As the living, growing home of our national story, The National Archives is already a special place to work. We’re an institution nearly 200 years old with a collection spanning 1,000 years of history. But it’s where we go next that makes things really interesting. In our strategic vision: Archives for Everyone, we set ourselves the challenge of becoming the 21st Century national archive - a different kind of cultural and heritage institution: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial, Disruptive. We won’t become this overnight. It will take time, focus, effort and daring. That’s where you come in. Because we can’t do this without you. Job Overview Salary: £50,489 - £66,110 per annum Job Grade: Band G / Grade 7 Contract type: Permanent Closing date: Tuesday 1st October 2024 at midnight An excellent opportunity to join the Lawmaker service team and contribute your skills in planning, operating and managing an innovative digital service at the heart of government and our democracy. Lawmaker is a shared service for drafting, amending and managing legislation in the UK and devolved nations. Since 2022, The National Archives has provided Lawmaker as a service to over 1,000 users including Clerks and other parliamentary staff from the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Scottish Parliament; Parliamentary counsel and their support staff in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Scottish Government’s Parliamentary Counsel Office; secondary legislation drafters across government; and data re-users (e.g. the legislation.gov.uk publishing system). As the Lawmaker Senior Delivery Manager, you will be accountable for the effective continued delivery of this business-critical service for all users. This is a high impact role: the Lawmaker service often processes urgent, very sensitive, and highly complex legislation, with tight and prescribed deadlines that cannot be missed and is critical in ensuring that our governments and parliaments can deliver their statutory and democratic responsibilities. You will work closely with the Lawmaker Service Owner on service planning and delivery. You will be the key point of contact between the Lawmaker service team and our suppliers who provide significant aspects of the service (including agile development of the Lawmaker application and technical support). You will oversee the support service we provide to users and lead on work to continuously improve it. As part of that, you will oversee the work of the supplier’s Service Desk and technical support teams and be responsible for allocating and managing user support work within the Lawmaker service team. The Lawmaker service continues to grow in terms of the number of users and the types of legislation and jurisdictions it covers. You will support the growth of Lawmaker by facilitating the rollout of the service to new user groups and working with stakeholders to identify training needs and to ensure they are met. You will be responsible for the commercial and financial management of the Lawmaker service, helping to ensure we get best value from our suppliers and our contracts, supporting procurement and managing the collection of contributions from partners, and you will actively contribute to service governance, organising and supporting meetings of the Lawmaker Steering Group which provides overall governance to the service and consists of representatives of each partner organisation. You will work with the Service Owner to ensure the continued security and resilience of the service, maintaining the Lawmaker Security Working Group and its subgroups and overseeing the development and upkeep of the Security Risk Management plan, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans and the service risk register. This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department. A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time. How to apply: To submit your application please click the 'Apply' button on this page. You will be asked to provide details of your work experience and write a personal statement. In your personal statement please explain, using examples, how you meet the essential criteria in the person specification below. You may draw on knowledge, skills, abilities, experience gained from paid work, domestic responsibilities, education, leisure interests and voluntary activities. Please note selection for interview will largely be based on the information you provide in this section. Job Description Job Purpose The Legislation Services team, as part of the Digital Directorate at The National Archives (TNA), is committed to delivering high-quality and user-friendly digital services to diverse audiences. Our services include legislation.gov.uk and Lawmaker. Lawmaker is an innovative shared service for drafting, amending and managing UK and Scottish Bills and statutory instruments. Lawmaker was developed by a partnership of the two Houses of the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (OPC), the Scottish Government’s Parliamentary Counsel Office (PCO) and The National Archives. Since 2022, TNA has provided Lawmaker as a service to over 1,000 users across these organisations and other organisations across government and beyond. Users of the Lawmaker service include Clerks and other parliamentary staff from the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Scottish Parliament; Parliamentary counsel and their support staff in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Scottish Government’s Parliamentary Counsel Office; Secondary legislation drafters across government; and data re-users (including the UK Parliament’s Legislation Application and the legislation.gov.uk publishing system). As the Lawmaker Senior Delivery Manager, you will be accountable for the effective continued delivery of this business-critical service for all users. This is a high impact role. The Lawmaker service often processes urgent, very sensitive, and highly complex legislation, with