Head of Planning, Housing

**Details**:
**Reference number**:

- 357777**Salary**:

- £51,997- £51,997 (National) £56,844 (London)**Job grade**:

- Grade 7**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- DFT - Decarbonisation, Technology & Strategy Group (DTS) - Economy, Union and Levelling Up**Type of role**:

- Analytical
- Economist
- Strategy**Working pattern**:

- Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time**Number of jobs available**:

- 1Contents

Location

About the job

**Benefits**:
Things you need to know

Location
- Birmingham, Leeds, LondonAbout the job

**Job summary**:
Do you want to make the case for championing the role of planning, housing and transport in the UK economy?

Do you enjoy working with a range of stakeholders from policy colleagues, devolved administrations, other government departments and senior partners?

Can you high deliver quality analysis to resolve complex, high-profile and contentious questions?

If so, we’d love to hear from you

**Job description**:
We have a fantastic opportunity to lead producing analysis within the Economy, Union & Levelling Up (EULU) Directorate on planning, housing and transport and Union Connectivity. EULU covers a high-profile portfolio delivering on the Department for Transport’s strategic priority to ‘Grow and Level Up the Economy’. Sitting within the, Technology & Strategy Group, the Directorate is a focal point for cross-cutting work that touches all the Department’s policy areas.

The role will suit someone comfortable with engaging with analysts and policy colleagues across a range of high-profile policy issues. An able analyst with experience of juggling competing demands, you should be comfortable working collaboratively across team boundaries to build strong relationships that support your delivery objectives. You will have a strong professional background with experience of developing analysis to support policy making.

**Responsibilities include but are not limited to**:

- Building the department’s understanding of the impact of the impact of integrated land use and transport on growth.
- Reviewing and providing input into business cases around housing and development issues working alongside Homes England, DLUHC, and TfL and other organisations.
- Bringing together analysis on housing and transport across DfT and forging strong working relationships with analysts in Transport Appraisal and Strategic Modelling (TASM), and Local transport teams.
- Working with devolved administrations, and other key DfT and external stakeholders to understand how to improve connectivity in UK regions and improve UK-wide data to drive better policy making and analysis.
- Working with academics to expand the evidence base around the key policy areas and complex issues like wider environmental impacts including planning, landscape and biodiversity.
- Line management responsibility for one Assistant Economist.

**For further information, please see the attached Role Profile**

**Person specification**:
**About you**:
You will demonstrate strong analytical expertise and a track record of producing high quality analytical work and display the ability to explain complex issues clearly, concisely to influence policy colleagues and senior stakeholders.

You will display excellent interpersonal skills to build strong relationships across DfT and other government departments. You will have strong problem-solving and influencing skills to help broker solutions.

You will have strong organisational skills; able to not only plan but also reassess workloads and discuss priorities if situations change or you face conflicting demands. You will be able to identify risks, issues and opportunities; the initiative to act on these and the judgement to decide when to escalate.

To be successful in this role you will have the following experience:

- Building and maintaining productive working relationships with key organisations and external senior stakeholders.
- Working collaboratively and creatively to demonstrate analysis.
- Being a trusted advisor to senior officials/executives.
- Communicating clearly, honestly and persuasively with your team, colleagues and stakeholders.
- Developing and managing ways of measuring the quality and impact of your engagement.
- Drawing together and presenting reasonable conclusions from a wide range of incomplete and complex evidence and data - able to act or decide even when details are not clear.
- Communicating complex evidence with clarity and authority to influence decisions and promote the value of analysis in decision making.

**Additional Information**:
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.

There may be occasions where you will be required to travel to other DfT offices and attend meetings and visits around th