Assistant Project Sponsor

East West Rail (EWR) is a major railway delivery programme which looks to deliver a new railway connecting Oxford and Cambridge and intermediary settlements, including Bedford and Milton Keynes. It aims to deliver much-needed east-west transport connections for communities between Oxford and Cambridge, supporting economic growth through enabling housing and better connectivity to jobs within the Oxford-Cambridge region. This improved connectivity will enable people to travel more quickly across the region for work, for education and for leisure.
As Assistant Project Sponsor, you will play a key role in supporting an experienced team of Project Sponsors with the successful delivery of the programme. You will collaborate with the Project Sponsors to ensure there is a robust and reliable schedule for the project, lead on monitoring EWR Co’s progress against the plan and report on milestones, dependencies, risks and issues.
This varied and interesting role provides a fantastic opportunity to develop invaluable project delivery, planning and policy skills whilst working across a range of workloads.
If you would like to find out more about what it's like to work at DfT Rail, please click here.
Your key responsibilities will include:
+ Supporting the delivery of consultations and the necessary planning consents for the scheme, preparing briefings, co-ordinating responses, reporting against the plan and ensuring milestones are met.
+ Drafting briefings, correspondence, and reporting for the programme on behalf of the sponsor team, including interfacing with East West Rail.
+ Supporting EWR Co. to make sure lessons from the programme and other projects are implemented.
+ Working with the team to support external assurance activities, including an Infrastructure & Projects Authority (IPA) review in 2025., When considering your experience, please tailor your CV and Personal Statement (maximum word count 500) to provide evidence of the following:
+ Experience of working collaboratively and building relationships to deliver a business outcome/project.
+ Experience of prioritising multiple workloads to agreed deadlines.
The sift is due to take place from 07/01/2025.
Written exercises are likely to be held on 23/01/2025 and 27/01/2025.
Interviews are likely to be held week commencing 03/02/2025.
We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.
The selection process will be designed specifically for the role. As a result, your assessment will include:
+ an interview and a written exercise
This interview will be conducted online via Teams. Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.
You’re encouraged to become familiar with the role profile, as you may be assessed against any of the criteria recorded within.
Reasonable Adjustments
As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes., 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. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
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).

Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
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Would you relish an opportunity to support a significant project that will help connect towns and support economic growth?
Do you enjoy a varied and interesting workload?
If so, we are looking for a highly motivated individual to join our team, and we would love to hear from you., You will display excellent interpersonal and stakeholder management skills to build positive relationships with internal teams and external partners at all levels.
You will be a confident communicator with the ability to clearly present complex information and reports. You will demonstrate high attention to detail and quality drafting skills to respond to correspondence and produce briefings for senior leaders.
With excellent planning and organisational skills, you will take a proactive approach to monitoring workloads and delivering results in a fast paced and evolving environment.
You will be a team player who enjoys working both independently and collaboratively to deliver results.
You will have the enthusiasm to learn new skills and must either hold or be willing to work towards the Government Project Delivery Accreditation once in role.

A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace, although requirements to attend other locations for official business, or carry out detached duty in another DfT workplace, will also count towards this level of attendance.
Occasional travel may be required to attend meetings / work alongside colleagues in London, Leeds, Birmingham and Milton Keynes.

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
+ Working Together
+ Delivering at Pace
+ Seeing the Big Picture

Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
+ 1. Strategy - 1.1. Policy Context and Purpose - Level 1: Developing
+ 2. Democracy - 2.1. Working with Ministers - Level 1: Developing, Alongside your salary of £34,233, Department for Transport contributes £9,917 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Please note, the above example is based on the National minimum salary. The employer pension contribution will be 28.97% of your specific salary.
Being part of our brilliant Civil Service means you will have access to a wide range of fantastic benefits. We offer generous annual leave, attractive pension options, flexible working, inclusive working environments and much more to support a healthy work/life balance.
Find out more about what it's like working at the Department for Transport.