Senior Skills and Employability Manager

Medr; Cardiff; On-site; GBP 47,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a dedicated professional to enhance the skills landscape in Wales. This role involves engaging with a variety of stakeholders to identify current and future skills needs, ensuring that educational provisions align with economic priorities. You will play a crucial part in shaping policies that support learners in achieving their potential and adapting to a changing job market. Join a dynamic team committed to fostering collaboration and driving positive change in the tertiary education sector. Your contributions will directly impact the employability of future generations, making this an exciting opportunity for those passionate about education and skills development.

Benefits

33 days annual leave

Cycle to Work Scheme

Employee Assistance Programme

Dedicated wellbeing time

Voluntary work leave

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in stakeholder engagement and relationship management.
• Strong understanding of skills needed by employers for a sustainable economy.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain relationships with stakeholders to understand skills needs.
• Analyze data to inform policy and planning for skills provision.

Skills

Stakeholder Engagement

Data Analysis

Policy Development

Communication

Education

Degree in Education, Social Sciences, or related field

Tools

Microsoft Teams

Data Analysis Software

Job description

Aberystwyth, Cardiff, Llandudno Junction, Merthyr Tydfil, Swansea

Job Summary

About us

We are a new arm’s length body of the Welsh Government, responsible for the strategy, funding and oversight of:

• further education including colleges and school sixth-forms;
• higher education including research and innovation;
• adult education and adult community learning; and
• apprenticeships and training.
  
  

Operational since 1 August 2024, we work in close collaboration with our partners to enable a tertiary education and research system which is centred around the needs of learners; society; and economy with excellence, equality and engagement at its heart.

Our values really matter to us, they help shape the culture of our organisation:

• Dysgu (to learn; to teach; to educate) - learning is at the heart of everything we do. We believe curiosity fuels innovation and helps expand our horizons.
• Cydweithio (to work together; to collaborate; to co-operate) - we can achieve far more together than we ever could alone.
• Cynnwys Pawb (to include everyone; to involve everyone) - we are passionate about inclusion, seeking to create the right conditions for everyone to achieve their full potential.
• Rhagori (to exceed; to excel) - we have high aspirations for tertiary education and research in Wales and always set high standards for ourselves to be the best we can be.
  
  

Location

Our headquarters is a newly refurbished office in Capital Quarter, Cardiff, specifically designed to meet our needs. We expect this to be the place that most colleagues will use to collaborate, both with each other and with stakeholders.

As we operate across Wales, we also have collaboration and limited office space in Welsh Government offices in Llandudno Junction, Aberystwyth, Swansea and Merthyr Tydfil.

Main purpose of job

A strong tertiary education system needs to know what provision to deliver to meet skills needs and respond to Wales’s economic priorities.

Alongside a colleague, you will work with a broad range of external and internal stakeholders and assimilate research and data to understand the skills employers need, so that Medr can ensure that tertiary provision equips learners for current and future jobs and ways of working.

Job Description

What you’ll be doing

• Developing and maintaining positive relationships with external stakeholders, such as Welsh Government, employer representative bodies, industry bodies, Regional Skills Partnerships, providers, trade unions and learner representatives, to gather information on current and future skills needs. This will involve attending meetings and events in person and online, networking and giving presentations as appropriate.
• Building and maintaining an understanding of national skills priorities, such as net zero skills and digital skills.
• Assimilating key information from relevant publications, research and data to understand the skills tertiary providers need to respond to.
• Working collaboratively with external and internal partners to communicate the current and future skills gaps and needs so that Medr can ensure that tertiary provision aligns with demand.
• Building and maintaining an understanding of skills policy drivers in Wales and the UK to identify impacts on tertiary provision in Wales.
• Building an awareness of destinations of learners, highlighting barriers to progression into employment.
• Contributing to other work across the Skills & Employability team more generally, including helping to shape forward work in line with Medr’s Strategic and Operational Plans.
• Work with other teams across Medr to ensure policy aligns, including in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion, and learner experience.
  
