SEO Operational Leaders in Universal Credit (UC) are accountable for creating an environment to support the flexible effective personalised delivery of customer services, quality and performance across the site/geographical cluster. They provide senior management leadership and effective use of resource to ensure performance targets and customer objectives are met. They will drive people engagement across their site/cluster, setting high standards for people leadership throughout the business, and personally exemplifying one customer, one business behaviours. Provide transformational leadership to the site/cluster and beyond - inspiring colleagues through difficult situations, transforming performance and building high performing teams. SEO Leaders work collaboratively with One Service, wider DWP, other Government Departments and external partners and providers to support the achievement of the Department for Work and Pension (DWP) objectives. Person specification Provide visible and effective leadership through regular site visits taking a personal lead in engaging with and communicating key messages and implementing corporate changes. Motivate and encourage teams to operate flexibly and collaboratively, seeking feedback, listening and acting on this, setting performance standards, promoting innovation, and personalising services for our customers. Contribute to people planning activities ensuring appropriate and effective deployment of people and resources within and between sites. Accountable for the management of performance within their command, undertaking regular face-to-face performance reviews with their direct reports, identifying risks to performance achievement and driving forward continuous improvement. Develop a holistic grasp of all customer and claimant types enabling to lead, design and manage new and future business roles and processes. Build capability by personally coaching, mentoring, and monitoring colleagues at all grades on a variety of procedural and leadership skills, supporting quality of the face-to-face/telephony and the end-to-end customer experience.. To use knowledge to identify gaps in training/learning products, and working with the L&D community to improve/develop. Ensure all security matters are dealt with promptly and sensitively, in line with DWP policies and procedures. Essential Criteria You have strong and effective leadership experience with an ability to communicate with clarity, conviction and enthusiasm with colleagues, partners and stakeholders to drive positive outcomes. You have experience and knowledge of leading diverse teams through effective coaching and mentoring to improve service delivery and achievement of stretching business objectives. You are capable of delivering performance improvement through proactive management of people and processes and ensuring compliance with performance management policies, procedures whilst demonstrating resilience in overcoming difficulties by taking ownership for resolving issues. You will actively promote equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, demonstrating the DWP values with support and care for colleagues and creating opportunities for all. Contribute to people planning activities ensuring appropriate and effective deployment of people and resources within and between sites. Accountable for the management of performance within their command, undertaking regular face-to-face performance reviews with their direct reports, identifying risks to performance achievement and driving forward continuous improvement. Behaviours We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: Leadership Managing a Quality Service Working Together Communicating and Influencing Benefits Alongside your salary of 42,614, Department for Work and Pensions contributes 12,345 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes: Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours. Generous annual leave at least 23 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (prorata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave. Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme. Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly). Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 years continuous service. Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes. An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Womens Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more. Things you need to know Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience. Some need-to-know information. How to Apply, Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk) provides advice and tips on applying for roles in the Civil Service Stages for applying. After submission of the first stage of your application, you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Management Judgement test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final written stage of the application. The final written stage includes a CV and 1250 word personal statement.Your Personal Statement of no more than 1250 words should describe your skills, experience and knowledge against the essential criteria listed above. Please complete the online test as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the test and written application is 23:55 on 11 March 2025. If you fail to complete the online test and written application before the deadline your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The test is administered online and accessed via the Civil Service Jobs website. Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance between 4:00pm and 7:00pm on Saturday 1st March and Sunday 9th March. There will be up to 1 hour during this time where candidates will not be able to access tests. All online tests will be affected. Impact for candidates Candidates who are taking a test when the downtime starts will have their test paused. They will be able to pick up where they left off after the downtime. They can do this by accessing the test again from their application centre. Candidates will not be able to launch new tests during the downtime. As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form. The CV is an online tool accessed through Civil Service Jobs and there is no requirement to upload your personal CV. Our CV element is short, and allows an initial check of eligibility so please put the main content of your evidence and skills in your Personal Statement. Evidence of how you have met the Essential Criteria and your suitability for the role needs to be included in your Personal Statement. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. You may choose to address each criterion separately, however, one narrative example may cover and evidence several Essential Criteria. You may not be able to meet all the Essential Criteria, but please ensure you provide as much evidence as you can to allow us to assess your skills, knowledge, and experience. Share with us what makes you suited to this role. We would like to find out what you can do, the skills you hold and the life experience or passion that you have that could be aligned to the Essential Criteria. Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished and answered all the relevant questions. Written Sift We will assess and score your Personal Statement on the essentialcriteria as shown in the advert. Please note if high application volumes are received, we may choose to invite all those who pass the skills test straight to interview and dispense with the sift stage. We may also raise the benchmark required on the test score. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards. The evidence you provide must relate to your own experiences. If evidence of plagiarism, or sharing of questions, information or answers throughout any part of the selection process is found, your application will be withdrawn. Examples of plagiarism can include: Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own Copying content from an online/published source We recognise that AI may be helpful when applying for this role, but it is important to use it in the right way. Read our guide DWP AI Candidate Guide, Civil Service Careers on how to make the best use of GenAI while ensuring your application remains authentic and effective. The interview process: This will consist of a live MS Teams interview which will last approximately 40 to 45 minutes. This will be a blended interview assessing a mixture of behaviours and strengths as detailed in Success Profiles. To help you prepare and settle into the interview you will be sent the behaviour questions 5 days prior to your interview. These questions should be treated as confidential and should not be shared. The Leadership question will be a five minute presentation. No visual aids are to be used for this presentation and IT will not be required. We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone is valued and has a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this search: Equality and diversity - Department for Work and Pensions - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Sift and Interview dates: Sift Period 05/03/25 - 14/03/25 Interviews 31/03/25 - 04/04/25 Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished and answered all the relevant questions. If you receive an invite to interview you will need to access the system and book yourself an interview slot. Arrangements for interviews will be advised at a later date and they will be conducted via MS Teams live video, instructions will be issued with your interview invite. The above interview dates may change depending on the numbers involved; however, candidates invited to interview will be given at least five working days notice. If you withdraw your application at any stage it will not be progressed any further. All communications will be electronic therefore it is vitally important that you check your Civil Service Jobs site regularly. After the interview Successful candidates will be posted in merit order. When posting every effort will be made to post people to one of their preferred locations. However, there is no guarantee that there will be a vacancy at this location. During initial posting we will not offer people a post in a location that they have not selected. If you are placed on a reserve list, you may be offered a post at a later date that is not in one of your preferred locations or a location stated in the original advert. Further Information Find out more about Working for DWP A reserve list may be held for a period of 3 months from which further appointments can be made. The reserve list may be used to offer future vacancies which arise in the South East and South West and across the wider DWP network. Any such offers would be made in strict merit order and the location and job role would be fully explained. You may be placed on the reserve list if your application is successful, but we cannot immediately offer you a post, please note: If you are offered the role you applied for, in a location you have expressed a preference for, and you decline the offer or are unable to take up post within a reasonable timeframe you will be withdrawn from the campaign and removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances. If DWP makes an offer of an alternative role or location to that which you originally applied for, and you decline that offer, you will be able to remain on the reserve list. Note - Exceptional circumstances could be when a candidate has requested a contractual Part Time Working Pattern and this pattern cannot be accommodated in the initial role offered or in cases of serious ill health. Candidates should note that if successful in this campaign, you will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of 18 months before applying for any other lateral moves within DWP. Any move to DWP 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 here If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grscabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. 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 applicants 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. Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing. The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action. Reasonable Adjustment At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via DWPRecruitment.grscabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the Reasonable Adjustments section in the Additional requirements page 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 youre deaf, a Language Service Professional. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section. 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) .