You may wish to provide 2 or 3 examples that cover off multiple requirements, or to address each in turn.
All these requirements are important for the job, however we do not expect candidates to be experts in all of them; just give as much evidence as you can for each.
- Persuading stakeholders of the value of working in a data-driven way
- Experience of ensuring analysis and evidence is used effectively to deliver policy or organisational change
- Working with data and data systems, assets and infrastructure
- Working as part of large-scale transformation programmes
- Developing persuasive arguments and business cases to implement a change or transformation in ways of working (ideally data-related)
- Evidence of taking the initiative – developing and shaping own work to tackle a complex problem
- Working in a multi-disciplinary environment and acting as a translator between technical and non-technical teams
- Mapping of data requirements to business needs
- Developing comms packs and/or submissions/presentations to senior audiences, including ministers
Applicants Invited for Interview
You will be required to give a 5-minute presentation at interview. Details of this will be sent to those candidates who are invited for interview.
If you successfully reach the interview stage you will be assessed on a selection of the following behaviours, details of this will be sent to those candidates who are invited for interview:
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Changing & Improving
- Communicating and influencing
- Working Together
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
- Leadership
Please see the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade (Level 4 - Grade 7 and Grade 6 or equivalent):
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf
For Further Information Please Contact:
Charlotte Owen (Head of Tech and Data for the BOLD Programme)
Charotte.Owen1@justice.gov.uk
07929 714235
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