Active Travel England - Chief Operating Officer

Leeds or York. Frequent travel to other sites may be required.
As a member of the SCS you will be leading teams working on a hybrid basis. The expectation is that you will spend over the 60% workplace attendance requirement of your time in the workplace. Some travel to other DfT workplaces may be required., Active Travel England (ATE) works to transform the role that cycling and walking plays in our transport system.
Increasing cycling and walking can help tackle some of the most challenging issues we face as a society – improving air quality, combatting climate change, improving health and wellbeing, addressing inequalities and tackling congestion on our roads.
As an Executive Agency, commissioning body and inspectorate, ATE’s role is to improve the planning, design and quality of walking and cycling schemes, ensuring they are accessible for all.
As the Chief Operating Officer (COO) you will be a key member of the agency’s Senior Leadership Team. This is an exciting challenge for someone with excellent project delivery skills and a proven track-record of highly effective, strategic and inspiring leadership.
We are committed to ensuring that we draw candidates from a variety of backgrounds and that the department’s appointments are open to fresh talent, experience and perspectives. That means we need greater diversity in our candidates – whether in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability or background.
Active Travel England is now entering a new phase, one that will see it strengthen and grow. As COO you will have a key role to play in this, ensuring the frameworks are there to succeed. It is a demanding role, but your impact will be transformational; now and in the years to come. We need to get England moving differently and this is your opportunity to lead this transformation.
More information can be found here www.activetravelengland.gov.uk, The COO is a critical leadership role and, along with the Chief Executive and other Executive Committee colleagues, will have responsibility for leading ATE and its people, performance, and overall budget (approx. £250m). More specifically, this role will be accountable for financial oversight, operational excellence and corporate governance and will oversee ATE’s corporate functions, including Finance, Performance, Risk & Assurance, Communications & Estates and Programme Management Office.
We are looking for an outstanding person to lead these functions. The successful candidate will have to be someone with proven experience of providing leadership within a fast-paced and ambitious organisation whilst also managing organisational complexities.
The roles and responsibilities for this position include:
+ Serve as the principal advisor to the CEO on financial matters. Oversee the agency’s budget, manage finances, and safeguard public funds.
+ Lead corporate services, driving efficiency and effectiveness across Finance, Governance, People, Communications, Commercial and performance. Lead change where required and drive continuous improvement.
+ Drive the development of ATE’s future people and estates strategy, ensuring the right people are in place and ensuring the capability and capacity to deliver.
+ Uphold and oversee appropriate governance arrangements and internal controls, ensuring compliance with legal, regulatory, and financial standards.
+ Manage ATE’s day-to-day budget and ensure robust financial systems are in place.
+ Credibly and clearly represent ATE’s interests in discussion with the wider department., The panel will review reports on those longlisted and will select a shortlist of candidates whose applications best demonstrate suitability for the role, by considering the evidence provided against the essential criteria set out in the Personal Specification
Assessment
If you are shortlisted you will be asked to take part in the following assessments :
+ Staff Engagement Exercise - a presentation and Q&A with a representative staff group from across the DfT.
These assessments will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel’s decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.
Informal Discussions
Shortlisted candidates will have the opportunity to speak to Danny Williams prior to the final interview. This is an informal discussion to allow candidates to learn more about the role and is not part of the assessment process.
Interview
You will be asked to attend a panel interview in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification.
The Success Profile Framework will be used to assess and recruit the most suitable candidate. As well as Experience, we will also be using the following behaviours at the interview stage:
+ Leadership
+ Changing and Improving
Further information about Success Profiles can be found here:
Interviews are expected to take place virtually, all shortlisted candidates will be asked to prepare a 5 minute presentation.
Outcome and Feedback
Unfortunately, due to the anticipated number of applicants for this role, we are unable to provide feedback to those not successful at longlist stage.
Expected Timeline
We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates for assessments or interviews. You are therefore asked to note the below timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process, in order to meet the dates given. Please note that these dates may be subject to change.
The anticipated timetable is as follows:
Advert Closing Date: 23:55 9th January 2025
Longlist: 16th January 2025
Shortlist: 30th January 2025
Staff Engagement Exercise: 10th February 2025
Panel Interviews: 17th February onwards
Contact Us
Should candidates like to discuss the role in more detail before submitting an application, please contact:
Josh.irving@sandersonplc.com
IndiaScarlett.Horton@sandersonplc.com
This campaign is being run on behalf of the department by the team at Government Recruitment Service, part of Government Business Services, a central government expert service specialising in the attraction, assessment and recruitment of senior civil servants.
The team is regularly commissioned by departments and other government organisations to deliver end-to-end recruitment for some of society’s most important leadership and specialist positions.
Our work is regulated by the Civil Service Commission where necessary and supported by the equality campaign group Stonewall.
Cabinet Office is a Disability Confident employer.
Reasonable Adjustments
We are committed to making reasonable adjustments in order to support disabled job applicants and ensure that you are not disadvantaged in the recruitment and assessment process.
If you feel that you may need a reasonable adjustment to be made, or you would like to discuss your requirements in more detail, please contact: IndiaScarlett.Horton@sandersonplc.com in the first instance.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
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.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) 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) (opens in a new window)
+ 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 (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) 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.

