Strategic Investment Account Manager

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is the department for economic growth.  We support businesses to invest, grow and export - creating jobs and opportunities across the country by promoting the UK as a great place for business.  

The Grants Delivery Team helps to do this by delivering a wide range of business grant programmes on behalf of the Department. These include financial support for large scale projects (e.g. helping to green the automotive industry and delivering the energy support package to help people during the cost-of-living crisis) as well as small grants such as helping up and coming bands to get noticed and grow their sales.  

This is a fantastic opportunity to become part of the DBT team as we deliver our schemes and grow our role as other new grant schemes transfer to us.  Our role in awarding and monitoring grants across a wide range of policy areas requires us to ensure that while supporting businesses and designing delivery to place the minimum burden possible, we also comply with the Government Grant Standards and HMT’s Managing Public Money to ensure best value for money, minimise the risk of fraud and protect the taxpayer.  

We are a friendly and supportive team who look after each other and work in a fast paced and dynamic environment as our team and its remit expands to reflect Ministerial and Departmental.  We need people who enjoy being part of a team and who can give attention to detail and understand how that contributes to our strategic delivery.  We want people that can work proactively at pace and collaboratively across our team and wider stakeholders, and who can provide leadership and support, so the whole team successfully delivers its objective.

These roles have two major components:

Grant Appraisal - leading the appraisal of large, complex and strategically important applications for grant funding, including conducting appraisals; acting as the primary contact between DBT, the applicant and across other Departments and stakeholders throughout the appraisal process; working with specialists to assess value for money, case for assistance and subsidy control; writing case papers including Ministerial submissions and presenting the case to approval boards; and preparing grant offer letters as required.

Grant Monitoring – managing a portfolio of grant beneficiaries to undertake the effective monitoring, closure and assurance of awards. This will require regular contact (including site visits where applicable) with a wide range of businesses and intermediaries.

Responsibilities will include:

• Leading on assigned cases (as Account Manager) proactively leading at pace the process of application, appraisal and contracting, ensuring that key milestones and timelines are adhered to often in an environment of change and/or ambiguity.
• Using sound judgement, reasoning and analysis to develop solutions in response to challenges and changing situations, remaining calm under pressure to understand and define issues, and taking a strategic view when leading and delivering the process to land these often large and complex investments in the UK.
• Working effectively at pace with specialist colleagues internally and across Whitehall including forensic accountants, economists, policy professionals and legal advisers, influencing direction and a shared view to maintain momentum and progress.
• Undertaking appraisals on assigned cases, drafting associated papers giving clear recommendations and options to Senior Civil Servants, Ministers, and other approval boards, balancing the need to protect the taxpayer and the strategic objective.
• Develop and maintain effective relationships often at senior levels in companies and across Departments providing reassurance, managing expectations and clearly explaining rationale for decisions made.
• Taking a leadership role in the development of expertise and best practice in the appraisal and monitoring processes and acting as a source of advice and support to others.
• Proactively review grant recipient performance (in Monitoring function) against agreed KPIs (including expenditure), undertaking monitoring visits and processing claims, in line with deadlines and guidance provided.
• Using judgement and analysis to identify issues and risks in a timely manner including working with applicants, grant recipients and other stakeholders to agree and implement remedial action e.g. grant agreement variations.
• Drafting or contributing to the drafting of documents including; briefings to senior leaders, Ministerial Submissions, Parliamentary Questions, Freedom of Information Requests, Parliamentary returns and MP letters etc.
• Where required undertake line management of other team colleagues in line with the Civil Service Leadership statement and DBT priorities; including setting targets as well as reviewing progress and performance against agreed priorities and personal development objectives.