The Northern Ireland Civil Service has launched a campaign to recruit up to four permanent secretaries, with salaries for the roles starting at nearly £150,000.
The NICS is looking to fill “up to” four perm sec vacancies at The Executive Office and Northern Ireland’s communities, education and infrastructure departments.
The perm secs will earn between £146,469 and £163,267, with a civil service pension employer contribution of 34.2%.
They will act as their departments’ most senior policy adviser to their ministers as well as helping to “shape and steer” strategic policy development and implementation.
They will be responsible for ensuring strategic risks are identified and managed, and shared with ministers where appropriate.
And they will be accountable as principal accounting officers to the Northern Ireland Assembly via the devolved Public Accounts Committee.
They will also contribute to the collective leadership and management of the NICS as an executive member of the NICS Board.
In a foreword to the candidate pack for the roles, NICS head Jayne Brady said the new perm secs will be joining the civil service at a “significant time in Northern Ireland”.
“We have an ambitious Programme for Government, an upcoming multi-year budget and a civil service determined to deliver ministerial priorities,” she said.
Each of the four roles on offer comes with the responsibility of “leading large teams, managing significant budgets, shaping policy and driving service delivery whilst not losing focus of making a real positive difference to people’s lives,” Brady said.
“These roles require leaders with a track record of performance who combine strategic acumen with empathy, resilience with collaboration, and innovation with accountability,” she added.
“If you have a strong sense of public purpose and are energised by challenges, I encourage you to explore these opportunities and consider how your leadership could accelerate progress across Northern Ireland.”
Applicants must demonstrate that they have experience successfully leading and implementing “transformative change programmes within complex public or private sector environments, as well as managing large and diverse teams in a way that fosters a “culture of inclusion, collaboration, and high performance within and across organisational boundaries”.
They must also have experience in strategic planning and execution at senior level within large organisations, “adeptly navigating complexity to achieve long-term objectives in politically or operationally challenging contexts” and demonstrate a strong track record in managing resources effectively.
The job ad notes that the NICS reserves the right to allocate successful candidates to any department and location and to move them between roles in future as needed.
Successful candidates will be based at their department’s headquarters in Belfast city centre, the Stormont estate, Greater Belfast, Bangor or Ballykelly.
They have the option for hybrid working, but the job ad stresses that the successful perm secs “will be expected to be visible and available in the workplace”.
Applications are open until noon on 7 October. Psychometric assessments and a staff-engagement exercise will follow, with the first interviews taking place in December.