Birmingham, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, London, Salford

At DSIT were all about improving peoples lives by maximising the potential of science & technology. 

We accelerate innovation, investment and productivity through world-class science, research and development.  

We use technology for good by ensuring new and existing technologies are safely developed and deployed across the UK, with the benefits more widely shared. 

We are driving forward a modern digital government which gives citizens a more satisfying experience and their time back. 

We do all this to enable the Governments 5 national missions: kickstarting economic growth, making Britain a clean energy superpower, taking back our streets, breaking down barriers to opportunity and building an NHS fit for the future. 

Above all, we focus on improving peoples lives. Whether its researching new treatments for disease, developing better batteries, reducing burdens through better public services, keeping children safe online, and much more, outcomes for citizens are at the heart of what we do. 

Our Inclusive Environment  

We offer flexible working benefits, employee well-being support and a great pension. We are enormously proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We support candidates with adjustments throughout our recruitment process. Information about disability confidence and just some examples of the adjustments that you can request can be found in the reasonable adjustment section below.  

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 and the Civil Service D&I Strategy. 

Find Out More 

We regularly run events where you can find out more about the department and tips for the application and interview process. You can sign up for upcoming events here: https://buytickets.at/departmentforsciencetechnologyandinnovation/1025519  

You can also follow our LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/dsitcareers/    

Deputy Director R&D Investment Strategy:

• An established and credible policy professional, the role-holder will drive a priority area for both the Secretary of State and the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, as well as an area of interest to No 10 and HMT.
• The Deputy Director is responsible for overseeing effective Governance of DSITs over £13bn annual R&D investment portfolio, working closely with Partner Organisations including UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to tension that investment across priorities and to respond to emerging pressures and opportunities.
• You will work with colleagues across DSIT to secure a successful Spending Review outcome that supports the Department in driving forward the R&D budget to deliver growth and missions, alongside protecting curiosity led research.
• You will lead policy and implementation of 10-year R&D budgets for key R&D Institutions.
• You will lead DSITs work to support the improved co-ordination of R&D across Whitehall to maximise the overall impact of the x-Government R&D Investment Portfolio.
• This role will contribute to DSITs objectives in particular to accelerate innovation, investment and productivity through world-class science, research and development, aligned to our industrial strategy and to ensure new and existing technology is developed and deployed across Britain with the benefits more widely shared.

Deputy Director R&D Systems Strategy:

• An established and credible policy professional, the role-holder will drive a priority area for both the Secretary of State and the Minister for Science, and an area of interest to No 10 and HMT.
• The Deputy Director is responsible for scoping and delivering reforms to the R&D landscape. You will be responsible for the working with teams across DSIT and Whitehall to create a coherent vision for Science, Research and Innovation.
• You will implement a portfolio management approach to delivery of the Governments R&D priorities. This includes leading the Programme Management Office for the Science Research and Innovation Directorate.
• You will develop a priority projects capability to support portfolio management. You will map progress against implementation of the priority recommendations from recent independent reviews (Nurse, Tickell, Grant, Spin-outs, Willetts).
• You will lead on strategy to secure a UK science and technology organisational landscape that makes the most of public sector science capability and supports government priorities, particularly ensuring the R&D landscape supports the five missions.
• You will lead DSITs groundbreaking work on metascience to embed the science of science within HMGs strategic approach to R&D.
• This role will contribute to DSITs objectives in particular to accelerate innovation, investment and productivity through world-class science, research and development, aligned to our industrial strategy and to ensure new and existing technology is developed and deployed across Britain with the benefits more widely shared.

Essential Criteria:

• Strategic thinking and the ability to navigate a complex and broad policy environment.
• A proven track record of policy development and delivery in Whitehall.
• Experience of leading and empowering high-performing and diverse teams to drive real change.
• Proven experience of providing strategic advice to Ministers and senior officials, including in HM Treasury and No 10, demonstrating acute awareness of the political context.
• The ability to build and maintain a broad set of stakeholder relationships while remaining credible across a range of business, academic and stakeholder groups.
• The ability to collaborate effectively and work across organisational boundaries to achieve mutually desired outcomes.
• Demonstrable evidence of being comfortable with analysis / financial data and experience of being able to help teams explain simply and quickly draw out key conclusions

Skills, experience and qualifications (Desirable):

• Knowledge and experience of R&D policy, investment and strategy
• Experience of working with significant budgets and a demonstrable understanding of public finances including Managing Public Money and the Government fiscal cycle.

In addition: 

Some UK travel will be needed this can be planned in advance and can be shared with senior colleagues.  

Alongside your salary of £76,000, Department for Science, Innovation & Technology contributes £20,520 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an average employer contribution of 27%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
• A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.

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 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.

Job contact :

• Name : SCS Candidate
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]