Freeports Delivery Lead

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

- 288013**Salary**:

- £49,697**Job grade**:

- Grade 7**Contract type**:

- Permanent**Business area**:

- Cities and Local Growth Unit**Type of role**:

- Project Delivery**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
- Belfast, Bristol, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, WolverhamptonAbout the job

**Job summary**:
The role of the team working on Freeports spans from design of the initial allocation process, to supporting local Freeport consortia through the business case process for formal designation and into delivery. The team’s work is collaborative in nature, leading work across both internal and external partners including Freeport consortia (Ports, Local Authorities, landowners and other business/education interests), Devolved Government’s, and across Whitehall departments with responsibility for relevant policy levers.

We have a cadre of eight operational English Freeports and earlier this year we announced a further two Scottish Green Freeports and two Freeports in Wales - which are now in the process of business case development. The benefits of this policy will spread to Northern Ireland and this role will be central in leading the design and delivery of the benefits of the Freeports programme in Northern Ireland.

**Job description**:
As Freeports Delivery Lead you will be responsible for leading a challenging role in the design and delivery of the Freeports programme in Northern Ireland. This will be a high-profile role working with Ministers and leading the development across Governments and Whitehall departments. For example the work will include the development and launch of a programme prospectus, its implementation and assessment process; project assurance; contracting; programme reporting; monitoring and evaluation and internal or external stakeholder management and support.

You will also need to build a strong functional relationship with the Investment Zones team as they embark on the development of another place-based policy within Northern Ireland to ensure alignment and mutual benefit.

You will work with an established team dedicated to the delivery of Freeports in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The team operate with flexibility and will support the delivery of Freeports in all 3 nations.

The key activities will include the following:

- Leading a small team, prioritising Performance and Development conversations, developing a learning culture and developing team skills to deliver high impact programmes.
- Developing and leading effective networks of partners to deliver a complex policy in a highly political environment. This will include working with a variety of partners including Freeports, Devolved Governments, Nation Teams, Territorial Offices and a wide range of external partners, at different stages of the process.
- Embedding strong programme management - scoping, managing/ tracking deliverables, managing risks and resources effectively, and ensuring that accountable decision making is well managed through effective governance.
- Managing rigorous monitoring and reporting regimes to ensure the department has clear oversight of where and how money is being spent, and its impact being able to communicate this to a variety of audiences.
- Working with Ministers, HMT and No10 - providing high quality briefing and up-to-date information based on the latest data and evidence.
- Working closely with Communications colleagues to spot opportunities and manage announcements (at launch, successful bids, other milestones) as well as establishing effective mechanisms for direct communications with applicants and recipients as appropriate.
- Taking a lead on aspects of the wider Freeports team and Directorate priorities to make the team and department a thriving and welcoming place to work and build a career.

**Person specification**:
Given the high-profile nature of the work this is an ideal opportunity for the right person to contribute to a new and exciting area of work delivering on a Governmental and Ministerial area of priority.- Leadership of high-performing teams, through periods of intensity; picking up new tasks and concepts quickly to deliver at pace in a highly-political environment.
- Management of complex programmes, including multiple inter-dependencies and multiple senior stakeholders to deliver effectively.
- The ability to build strong and effective working relationships, with a broad range of internal and external stakeholders, to achieve shared outcomes.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills; delivering communications with concision and clarity, conveying complex information in plain English and ensuring that messages are tailored to suit different audiences (Ministerial, Senior Officials, Business).
- Strong organisational skills and the abilit