Home > Roles recruiting > Associate Director of Partnerships and Communications
G6 £62,122 - £74,091 per annum
Associate Director of Partnerships and Communications
Welcome letter
Thank you for your interest in the position of Associate Director of Partnerships and Communications at the Disclosure and Barring Service.
This is a high-profile role within DBS that is critical to achieving our vision of making recruitment safer. You will be part of a senior team leading significant change over the next two years. You will be responsible for shaping Partnerships and Communications strategies for DBS, and building a centre of excellence to help us make recruitment safer.
You will adopt proactive approaches to partnering and influencing across many sectors, developing relationships with new and existing partners, and acting as an ambassador for DBS. You will help us develop the skills of our workforce to successfully collaborate and partner with other organisations. You will shape our approach to strategic communications, ensuring external and internal alignment to our core strategic narrative, and that our communication is transparent and inclusive for customers and staff. You will foster and maintain a customer-focused ethos in the Unit, with an emphasis on building capacity, people and technology capabilities, and supporting staff development and career pathways.
I am looking for someone who has wide experience of developing partnerships that have demonstrable outcomes on delivery of public services and who is comfortable working with a variety of partners across different sectors. You will need to be a strategic thinker, with strong communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills. You will have a ‘can do’ attitude, and a communication style and philosophy that promotes the DBS values of working together, acting with integrity, and pursuing excellence. If you currently work at a senior level in an environment where partnerships and strategic communications are critical to successful delivery and would like to nurture productive relationships across a complex landscape to help us safeguard and protect people in society, I would welcome your application.
Dr Natalie Benton
Executive Director of Strategy and Performance at DBS
Job description
Directorate Strategy and Performance
Location Liverpool or Darlington
Reports to Executive Director of Strategy and Performance
Line Management Yes
Security Clearance Standard DBS Vetting
Background
The DBS was established as a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) under the Protection of Freedoms Act (PoFA) 2012. The DBS provides access to criminal records information through its disclosure service for England and Wales and makes independent Barring decisions (for England, Wales and Northern Ireland) about people who have harmed, or where there is considered to be a risk of harm, to a child or vulnerable person within the workplace.
Job purpose
The Strategy and Performance Directorate is a new directorate bringing together three core functions that are critical to achievement of the outcomes in the DBS Strategy 2020-25. These are: Strategy, Planning and Policy; Partnerships and Communications; Performance and Insight. The Directorate is undergoing significant change and this role will require the Associate Director of Partnerships and Communications to play an active and high-profile role in shaping Partnerships and Communications delivery within the DBS, with the aim of building a centre of excellence for the DBS to use to support achievement of its strategic priorities. They will be an ambassador for DBS, developing networks and relationships with a wide range of new and existing partners, and helping others in DBS to develop the skills to successfully collaborate and partner with other organisations.
The Associate Director of Partnerships and Communications will lead the newly formed Partnerships and Communications Unit, which includes the following G7 led teams:
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Partnerships Team (including Regional Outreach and Partnerships development)
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Communications Team (including Internal Communications, External Communications, Strategic Communications, and Editorial and Design).
They will adopt a proactive partnership building approach, seeking out opportunities to influence in the safeguarding landscape, and building strong, professional relationships with partners to deliver the DBS Partnerships Strategic Plan and ensure the potential of the Regional Outreach Model is realised. They will design, deliver and commission evaluation of relevant interventions to ensure buy-in and enhance DBS’s profile, pivoting to DBS priorities as they emerge.
They will deliver the Strategic Communications Plan for the DBS, ensuring the DBS has an effective communications function, which is aligned with strategic objectives and drives business performance and relationship building. They will lead activity in support of DBS’s external communications objectives, including partnership engagement and use of digital media to grow our brand and build our profile in the safeguarding landscape. They will foster and maintain a customer-focused team ethos, with an emphasis on building capacity, and people and technology capabilities, supporting staff development and career pathways.
Key responsibilities
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Lead the Partnerships and Communications Unit, which comprises 2 x G7, 7 x SEO, 19 x HEO, 6 x EO, and 1 x AO. You will directly line manage the G7s in the Unit, ensuring an effective service is delivered for DBS and external customers, and quality assuring output to drive high standards.
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Empower the Unit in playing its important part in delivering the DBS Strategy 2020-25, setting aims and objectives, taking decisions on strategy for delivery and promoting a positive culture of collaborative working.
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Provide clear, authoritative strategic advice to the Executive Director of Strategy and Performance and DBS Strategic Leadership Team, including in dealing with public relations issues.