tight and prescribed deadlines that cannot be missed and is critical in ensuring that our governments and parliaments can deliver their statutory and democratic responsibilities. You will work closely with the Lawmaker Service Owner on service planning, collaborating with internal and external teams and stakeholders. You will maintain and monitor service operating plans and contribute to the service strategy and product roadmap. You will be responsible for analysing and removing blockers to ensure the service is maintained and continually improves, working closely with the rest of the Lawmaker service team and the external suppliers who are responsible for key parts of the Lawmaker service including developing the application and maintaining the infrastructure. You will ensure that Lawmaker users receive excellent support by overseeing the support service we provide and leading work to continuously improve it. As part of that, you will oversee the work of the supplier’s Service Desk and technical support teams and be responsible for allocating and managing user support work within the Lawmaker service team. The Lawmaker service continues to grow in terms of the number of users and the types of legislation and jurisdictions it covers. You will support this growth by facilitating the rollout of the service to new user groups and working with stakeholders to identify training needs and to ensure they are met. You will be responsible for the commercial and financial management of the Lawmaker service, helping to ensure we get best value from our suppliers and our contracts, supporting procurement and managing the collection of contributions from partners. You will actively contribute to service governance, organising and supporting meetings of the Lawmaker Steering Group which provides overall governance to the service and consists of representatives of each partner organisation. You will work with the Service Owner and external suppliers to ensure the continued security and resilience of the service, maintaining the Lawmaker Security Working Group and its subgroups and overseeing the development and upkeep of the Security Risk Management plan, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans and the service risk register. You will report into the Lawmaker Service Owner, who is based at The National Archives. Role and Responsibilities Planning and maintaining delivery momentum As the Lawmaker Senior Delivery Manager you are responsible for the effective delivery of the Lawmaker service. This service is business-critical for governments and parliaments who use Lawmaker to meet tight and often immovable deadlines. You will lead on service planning and on optimising delivery momentum internally across the Lawmaker Service team and externally with suppliers. For example, you will monitor and report on the delivery of the live service to users, monitor the supplier’s service management plans, the delivery of the product roadmap and on the work done in individual development sprints. You will work across internal and external teams to actively tackle impediments, risks and blockers and you will provide timely and appropriate feedback as required. You will identify and challenge processes that are increasingly complex or unnecessarily complicated, supporting external and internal teams to implement new processes if required. You will oversee release management for new versions of Lawmaker and the associated testing to ensure a regular and high quality release schedule is maintained. You will manage any formal change control processes and project manage specific projects as required. You will champion accessibility and best practice in service design and service standards, making sure that accessibility is prioritised appropriately. You will manage the Lawmaker service risk register, ensuring that service risks, including risks to The National Archives as service provider and commercial risks, are noted and monitored and that mitigating action is taken. User support and training You will ensure that Lawmaker users receive excellent support by overseeing the support service we provide and leading work to continuously improve it. You will oversee the work of the supplier’s Service Desk and technical support teams to ensure that user requests are prioritised and responded to in an accurate and timely manner. You will be responsible for allocating and managing user support work within the Lawmaker service team (and in some cases you will provide support directly to users). You will line manage the Senior Support Analyst, setting goals and objectives and managing performance. You will monitor and report on the supplier’s and team’s support performance and facilitate continuous improvement of the support service. You will support the rollout of the service to new user groups, leading on planning and change management, identifying any blockers and issues. You will work with internal and external stakeholders to identify training needs and facilitate the delivery of them. Security and business continuity management You will provide the secretariat to the Lawmaker Security Working Group and subgroups and manage the relationships with these groups and the security services the supplier provides under contract, including that security management plans are kept up to date and that the service is regularly tested. You will report on security risks and mitigations to the Lawmaker Steering Group and the Lawmaker Service Owner. You will ensure that Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans are in place, kept up to date and tested at regular intervals. Financial management You will lead on financial management for the Lawmaker service, working with TNA’s finance team to maintain budget forecasts and payment records, manage purchase orders and monitor and approve supplier invoices. You will also manage the collection of contributions from partners to ensure the service is adequately funded. You will work with The National Archive’s finance teams to maintain budget forecasts, manage purchase orders and payment records, and manage the collection of contributions from partners. Commercial management and governance You will lead on supplier management for Lawmaker, and will be the key operational contact point for external suppliers. This will require managing complex supplier relationships to ensure that Lawmaker gets good value out of its commercial contracts with suppliers. You will manage and monitor supplier performance including the delivery and quality of information and financial management reports, and the assessment of key performance indicators, flagging and managing poor performance. You will be responsible for ensuring that necessary business procedures are followed. You will monitor the hosting of the service and work with external suppliers to achieve best value. You will support procurement activities helping to scope requirements, and in particular identifying gaps and lessons learned. You will actively contribute to service governance, organising and supporting meetings of the Lawmaker Steering Group which provides overall governance to the service and consists of representatives of each partner organisation. You will attend service and contract governance meetings, reporting on performance and delivery, and preparing board papers as required. Agile practices and lifecycle perspective You will be skilled in ensuring that Agile tools and ceremonies are used effectively to deliver the continuous improvement of the Lawmaker service in line with agreed priorities and the product roadmap. You will work closely with the Lawmaker service team to plan and engage with senior stakeholders across governments and parliaments. Working Conditions Normal office environment Display Screen Equipment user Person Specification Essential criteria: Service delivery and planning: Experience of successfully planning and delivering complex digital services in their live phase. Able to demonstrate a high level of skill in planning and organising resources and managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced, high impact technical environment (particularly where significant aspects of the service, including agile development, are provided by external suppliers). Familiarity with the UK Government Service Manual and Technology Code of Practice. Communication and stakeholder management: Able to communicate often complex technical information to non-technical users. Able to use persuasion and influencing skills to foster and maintain key relationships with other teams, contracted suppliers and senior stakeholders. Experience of working with, and supporting, governance structures, including preparing papers and reports. Making process work: Able to operate and improve complex organisational and service processes and to guide others in your team and beyond through change. Able to use service metrics to drive improvements. Understanding of how agile practices and ceremonies fit in the context of delivering a complex digital service in its live phase. User focus: Able to ensure users receive a high quality service built around a high quality product by overseeing or operating processes such as user support, incident management, problem management and release management. Commercial management: Proven experience of supplier management; able to build strong relationships with suppliers to ensure we get high quality outputs and good value from them. Able to use management information to manage and improve supplier performance. Financial management: Experience of setting or influencing budgets and forecasts, monitoring spending, and of proactively managing financial risks and issues. Able to write or input into business cases as required. Desirable criteria: Contract management and procurement: experience of managing contracts with suppliers and public procurement, including performance management and the evaluation of tenders. Cybersecurity and business continuity: experience of effectively managing cybersecurity and business continuity risks for a digital service. Knowledge of the legislative process and of complex document-based workflows: an understanding of how legislation is drafted, amended and published, with experience of systems or services that handle complex structured documents such as legislation. Line management: line management experience, able to set clear objectives and monitor delivery 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 and the Civil Service D&I Strategy. Benefits Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development. Annual leave entitlement of 22 days per calendar year (rising to 25 after the first year, and incrementally to 30 days after six years) and 10½ days public and privilege holidays per annum. Any move to The National Archives 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 at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ ( opens in new window) Reasonable adjustments If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact The National Archives via careersnationalarchives.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs Complete the ‘Reasonable Adjustments’ section of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check. People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks (opens in new window) 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 new window) Working for the Civil Service The Civil Service Code (opens in 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 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. This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative. (opens in new window) Contact point for applicants: Name: The National Archives Recruitment Team Email: careersnationalarchives.gov.uk Further information If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact The National Archives via email: careersnationalarchives.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-complaints/ (opens in new window)