Deputy Director Hydrogen Strategy & Portfolio

The Hydrogen & Industrial Carbon Capture (HICC) Directorate is leading an expanding programme to deliver low carbon hydrogen and industrial carbon capture as key planks of the Government's approach to achieving Energy Security and Net Zero.
Hydrogen is one of a handful of new, low carbon solutions that will be critical for the UK’s energy security and transition to net zero. As part of a deeply decarbonised, deeply renewable energy system, low carbon hydrogen could be a versatile replacement for high-carbon fossil fuels used today – helping to bring down emissions and provide flexible energy for power, industry, transport and potentially heating. Industrial carbon capture will be critical to decarbonise vital UK industrial sectors and forms an important element of the Government’s £20 billion Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) Programme.
The Hydrogen Strategy & Portfolio team coordinates and manages or supports the delivery of the UK’s Hydrogen Strategy and associated programmes from across the directorate to deliver the strategy, including the £240 million Net Zero Hydrogen Fund, electrolytic Hydrogen Allocation Rounds (the first of which has announced contracts supported by over £2 billion from government), Hydrogen Transport & Storage allocation, negotiations with CCUS-enabled hydrogen and industrial carbon capture projects as well at cross cutting policy to support the development of the UK hydrogen economy such as standards and certification, market and regulatory frameworks, and development of UK hydrogen skills and supply chains.
The team is multidisciplinary in nature, bringing together strategy, policy and project delivery. It is made up of policy, communications and project delivery professionals who lead the Directorate’s strategy, briefing and correspondence, strategic comms and engagement, governance, planning, risk management, finance and resource management, and provide PMO support to policy and delivery teams across the HICC Directorate. (To note, the exact nature and remit of the role(s) may change slightly to take account of business need.
We are a friendly, inclusive and motivated team and our work is grounded in a multidisciplinary, cross-cutting approach working closely with teams across DESNZ and government, and with a range of industry partners. We place high value on diversity and inclusion and encourage candidates from a range of backgrounds to apply., As Deputy Director, Hydrogen Strategy & Portfolio Delivery, you will be expected to:
+ Lead a team of 40-45 FTE and directly line manage 3-4 Grade 6s, building and maintaining strong relationships with other senior leaders and teams across HICC and DESNZ, wider government and with key external stakeholders. You will regularly represent HICC and its work in meetings with Ministers, senior departmental leadership and with senior external stakeholders, including on behalf of the HICC Co-Directors and EIG DG.
+ Oversee and ensure the implementation of the UK Hydrogen Strategy and its UK Hydrogen Economy Roadmap, including through publishing twice-yearly delivery progress updates and regular internal reporting of progress against commitments and deliverables set out in the 2021 Hydrogen Strategy, 2022 British Energy Security Strategy and 2023 Powering Up Britain Plan.
+ Lead work to refine and update the strategy, to keep pace with internal and external developments, and ensure UK retains its place in the leading pack for hydrogen internationally.
+ Oversee the secretariat for the Hydrogen Delivery Council, co-chaired by Departmental ministers and a senior industry representative. Maintain oversight and drive delivery of the Council’s two-year work plan across its six working groups.
+ Oversee the hydrogen briefing hub, which manages a significant volume of briefing and correspondence on hydrogen to an exceptionally high standard and to time.
+ Manage strategic communications and engagement for the HICC Directorate, including through supporting major publications and announcements over the course of the year.
+ Oversee governance of the hydrogen sub-portfolio, including through managing delivery of regular high-quality DG and Director level governance boards and supporting documents. You will ensure that governance processes and structures are both proportionate and robust, and evolve as needed over the delivery life cycle of HICC’s hydrogen policy and projects.
+ Oversee planning and risk management for the hydrogen sub-portfolio, across a complex and interdependent set of hydrogen programmes and projects – ensuring robust yet proportionate processes are in place to support senior decision-making and effective delivery, while avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy or process.
+ Oversee all finance and resource management for HICC Directorate, including management of contracts with external advisors, staff resource and budget management, and leading on all spending-related activity including business planning and spending review processes.
+ Oversee the HICC Project Management Office (PMO) which provides high-quality PMO support to policy and project delivery teams across HICC. This includes responsibility for planning, scheduling, risk and issue management, dependency management, resource management, assurance, benefits management, reporting and governance across HICC projects and programmes, in line with HMG project delivery frameworks and standards including the Project Delivery Functional Standard.
The exact nature and remit of the role(s) may change slightly to take account of business need.

Person specification
We will be looking for you to show that you can:
+ Confidently lead and manage – you will be an outstanding leader and manager with a track record of developing diverse, inclusive, high-performing teams. You will demonstrate how you support individuals to develop to their full potential and sustain inspiring, confident leadership in a fast moving and high-profile policy area.
+ Manage complex and multiple areas of work at pace – you will be experienced in driving progress across a range of complex and interdependent areas, delivering against milestones, and responding to changes in priorities as part of a supportive team environment.
+ Set vision and direction – you will be politically astute and able to think strategically across a complex and emerging system, clearly identifying decision and delivery pathways and translating strategic insights into practical action. You’ll bring a fresh and innovative approach to your work, creating opportunities to drive progress including through others, inside and beyond Government.
+ Build and maintain strong collaborative relationships – you will be comfortable working across boundaries with a track record of making rapid progress and delivering results through a broad network of internal and external stakeholders. You will build strong and effective relationships that reflect understanding of diverse motivations, provide challenge to orthodoxy, and learn from experience and ideas of others.
+ Persuasively influence others within and outside government – you will be an excellent communicator, skilled at representing the UK Government position and able to present complex ideas and issues clearly to all levels and audiences, using a range of communication methods.
+ Demonstrate sound judgement and decision-making – you will be confident working with, and developing, evidence and using it to inform strategy. You will personally be comfortable working with analysis and explaining its implications clearly to Ministers.
+ Be committed to your own development and that of your team, and to ensuring personal and team resilience and wellbeing. You will actively contribute to building and maintaining a friendly, fun, supportive and inclusive wider team culture.

Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
+ Leadership
+ Seeing the Big Picture
+ Communicating and Influencing
+ Delivering at Pace, 1. A CV setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role, relevant achievements in recent posts, together with reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
2. A Statement of Suitability (no more than 1,000 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the person specification.
3. Shortlisted candidates may be invited to undertake a series of psychometric assessments including a Staff Engagement Exercise (SEE) as part of the recruitment process prior to the final interview. This assessment will not result in a ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ decision. Rather it is designed to support the panels decision making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview.
4. Final Interview which will include a presentation exercise. Full details will be shared with shortlisted candidates nearer the time.
For further information on the application process and an overview on what to expect, please visit the Civil Service Careers website.
Anticipated Timeline
Candidates are asked to note the timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process. The anticipated timetable is as follows:
Advert Closing Date: 23:55, 30th September 2024
Shortlist Announcement: w/c 14th October 2024
Assessment: w/c 21st October 2024
Interview: w/c 4th November 2024, Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.
Any move to the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
DESNZ does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).
DESNZ cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DESNZ holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.
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)

Alongside your salary of £75,000, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £20,250 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 Energy Security and Net Zero 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.
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period. Senior Civil Servant (SCS) staff are expected to aim for closer to 60% of the time at an office or non-home based location over the accounting period.