Service Manager - Planning Inspectorate - G7

The Planning Inspectorate is recruiting Service Managers to join our growing Digital Services team as we expand to meet growing demands from our colleagues, government, and our customers. Within this role you’ll be working to help deliver changes to our digital and data services that will change the way the Planning Inspectorate delivers an excellent service for our customers. 

You will be leading a multidisciplinary team, engaging with stakeholders, providing decision making, and managing people, as well as supporting our ongoing digital transformation work to create a more modern Inspectorate.  

You will work closely with the Office of the Chief Digital Information Officer (OCDIO) to ensure successful implementation of understanding and improvement of the service, as well as interfacing with customers and stakeholders of the service and other Service Managers to ensure user needs are met in the most effective way within the Service Network.  

You will be joining a team of highly skilled digital professionals, providing mentoring and guidance as well as setting the standard for excellence. The Service Manager role is as much about leadership as it is delivery. 

Job description

You will be responsible for leading and working collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team, focussed on establishing user needs. As well as this you will be responsible for managing the service and fostering an environment where team members are supported and can come to you for guidance and feedback.        

As the Service Manager, you will provide clear and considered decision making within the team to identify the best technology, solutions and industry standard Agile methodologies and embed and enhance practices across Delivery Management, Product Management and Business Analysis.  

 A typical week in this role will consist of a blend of responsibilities, including:     

  Engaging with users, customers, and stakeholders  

• Analysing and proactively managing change demand and working with the service team to understand problems or changes and making decisions on how best to solve them  
• Managing and coordinating resources to deliver the service user needs  
• Ensuring service outcomes are aligned with service vision and business strategy  
• Publishing measurements for the service as recorded in its service contract and ensuring they are shared appropriately with stakeholders  
• Supporting corporate leadership groups, strategic project teams and change activities through active participation and communication to teams  
• Reviewing and managing relevant risk management, contract management and business continuity procedures appropriately to ensure that delivery of service is assured 

The Planning Inspectorate has a long and proud history in ensuring a fair planning system for England. The work we do has a significant impact on people’s lives, the communities where they live and the economy.

We want our colleagues to be able to work more flexibly and more collaboratively, exploring new and innovative ways to improve the way we provide services.

For further information on the Planning Inspectorate, please visit our careers page at Civil Service Careers

Office Attendance

This role is contractually based at Temple Quay House, Bristol which is currently out of use due to undergoing refurbishment work. In the interim, we have the use of alternative office space in very close proximity to Bristol Temple Meads railway station. We recognise and value the mutual benefits of hybrid working and have a flexible approach to in person attendance, which can vary dependent on the requirements of individual business units - the details of which can be discussed with candidates if invited to attend an interview.

Person specification

We will assess your application against the Essential Criteria and Success Profile elements listed:

Essential Criteria

• Experience of communicating complex concepts in a straightforward way to influence senior stakeholders and customers. 
• Excellent analytical skills, critical thinking and advanced data analysis to get to the root cause of the business issue and understanding how a business operates. 
• Experience analysing and proactively managing business demand for new services or modifications to existing service features or volumes 
• Problem solving mindset, requiring curiosity, tenacity, pragmatism and an open mind that seeks out and evaluates options. 
• Expert knowledge and skills in understanding user needs, eliciting, analysing, documenting and managing requirements using standard tools and techniques, ideally using an Agile framework. 
• Competent in agile software development approaches and ability to enable business agility to support effective use of resources and delivery of value. 
• Experience of leading digital or data teams with an ability to measure and manage performance of teams and individuals ensuring objectives are met. 

 Desirable Criteria

• Relevant degree or professional qualification  

Experience

• See Essential Criteria

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions