Deputy Director, Office for Clean Energy Jobs

Location Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, Salford Working pattern Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time About the job Job summary Reporting into the Director for Clean Energy Investment, this role will provide Senior Civil Servant leadership of the Office for Clean Energy Jobs, engaging with Ministers and senior external stakeholders, and taking responsibility for delivery of actions from the Clean Energy Jobs Plan. DESNZ established the Office for Clean Energy Jobs (OCEJ) in July 2024 to drive action to build the clean energy workforce. OCEJ plays a strategic coordinating and convening role, to build analysis of future clean energy workforce needs, ensure the wider skills and employment system delivers for the sector, promote good quality work including strong trade union recognition, and deliver targeted interventions to support those objectives. OCEJ takes a data-driven approach, assessing sectoral and occupational skills needs. It plays a convening role between industry, trade unions, and training providers to identify critical skills gaps, aligning them with deployment plans across clean energy sectors, and ensuring that job quality is kept at the forefront. It also works closely with devolved governments and across central government, including Department for Education, Skills England, Department for Work & Pensions, Department of Business & Trade and the Home Office, to ensure training provision and workforce interventions match future workforce needs. This is a high-profile role, with significant ministerial interest, and will suit an experienced leader with knowledge of skills and employment policy. We would welcome applications from existing Civil Servants and from candidates with relevant experience elsewhere in the skills, employment, or energy system. Job description Key Responsibilities This senior position will help shape the organisational culture, priorities, external engagement, and delivery of OCEJ objectives. Key responsibilities include: Provide effective, empowering, and inclusive leadership to the Office for Clean Energy Jobs, building a strong, diverse, and multidisciplinary team. Lead engagement with the Secretary of State and other DESNZ Ministers on skills, workforce planning, and labour market policy including the role of trade unions in supporting quality jobs and workplace rights. Deliver the priority workstreams in the Clean Energy Workforce Strategy, ensuring the clean energy transition delivers hundreds of thousands of good jobs, at good wages, with strong trade union representation. Ensure DESNZ has a clear understanding of future workforce needs, working with analytical colleagues. Build strong partnerships with industry, trade associations, and trade unions to co-develop policy and communicate the Department's priorities. Develop in-depth insights into customers, services, communities and markets affected by the OCEJ’s work and ensure policy is rooted in this, taking a place-based approach. Collaborate with colleagues in the Devolved Governments to coordinate skills and employment policy for the Clean Energy Workforce across the UK, as a devolved policy area. Represent DESNZ across Government on skills and labour market policy, including with Skills England, the Department for Education, the Department for Work & Pensions, and HM Treasury. Oversee delivery and programme management of targeted skills interventions, such as the North Sea Jobs Service. Person specification We are looking for someone who is motivated by the work they do and the impact it has. We welcome driven individuals with strong policy, strategy and engagement skills. Essential skills/experience are: Experience building and leading high-performing, inclusive and multidisciplinary teams Extensive work at a senior level within a strategy or policy function, delivering across numerous policy themes whilst seeing the big picture, making connections between policy areas and shaping ambiguous work programmes. Strong influencing and collaboration skills, including with senior external stakeholders. Able to win trust and gain confidence quickly. Grasp issues quickly and able to articulate and present complex policy, commercial or financial matters succinctly to Ministers and senior decision makers. Strong commercial acumen, the aptitude/ability to translate between industry and Government, engage with the private sector and understand commercial drivers – including solid quantitative skills. A strong focus on delivery, with a track record of delivery of complex projects at pace. Desirable skills/experience are: Experience of working within skills, employment, or labour market policy, or climate /environmental policy. Experience of working with Ministers and/or experience of working with senior political figures and/or C-suite leaders.