  

Key challenges you will face

• Managing relationships and expectations of a broad range of external stakeholders and providers, and potentially conflicting views.
• Identifying national skills priorities, by working with stakeholders, including Welsh Government, and interpreting complex research and Labour Market Information (LMI).
• Developing an understanding of the remit of Medr and collaborating with other teams across the organisation
• Producing high quality written materials, sometimes to short timescales.
• Developing and maintaining your knowledge across the breadth of the work of the team and the tertiary sector.
  
  

About Your Team

You will be part of the Skills & Employability Team, a small team sitting in the Research, Innovation and Skills Directorate. Our work in Medr is primarily focused on two areas:

• Working with multiple stakeholders to understand current and future skills needs for Wales, including those aligning with Welsh Government’s skills priorities, such as Net Zero. We then collaborate with other teams across Medr to ensure that tertiary providers respond to the skills priorities.
• Working with providers to ensure that learners have the employability skills to obtain positive destinations when they leave their tertiary education or training and are equipped to adapt to new ways of working for a changing economy.
  
  

Your line Manager

Emma Mock has worked in higher education policy for over 20 years, focused on the employability of students within the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, including policy development and project management roles. Emma’s early roles in private sector organisations included co-ordinating business development support in the UK and overseas.

You Will Be Part Of The Skills & Employability Team, a Small Team Sitting In The Research, Innovation And Skills Directorate. Our Work In Medr Is Primarily Focused On Two Areas:

• Working with multiple stakeholders to understand current and future skills needs for Wales, including those aligning with Welsh Government’s skills priorities, such as Net Zero. We then collaborate with other teams across Medr to ensure that tertiary providers respond to the skills priorities.
• Working with providers to ensure that learners have the employability skills to obtain positive destinations when they leave their tertiary education or training and are equipped to adapt to new ways of working for a changing economy.
  
  

Your line Manager

Emma Mock has worked in higher education policy for over 20 years, focused on the employability of students within the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, including policy development and project management roles. Emma’s early roles in private sector organisations included co-ordinating business development support in the UK and overseas.

Person specification

What You Will Bring

Attributes

• Resilient - Maintains focus, composure, and effectiveness in the face of challenges, pressures, and adversity, bouncing back quickly from setbacks.
• Act with Integrity - Upholds ethical standards and fairness in all actions, showing consistency between words and actions.
• Agile - Quickly adjusts to changing circumstances and priorities, efficiently managing tasks and projects with a focus on responsiveness and continuous improvement.
• Drive – You demonstrate strategic thinking and a results-oriented approach.
  
  

Experience

• Extensive experience of building and maintaining positive and effective relationships with multiple internal and external stakeholders to inform policy thinking, planning of provision, projects or programmes.
• Experience of working within the skills system, and understanding skills needed by employers for a sustainable economy.
• Some experience of working with data, and analysing and synthesising information.
  
  

Welsh Language Requirements

We have undertaken an evaluation of the Welsh language requirements of this post to ensure we are living our values in relation to our Welsh Language.

For this post the Welsh language requirements are: Desirable

Welsh desirable means that whilst having Welsh language skills is useful for the role, it is not an assessment criterion, so it won’t disadvantage you during recruitment if you don’t currently possess these skills.

• Reading
• Spoken
• Understanding
• Written
  
  

Alongside your salary of £47,519, Medr contributes £13,766 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Your Perks And Benefits

We recognise the importance of looking after ourselves in work and in life. Your wellbeing is fundamental to you being your best self so in recognition of this we provide:

• 33 days annual leave a year (pro rata) to give you time to reboot; top up your energy banks and spend time doing the activities you love.
• An environment that embraces work life balance.
• A culture that celebrates diversity and welcomes everyone.
• Dedicated wellbeing time to all our people each week.
• A Cycle to Work Scheme to make owning a bicycle more affordable.
  
  

Additional Support When You Need It

We know that sometimes you may face challenges or life events that mean you need additional support.

• We provide a comprehensive employee assistance programme with remote access to resources and in person support whenever required.
• We have a special leave policy ensuring everyone in the organisation receives the support they need during difficult times.
  