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Build ongoing relationships with key stakeholders and partners to gather intelligence and build awareness of the overall context for DBS partnerships and communications activity.
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Support the consolidation of the new Unit and Directorate structure, developing and embedding governance and ways of working to support efforts across DBS directorates, establishing how the business area compares to customer service expectations and industry best practice and identifying necessary improvements.
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Direct and lead the management of strategic communications and partnership activity across the entire DBS remit, working collaboratively across the organisation, including planning, identification of risks and issues and horizon scanning, to enhance DBS's profile and to ensure activities promote positive stakeholder and consumer engagement and experience.
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Foster and maintain a positive team ethos in support of #OneDBS, with an emphasis on innovation, building capability, prioritising development, and timely and constructive feedback.
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Draw on organisational insight to advise leaders on targeted employee communication strategies and actions to improve employee engagement.
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Ensure the technology capabilities required to deliver an effective service are in place and that they keep pace with future developments, including the development of a new DBS website and intranet.
Corporate responsibilities
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Support the Executive Director of Strategy and Performance in their role as a member of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), assisting them in their responsibility for leading the organisation.
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Support the Executive Director of Strategy and Performance by engaging in and helping to drive change as required.
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Support the Executive Director of Strategy and Performance in their dealings with Board and its committees as required.
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Member of the DBS wider Leadership Team, specifically contributing to development and delivery of business opportunities, organisational development, and value for money.
Reports
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Executive Director of Strategy of Performance
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Member of the Strategy and Performance Management Team
Rider clause
This is an outline of duties and responsibilities. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list and may change from time to time to meet the changing needs of the DBS.
Key relationships
The post holder will be required to establish and maintain strong, positive and effective working relationships with key stakeholders including:
External
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DBS Partners
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DBS Stakeholders
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DBS Customers
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Other government departments
Internal
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DBS Senior Management
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Employee engagement and representative groups
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Strategy and Performance Directorate colleagues
Confidentiality
As a Public Servant, you have a duty to protect official information entrusted to you. You must not give another person or organisation official or confidential information concerning DBS’ business affairs, internal processes or trade secrets to which you have access during the course of your employment. This restriction also applies after you have left the organisation.
Equal Opportunities
Comply with the DBS’s equal opportunities policies and procedures showing an understanding of and commitment to diversity, and how it applies to this role.
Health and Safety
Complying with the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (and associated legislation); to take reasonable care of yourself and others, including those employees under your direction at work.
Person specification
Qualifications
Desirable
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Membership of a relevant professional body, for example, CIPR, CMI.
Experience
Essential
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Minimum of 5 years’ experience working at a senior level in an environment where partnerships are critical to successful delivery.
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Strong experience of building and nurturing productive collaborative relationships across a broad and complex landscape, commanding the confidence of internal and external stakeholders and partners.
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Experience of developing, coaching and leading other senior leaders to achieve collaboration and partnering objectives.
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Previous significant experience in a Head of Communications role or a role in which strategic communications and/or external affairs formed a large component of the duties.
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Excellent leadership skills, with experience of leading others (beyond line management responsibility) to deliver successful large programmes of work within and beyond organisational boundaries.
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Experience of successfully introducing new website/intranet solutions
Desirable
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Previous experience in the area of safeguarding.
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Previous experience working at a senior level with relevant partners, e.g., NHS, academia, government, police, commercial suppliers.
Skills and Personal Qualities
Essential
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The ability to manage priorities, set direction and articulate a clear vision of success, thinking strategically to support delivery of the DBS Strategy 2020-25 and safeguarding priorities.
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Strong communication, negotiation and interpersonal skills, including the ability to craft a written strategic narrative.
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The ability to negotiate difficult and controversial issues across organisational boundaries.
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A communication style and philosophy that promotes DBS values and instils a ‘can do’ culture throughout the organisation.
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A strong track record of achieving strategic communications and/or marketing objectives, including successfully delivering or contributing to campaigns for high profile, significant projects.
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Familiarity with the Government’s Modern Communications Operating Model.
Desirable
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Familiarity with Government Digital Service Standard.
Behaviours
The Civil Service has defined a set of behaviours that, when demonstrated, are associated with job success. For this role you should demonstrate the following Civil Service Behaviours:
Setting Direction
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Leadership
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Seeing the bigger picture
Engaging People
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Communicating and influencing
Delivering Results
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Delivering at pace
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Managing a quality service
Success profiles
During the application for this role, we will be using the new Civil Service Success Profiles.
You may find it helpful to read through Success Profiles online, where you can find various links which sets out the five elements of the Success profile: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles
