Business Area: Fiscal Economy and TradeRole Title: Community Projects Lead Terms of Appointment: Fixed Term Contract/ Loan (24 Months)Grade: SEOLocation: Belfast – Erskine House, 20-32 Chichester St, Belfast BT1 4GF London – 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ Occasional travel between Belfast and London may be required.Vacancy Manager: Simon JonesPay Band: National £42,914 / London £49,325Applications Invited From: Cross Government/existing civil servants on level transfer and promotion
Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Departments pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.
The national starting salary is £42,914. The London starting salary is £49,325. Your salary will be dependent on your base location
Background
The Northern Ireland Office supports the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in promoting the best interests of Northern Ireland. We make sure that Northern Ireland interests are represented within the UK Government and that UK government responsibilities are fully and effectively represented in Northern Ireland. We are the centre of expertise on Northern Ireland issues across Government.
The Northern Ireland Office employs around 170 staff, with offices in Belfast and London. As a small Department, we adopt a flexible project-based approach to ensure that we have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place to support the delivery of our key objectives.
Due to our structure and size, we are able to offer extensive exposure to Ministers and the opportunity to work on a far wider portfolio of policy and responsibilities than might be the case in a larger department. This creates an interesting and stimulating work environment.
Our key priorities are set out in our Operational Delivery plan and include:
- Supporting greater inclusion, tolerance and openness in Northern Ireland
- Contributing to a safer Northern Ireland, where terrorist and paramilitary groups are less able to cause harm to communities
- Ensuring that governance in Northern Ireland is responsive, transparent and able to deliver effective public service.
- Addressing the legacy of the past in Northern Ireland
For more information about what we do:
Visit:
About the Role:
Lead on critical workstreams to foster community relations, drive social cohesion, and oversee targeted UK Government grant programmes supporting grassroots, voluntary, and community sector groups across Northern Ireland.
You will lead the end-to-end administration, governance, and evaluation of community funding funds (such as the Community Partnership Fund and related engagement initiatives), ensuring public funds are managed robustly while delivering measurable impact on the ground. The post-holder will develop deep working relationships with grassroots organisations, civil society, local authorities, and central government counterparts, and provide high-quality ministerial advice and handling strategies on community interventions.
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Grants Programme Management: Lead the day-to-day delivery, monitoring, and performance oversight of community grant programmes directed at grassroots and societal groups across Northern Ireland, ensuring milestones and intended outcomes are met.
- Governance & Financial Scrutiny: Ensure rigorous financial stewardship, risk management, and governance standards across all grant allocations in line with Managing Public Money principles; monitor spend, scrutinise grant claims, and conduct post-project evaluations.
- Community & Stakeholder Engagement: Build trusted, credible working relationships with grassroots leaders, the voluntary/community sector (VCS), local councils, and delivery partners across diverse communities in Northern Ireland to understand emerging local needs and test intervention models.
- Policy & Ministerial Handling: Draft coherent, authoritative ministerial submissions, briefings, answers to Parliamentary Questions (PQs), and correspondence on community funding allocations, impact, and political sensitivities at pace.
- Cross-Government Alignment: Collaborate closely with other NIO policy teams, Cabinet Office, and external grant recipients to ensure UK Government community investments complement wider socio-economic and peacebuilding initiatives.
Person Specification
Essential Criteria
- Partnering and Influencing: Strong partnering and relationship-building skills, with demonstrable credibility when engaging diverse, sensitive, or hard-to-reach grassroots community organisations and senior stakeholders.
- Analytical Judgement & Problem Solving: Sound judgement and analytical aptitude; ability to assess funding proposals, evaluate social impact data, and provide evidence-based recommendations under political scrutiny.
- Communication Skills: Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to convey complex funding positions, risks, and community dynamics concisely to Ministers and senior leaders.
- Organisation & Delivery: Highly self-motivated with the ability to deal with ambiguity, manage multiple competing priorities, prioritise delivery, and uphold meticulous attention to detail.
