Senior Delivery Manager

Coventry, West Midlands (England), CV1 2WT : Manchester, North West England, M1 2WD : Sheffield, Yorkshire and the Humber, S1 2FJ : London, London (region), SW1P

Job Summary

In the Children and Families digital portfolio, our aim is to support every child and young person to be safer, healthier and happier. We work with Families Group to deliver Manifesto commitments on children’s social care, early years childcare and our important contribution to delivering the Government’s Mission to break down barriers to opportunity.

This is an exciting time to join the portfolio with significant reform programmes underway in both early years and childcare, and children’s social care, which will have a direct impact on the outcomes and wellbeing of children and their families.

Our Diverse And Inclusive Culture Reflects The Society We Live In. This Helps Us To Achieve Better Outcomes For All Our Users. We Work In Multi-disciplinary Teams Using Agile Methods To Innovate And Radically Improve Services That:

• Raise education standards and provide the best start in life for children.
• Support disadvantaged and vulnerable children and young people.
• Drive economic growth.

We are recruiting a Senior Delivery Manager to work in our Children and Families digital delivery portfolio.

In the Children and Families portfolio we work with policy teams to research, design and build services that help families have the best start in life. We have teams at different life-cycle phases across a number of policy areas.

We are looking for a bright, empathetic and persuasive delivery manager with strong interpersonal skills who enjoys working in a fast paced, high profile, agile environment. We are looking for someone who believes that how you work is just as important as what you deliver, who is passionate about agile working, who cares about and has a background in digital delivery.

As a Senior Delivery Manager, you will be accountable for the delivery of complex, high-risk products and services. You will lead and support teams to plan and deliver work and engage senior stakeholders.

Job Responsibilities:

• Build and maintain teams, ensuring they are motivated, collaborating and working well.
• Focus teams on what is most important to the delivery of products and services.
• Identify obstacles and help teams to overcome them.
• Encourage and facilitate continuous improvement of delivery teams.
• Coach and mentor both team members and others to apply the most appropriate Agile and Lean tools and techniques.
• Champion a user-centred approach to ensure products and services meet user needs.
• Actively participate in the agile delivery manager community – learning, sharing knowledge and bringing in good practice.
• Be part of a diverse, inclusive, supportive culture that stimulates innovation and enables high-performing teams to build and sustain quality products and delivery.

Person specification
Essential Criteria:

• Lead teams using Agile practices and ways of working, continuously reflecting on and challenging their effectiveness.
• Optimise the delivery of teams, setting the pace. Effectively manage risks, issues and dependencies across teams and departments.
• Identify and fix issues in team dynamics, choosing the right approaches to drive forward the development of teams.
• Manage expectations of stakeholders at all levels and between organisational, technical and political boundaries, leading discussions about high risk and complexity.
• Demonstrate a significant track record of successfully delivering digital projects or products, leading, planning, coordinating and motivating multidisciplinary teams through different phases of the product lifecycle.
• Advocate for a user-centred approach to delivering products and services, referencing relevant frameworks and approaches such as the GDS Service Standard.
• Excellent communication skills that are adaptable depending on the audience and context with proven ability to create effective collaboration across teams.

Desirable criteria

• Able to negotiate, influence and set budgets in complex environments.
• Challenge and improve disproportionate organisational processes where it impacts the pace of the team. Able to identify what works best for the team and influence positive changes to the organisation.

Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Agile practices
• Planning
• Team dynamics and collaboration
• Maintaining delivery momentum

Alongside your salary of £56,353, Department for Education contributes £16,325 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.

As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK.

You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.

We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.

Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.

Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.

Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.
Key Dates

• Vacancy Close – 27 April 2025
• Sift – likely to take place w/c 28 April 2025
• Interviews – likely to take place w/c 19 May 2025

Application
If you would like to apply for this position, please apply through Civil Service Jobs form by clicking the "apply now" button at the top or bottom of this advert.
You Will Be Asked To Provide Your:

• CV – setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role.
• Statement of Suitability – demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria set out in the advert (no more than 1000 words).

