Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Deputy Director - English Devolution Strategy and Institutions
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Belfast, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Plymouth, Wolverhampton
Job Summary
The English Devolution Strategy and Institutions team in the Local Government, Growth and Communities Group brings together and coordinates the government’s policy agenda on English devolution, including delivery of the mission to extend devolution and establish strategic authorities as robust institutions across England. It works extremely closely with its ‘sister’ division led by a separate DD – English Devolution Powers and Funding, which leads on deepening the devolution framework, advancing the devolved funding offer and overseeing delivery and best practice across the strategic authority sector.
The team works across MHCLG, a range of government departments, HMT and No10 to lead the strategic policy thinking on devolution, with a focus on expanding devolution to new areas, ensuring a strong capacity and capability offer to strategic authorities, putting in place strengthened accountability arrangements, and supporting engagement with strategic authorities and mayors, including through the Mayoral Council.
The team also leads on a range of strategy and policy issues relating to the existing system of devolved institutions, for example on devolved accountability, sectoral capacity and capability, the coterminosity of public services with strategic authority footprints, London devolution, and implementing the provisions in the 2026 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act.
The team is an ambitious, creative, and inclusive group of around 30 FTE, with four direct reports. This is an exciting opportunity to lead a supportive, high-performing team that is delivering on a central plank of the devolution agenda, working on creating real change for places and people across England.
Job Description
- Provide effective, confident, and inclusive leadership to a high-performing team to deliver against ministerial priorities.
- Confidently lead English devolution strategy and institutions policy thinking: working closely and confidently with key stakeholders across government, including No10, HMT, Cabinet Office, DHSC, and the Home Office.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with strategic authority chief executives and their senior teams, engaging with credibility to act as a key point of contact with government.
- Deliver a strengthened accountability system as set out in the 2026 English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act, including secondary legislation and guidance.
- Deliver a new capacity and capability offer to strategic authorities that underpins the more ambitious devolution agenda that this government is delivering.
- Ensure the successful delivery of the quarterly Mayoral Council, chaired by the Secretary of State and attended by all mayors.
- Deliver the secondary legislation and statutory guidance flowing from the 2026 English devolution and Community Empowerment Act.
- Oversight of London devolution policy.
- Oversight of PMO function for cross-cutting work across both English devolution teams.
- Play an enthusiastic role in the wider leadership of the Directorate and DG-led Group, actively promoting diversity and ensuring that the Group is a rewarding and inclusive place to work.
Person Specification
- The role requires someone who can confidently lead their policy agenda, including by influencing and collaborating with a range of stakeholders within central and local government.
- You will be able to use your judgement, drawing in outside expertise as needed to develop your advice.
- You will need to be able to engage effectively across boundaries at a senior level and have proven and credible experience working with ministers or equivalent senior stakeholders.
- You will need to be able to demonstrate excellence in setting strategic direction, helping Ministers to navigate complex policy areas to deliver their priorities.
- You will also be an excellent communicator. You will be able to handle and balance a wide range of relationships, internally and particularly externally, and to be credible with a wide range of senior people in and outside government. You will also have the ability to lead complex work streams, drawing on analysis, insight, and evidence, supported by credible plans, together with a willingness to challenge and innovate.
- The candidates will be experienced and inclusive leaders, able to empower, develop, and inspire their teams to deliver, including under pressure.
- You will need to be confident in coaching your team to deliver this work and be able to provide them with strategic leadership and the support they need from you as a senior leader.
- We particularly welcome candidates from an ethnic minority background and other under-represented groups to apply, as we work to continually improve our ability to represent the places and communities we support through our work. All senior leaders in MHCLG will have a diversity and inclusion objective setting out how they promote diversity and inclusion.
- We are particularly keen to grow our senior presence outside of London and are therefore recruiting this role as outside of London only.
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Essential Criteria
- We are looking for:
- Strong strategic leadership skills with the ability to draw on a range of sources to inform and provide direction to a high profile, cross-cutting agenda, and to drive action based on well-founded evidence.
- Confidence in moving between the big picture and the detail, and an ability to master both.
- Experience of working across multi-disciplinary boundaries utilising policy, finance, and analytical expertise to deliver.
- A strong track record as a confident and collaborative leader, able to set direction for a team and lead through periods of change and pressure. You will be able to support high performance in your team, whilst remaining inclusive and empowering.
- Strong influencing skills, including the ability to build, nurture, and maintain relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, inside and outside of government (including in local government and the think tank community).
- Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to confidently brief ministers and senior officials on complex policy issues.
- Understanding of the local growth and devolution policy landscape.
Salary
- Alongside your salary of £81,000, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £23,465 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
Artificial Intelligence
- Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate, and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
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Selection Process Details
How to Apply
- To apply you will need to submit a CV and Statement of Suitability via the Be Applied link. Your CV (up to two pages) should set out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years. Your Statement of Suitability (up to two pages) should explain how your personal skills, qualities, and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential and desirable criteria for the role.
Equal Opportunities
- We encourage candidates to complete the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Data via Be Applied. The data will be treated in the strictest confidence and used for monitoring and statistical purposes only.
Interview Schemes
- MHCLG is a Disability Confident employer and is committed to protecting and promoting the physical and mental health of all colleagues and applicants. We also operate the Great Place to Work for Veterans and Redeployment schemes. Applicants applying under these schemes who meet the essential criteria, will be invited to interview.
The Panel
- Will Davis– Hiring Manager and Director, Sarah Barrett.
- Additionally, the panel may be joined by one of our staff representatives from a pool of volunteers as part of our commitments to diversity and inclusion.
Shortlist
- Applications will be sifted after the closing date and shortlisted candidates will be invited to the next phase of assessment and interview. Your CV and Statement of Suitability will be assessed against the essential criteria, these will also be used to form the basis of the panel’s final interview questions. Desirable criteria will only be used to determine the merit order of candidates who rank evenly against the essential criteria.
Assessment
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Shortlisted candidates may be invited to attend a Staff Engagement Panel, designed to provide insight into how you engage and interact with your team. Feedback from the session is passed to the panel for consideration alongside your final interview.
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Candidates may also be invited to meet with a Senior Stakeholder. This is not a formal part of selection, but an informal chance to find out more about the role and organisation.
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Shortlisted candidates may also be invited to give a short presentation or complete an exercise at interviews - further details will be provided when invited to interview.
Feedback
- This will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Expected Timeline
- Advert closes: 02/08/2026
- Shortlisting: W/C 03/08/2026
- Assessments: W/C 10/08/2026
- Interviews: W/C 17/08/2026
Please note that we try to offer flexibility where possible, but it may not always be possible to offer alternative interview dates.
Duration
- This role is advertised on a Fixed Term Appointment or Secondment for 9-12 months. Should you be an existing Civil Servant or Secondee, you will return to your home department/organisation after the role concludes.
Salary
- For external appointments, remuneration for this role is advertised at £81,000 pa plus a bonus opportunity depending on performance (within the
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