Desirable Criteria
- Demonstrable experience in grants governance, grant agreement design, and public sector financial management (e.g. monitoring spend profiles, audit compliance, or Managing Public Money).
- Practical understanding of the voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSE) landscape and community relations dynamics in Northern Ireland.
- Experience in measuring social impact or conducting post-award programme evaluation.
Behaviours
Communicating and Influencing (LEAD BEHAVIOUR)
Communicates with clarity, conviction, and sensitivity, adapting style to engage effectively with both grassroots community representatives and UK Government Ministers. Anticipates sensitivities and handles difficult conversations constructively.
Working Together
Proactively builds strong, inclusive, and collaborative relationships across diverse community stakeholders, Whitehall departments, and internal teams, actively sharing knowledge and breaking down silos to achieve shared community outcomes.
Delivering at Pace
Takes ownership of programme timelines, financial monitoring milestones, and urgent ministerial requests; demonstrates agility and resilience when adapting grant delivery to fast-moving priorities or sensitive local developments.
Seeing the Big Picture
Understands how grassroots grant-making links directly into the NIO’s strategic objectives around community cohesion, inclusion, reconciliation, and long-term socio-economic stability in Northern Ireland.
Experience:
Please provide a CV and a statement of suitability (500 words). Both will be used in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.
Your statement of suitability needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the requirements set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirements needed. You dont have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Share with us what makes you suited to this role and why. What you can do, the skills you have that are transferable and the life experience or passion you have that are linked to this role.
If you dont have work-based examples then give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in.
You will also be asked to complete a CV with details of your professional skills and full employment history. Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement. Your CV will be used to add context to your personal statement.
More information on behaviours and success profiles can be found here.
Please note that in the event of a large number of applications being received we may run the initial sift on the lead Behaviour Communicating & Influencing.
Interview:
You will be assessed against the same behaviours at the interview stage and will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated the behaviours. You will be asked to respond to one strength question in the interview.
It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:
- WHO- What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? or
- STAR- What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?
All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.
Offer
Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first.
The successful candidate will be notified of a start date following successful security checks.
Additional information received after the closing date will not be considered. Failure to provide sufficient information in support of an application prior to the closing date will not be considered as grounds for an appeal if an applicant is not shortlisted for interview.
Security Clearance:
This role requires National Security Vetting CTC given the access to sensitive information afforded by the job role. You can find more information by reviewing the information held in the following links:
United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant – GOV.UK (
The vetting charter – GOV.UK (
In addition, there is a minimum UK residency requirement set by the Cabinet Office which is dependent on the security level required for the role.
This role requires – and to be eligible to apply for this role you should have been present in the UK continuously for the past 5 years.
Neither Detached Duty terms nor relocation costs will apply to this post.
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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Further Information:
Further information about the post may be obtained from Simon Jones via email to
All applications for employment are considered strictly on the basis of merit.
This job description should not be taken as constituting conditions of employment.
Please note that due to the high interest in NIO opportunities, feedback cannot be given if you are unsuccessful at the sift stage. Feedback is available on request if unsuccessful following the interview.
Complaints:
The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commissions Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles.
Please contact SSCL () in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages:
Reserve Lists:
In the event that the advertised post following interview, identifies more appointable applicants than available posts, we may hold applicant details on a merit/reserve list for a period of 12 months from which further future appointments can be made. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact
to be removed from the reserve list.
Additional Information
Working Arrangements & Further Information
The NIO offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different NIO sites and / or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity.
Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyones circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review.
Flexible working hours
The NIO offers a flexible working system in many offices. Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. NIO welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the NIOs Flexible Working policy.
Benefits:
- Access to learning and development
- A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
- A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension
- 25 days annual leave, increasing to 30 days after five years service.
- Public Holidays
- Season Ticket Advance
WHJS1_NI
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