Diversity and Inclusion
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).

You will need to be able to show, through your application, that you have the professional skills, breadth of experience and personal qualities for this post, as well as the leadership skills to succeed at Deputy Director level in the Senior Civil Service.
The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their experience and skills against the following essential criteria:
+ Proven people leadership skills, with experience of setting the direction of an organisation, building and leading high performing teams, and with a strong background in effective governance, decision-making, internal control, and risk management.
+ Proven leader in formulating, developing, and executing corporate strategy, with expertise in analysing the strategic economic and political landscape to translate complex objectives into actionable plans that drive long-term success.
+ Skilled in leading corporate functions, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and achieving operational excellence through innovative solutions and strategic alignment.
+ Strong experience of managing operational services at pace with an ability to work with stakeholders to make connections between policy intent and real-world situations.
+ Experience of managing large budgets including forecasting, monitoring spend and delivering value for money.
+ Excellent communicator with the ability to challenge and change the way things have been done in the past, take managed risks and drive a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
+ Awareness of project and programme management tools and techniques to deliver desired outcomes, + Candidates will need a Finance qualification (CCAB, CIMA or equivalent) and/or HR qualification (CIPD or equivalent), Candidates will need a Finance qualification (CCAB, CIMA or equivalent) and/or HR qualification (CIPD or equivalent)

£85,000
c£85,000 (Pro rata for part time or Job Share)
Non civil servants will be expected to start at the salary minimum if successful.
For existing Civil Servants, internal candidates the usual pay rules should apply, i.e. if moving on level transfer the salary will remain the same, if successful on promotion the salary will be the higher of either 10% pay increase or the pay band minimum.
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP, Alongside your salary of £85,000, Department for Transport contributes £24,624 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously, and want to enable you to build a really successful career with the Department and wider Civil Service.
It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead. You’ll benefit from a wide range of training and development opportunities, regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you’ll be entitled to a large range of benefits.
Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
The Civil Service values and supports all its employees.
We have strong and pro-active staff networks, special leave policies for hospital appointments, reasonable adjustments put in place for those who need them, and diversity talent programmes to help everyone irrespective of background, to achieve their potential.
Pension
Your pension is a valuable part of your total reward package.
A competitive contributory pension scheme that you can enter as soon as you join where we will make a significant contribution to the cost of your pension; where your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken; and where your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire. Visit Civil Service Pension Scheme for more details. >
Generous Annual Leave and Bank Holiday Allowance
25 days annual leave on entry, increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service (allowance is pro rata for part-time employees). This is in addition to 8 public holidays.
This will be complimented by one further day paid privilege entitlement to mark the King’s Birthday.
(Leave is Pro rata basis for part time/job share)
Staff Wellbeing
+ Flexible working including part-time or term-time working and access to Flexible Working Schemes allowing you to vary your working day as long as you work your total hours.
+ Generous paid maternity and paternity leave which is notably more than the statutory minimum offered by many other employers.
+ Childcare benefits (policy for new employees as of 5 April 2018): The government has introduced the Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme. Working parents can open an online childcare account and for every £8 they pay in, the government adds £2, up to a maximum of £2000 a year for each child or £4000 for a disabled child. Parents then use the funds to pay for registered childcare. Existing employees may be able to continue to claim childcare vouchers, so please check how the policy would work for you here. Any move to the DfT from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments.
+ Onsite facilities Opportunity to use onsite facilities including fitness centres and staff canteens (where applicable).