  

More than just a workplace

• We have an active sport, social and wellbeing committee who offer a range of activities for our people to come together outside the work setting. You can participate as much or as little as you want.
• You will be entitled to take 5 days paid leave per year to undertake voluntary work to support the communities we serve.
• We know that the bonds we make in work sometimes go beyond the working day and lead to networks that last for life. We will encourage you to grow your networks across Wales, the UK and internationally.
  
  

Personal and professional development

• Once you’re offered a post, we will get to know you and work with you to develop a personalised onboarding plan which considers your experience, skills, learning style and knowledge.
• We’ll help you shape your development plans with personalised career conversations and objectives, taking account of delivery goals alongside your career aspirations and helping you own your career.
• We support all our staff to learn or improve their Welsh language skills.
  
  

Selection process details

We are really interested in you as an individual and what you will bring to our organisation.

Our blended assessment process is designed to help us get to know you better enabling us to appoint someone who will thrive in the role and who shares our organisational values.

There will be two assessment stages for this recruitment campaign. A sift and an interview, which will include a presentation.

If you are interested in working with us, please send us your application through Civil Service Jobs. The deadline for application submission is Tuesday, 20 May.

To be fair to everyone who applies, we won’t accept:

• Late applications
• Applications with missing or incomplete information
• Personal statements over 1,250 words
  
  

You will need to include a personal statement demonstrating how you meet the following attributes:

Attributes

• Acts with Integrity – Upholds ethical standards and fairness in all actions, showing consistency between words and actions.
• Resilient – Maintains focus, composure, and effectiveness in the face of challenges, pressures, and adversity, bouncing back quickly from setbacks.
  
  

Experience

• Extensive experience of building and maintaining positive and effective relationships with multiple internal and external stakeholders to inform policy thinking, planning of provision, projects or programmes.
• Experience of working within the skills system, and understanding skills needed by employers for a sustainable economy.
  
  

The initial sift will take place on Monday 2 June.

Candidates who successfully navigate the sift stage will be required to complete an online exercise to enable us to determine their behavioural and personality preferences. Immediately on completion you will be given a report which highlights your strengths plus some development tips to help you prepare for interview. Candidates should note that the online exercise is not intended to eliminate anyone from consideration. Instead, it serves as a tool to aid in the decision-making process.

Following this, you will be required to participate in an interview and a presentation, both of which will be conducted on Monday 16 June.

The following attributes and experience will also be assessed at interview:

Attributes

• Agile - Quickly adjusts to changing circumstances and priorities, efficiently managing tasks and projects with a focus on responsiveness and continuous improvement.
• Drive – You demonstrate strategic thinking and a results-oriented approach.
  
  

Experience

• Some experience of working with data, and analysing and synthesising information.
  
  

Your presentation will be used to assess your approach to understanding the current and future skills needs of Wales.

We strive for a diverse and inclusive workplace and we want to help you demonstrate your full potential whatever type of assessment is used. We are happy to discuss any person-centred adjustments required to the recruitment process. Please contact [e-mail]

We're looking forward to meeting everyone invited to interview at our new headquarters in Capital Quarter, Cardiff. We don’t usually pay travel expenses, but if this presents a real barrier to your attendance in person or if you require a reasonable adjustment, please let us know in advance by emailing [e-mail] so we can discuss and agree arrangements prior to your interview.

Following interview we are committed to offering constructive and actionable feedback to support you on your future career journey.

Next Steps

Interested…? Want to find out more?

We know how important it is for you to find out more about us so we will be holding a virtual information session for candidates on Friday 9 May at 11am on Microsoft Teams. This session cannot be recorded.

This will be an opportunity for you to hear more about our organisation; the role and how we invest in our people.

If you would like to attend, register by emailing [e-mail].

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This Job Is Broadly Open To The Following Groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
  
  

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job Contact :

• Name : People and Culture Team
• Email : [e-mail]
  
  

Recruitment team

• Email : [e-mail]