Please note that all communications will be electronic therefore it is vitally important that you check your Civil Service Jobs account regularly, as well as your spam/junk email folder.
Sift
At sift stage, we will assess how your CV and Statement of Suitability align to the essential criteria listed in the advert.

Candidates successful at sift stage will be invited to an interview.

We receive many applications and unfortunately are not able to provide feedback for candidates who aren’t shortlisted.

In the event of a high volume of applications, we will do the initial sift against the following essential criteria:

• Lead teams using Agile practices and ways of working, continuously reflecting on and challenging their effectiveness.
• Optimise the delivery of teams, setting the pace. Effectively manage risks, issues and dependencies across teams and departments.

Interview
The Interview Will Be a 2-part Process:
Part 1: Task which we will send to you prior to the interview and ask you to give a presentation on. This will be assessed against the essential criteria.

Part 2: At interview you will be asked questions to assess your experience in line with the essential criteria listed above. At interview you will be asked questions around the technical skills listed in the advert.

Interviews will be conducted via Microsoft Teams.

If you are invited to interview, please ensure that you have access to this software and that you have your video turned on. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

Other Information
In your application, please don’t include personal information that identifies you.

This means we can recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - it's called name blind recruitment.

Please ensure that you remove from your application, all references to your:

• name/title
• educational institutions
• age
• gender
• email address
• postal address
• phone number
• nationality/immigration status

We understand that you might use AI and other resources for your application; however, please ensure all information you provide is factually accurate, truthful, and original and doesn’t include ideas or work that isn’t your own. This is so that your application is authentically and credibly your own.

We reserve the right to raise the minimum pass mark in the event of a high volume or strong field of candidates.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK from the location options provided and not from overseas.

The government is committed to supporting apprenticeships, enabling people to learn and progress in a role whilst earning. We want to monitor the number of people who have completed apprenticeships who are now applying to progress further in their career and are asking this question to all candidates, on all vacancies. You will be asked a question as part of the application process about any previous apprenticeships you have completed. Your response to this question will not affect your application and it is not a requirement of the role to have completed a previous apprenticeship.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check maybe carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstance some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Department of Education of your intention by emailing Pre-Employment.Checks.DFE@education.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Department for Education do not cover the cost of travel to your interview/assessment unless otherwise stated.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Candidates will be posted in merit order based upon location preference. Where more than one location is advertised you will be asked to state your preferred location.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued.

Terms and conditions of candidates transferring from ALBs and NDPBs
Bodies that are not accredited by the Civil Service Commission and are not able to advertise at Across Government on Civil Service jobs will be treated as external new starters and will come into DfE on modernised terms and conditions with a salary at the band minimum.

Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission but do not have civil service status will be offered modernised terms and will not have continuous service recognised for leave or sickness benefits. Salaries should be offered at band minimum, but there is some flexibility where this would cause a detriment to the individual.

Bodies that are accredited by the Civil Service Commission and do have Civil Service status will be treated as OGD transfers. Staff appointed on lateral transfer will move on to pre-modernised DfE terms (unless they were on modernised terms in their previous organisation). Staff appointed on promotion will move on to modernised DfE terms. Staff will transfer over on their existing salary (on lateral transfer) and any pay above the DfE pay band maximum will be paid as a mark time allowance. Staff moving on promotion will have their salaries calculated using the principles set out in the attached OGD transfer supplementary information.

Reasonable adjustment
If a Person With Disabilities Is Put At a Substantial Disadvantage Compared To a Non-disabled Person, We Have a Duty To Make Reasonable Changes To Our Processes. If You Need a Change To Be Made So That You Can Make Your Application, You Should:

Contact Department of Education via centralrecruitment.operations@education.gov.uk soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Please refer to the attached ‘Reasonable Adjustments Guide 2025 – accessible version’ at the bottom of the advert, for further information.

Childcare Vouchers
Any move to Department for Education (DfE) will mean you will no longer be able to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard 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)
• 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.

Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code 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.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme 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.