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About the job
Job summary
The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) is responsible for both the operational and policy aspects of intellectual property (IP) rights including patents, trade marks, designs, copyright and tribunal functions. It is also responsible for educating innovators and consumers about IP rights and responsibilities and supports the enforcement of IP rights.
The IPOs mission is to ensure that the full potential of ideas, knowledge and creativity is realised for the benefit of the UK economy and society. We promote innovation by providing a clear, accessible and widely understood IP system.
Located within the Business and International Policy Directorate, the UK Ecosystems policy teams work across innovation and enterprise ecosystems to help people understand IP. Our policy interventions help to ensure the IP system is accessible to a wide and diverse audience and that IP translates into economic and social impact. Our work with regional partners enables them to integrate IP into their policy interventions.
We develop policy interventions to increase and improve understanding of how to identify, manage, protect and use IP. The Business Support and Regional Growth Policy team works within and across regional ecosystems to positively impact Levelling Up across the UK, developing policy interventions to contribute to this.
This post will be jointly located within the West Midlands Combined Authority and will be responsible for working across the West Midlands region, actively engaging with the West Midlands Combined Authority and partners on critical priorities to influence and support local strategies, policies and plans. The postholder will spend time based in the West Midlands, either working in WMCAs Birmingham offices or around the region.
Working location
The IPOs preferred working arrangement is hybrid, where staff are currently expected to attend the office 1 day per week, or equivalent if part-time, on-site at our Newport office.
However, we recognise that this is a hard to fill role which may not require office attendance in Newport more than once a month. The role will require attendance at the West Midlands Combined Authority twice a fortnight.
We encourage candidates to discuss working arrangements with the recruiting manager to agree a reasonable balance between working from home and the office.
Job description
The successful candidate will:
- Be part of a community of professionals at the heart of government who help to shape the UKs future direction and improve peoples lives.
- Work within a small team splitting their time between policy development and stakeholder engagement.
- Build effective relationships across the region to assist innovators to strategically manage their IP assets.
- Work to increase IPs impact through development of policies to aid organisations and businesses to strategically manage IP assets.
- Collaborate with a diverse set of stakeholders within the IPO, across the UK governments and with external stakeholders.
- Work with others in the IPO to ensure that effective analysis and metrics are gathered to develop evidenced-based policy.
- Work with the West Midlands Combined Authority at different levels throughout the organisation to build understanding of IP and influence their thinking on inclusion of IP into wider policies.
- Work collaboratively to develop policy interventions that support innovation and enterprise by:
- Integrating IP into wider policy design and delivery;
- Assisting local economic strategies and plans;
- Building partnerships and networks to strengthen regional ecosystems.
- Work with the business support ecosystem in the West Midlands Business Growth West Midlands to embed IP as part of the business facing offer of this service.
- Work with their partners to integrate IP into innovation, business, knowledge exchange and entrepreneurship programmes.
- Actively build and maintain positive relationships with a range of government and external stakeholders.
- Gather evidence through research and analysis of different perspectives, facts and data and use judgement to draw out key issues, to form sound decisions and creative solutions to address challenges.
- Lead the development of evaluation processes to analyse the impact of policy interventions and local actions to identify best practice and impact IP capability plays in adding value to regional innovation initiatives.
- Contribute to cross-team work to assist the teams policy agenda, including themes such as business support, commercialisation, IP finance, knowledge exchange and education and IP as an asset, to positively impact Levelling Up.
- Draft clear, concise briefings, submissions and other policy papers for senior managers and Ministers.
- Apply the principles of diversity and inclusion and its impact in your work
- Play an active role within the team and work flexibly on additional matters as they arise.
- Adapt quickly and proactively to a fast-changing environment and show high levels of resilience. This includes the willingness to be redeployed in other roles, taking on new challenges as the organisations goals evolve.
Person specification
Please refer to job description
Additional Information
Due to the nature of the post, part time working arrangements are limited to the equivalent of around 4 days a week.
Candidates should note that this post is in partnership with the West Midlands Combined Authority. If not based within the region, regular travel to and within the region will be required. There is an expectation that the postholder will be available to attend the Combined Authority a minimum of two days a fortnight as business needs require. There is also an expectation that the postholder will attend the IPOs Newport office twice a month.
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
Benefits
Benefits of working with the wider IPO:
- A very generous pension scheme with 27.1% – 27.9% employer contributions. Further information around the benefits of joining the Civil Service can be found via the Civil Service Pension Scheme page;
- 25 days annual leave moving to 30 days in annual increments (1 day per year) over 5 years of reckonable service. You will also get 8 days public leave and 1 day privilege leave;
- The opportunity to form part of our many inclusive network groups, find out by looking at Disability Jobs, BME Jobs and LGBT Jobs
- A variety of support functions including our excellent Staff Counselling Service which is a source of support for all staff at the IPO
- A flexible working scheme which has no core hours and excellent opportunities for home, part-time and term-time working;
- Eligibility for special and office-wide bonus payments
- Excellent development opportunities;
- Opportunities for secondments, both internal and external;
- Opportunities to join many civil-service clubs such as the Sports and Social Association, Motoring Club (CSMA), which provide numerous discounts to members
When working at Concept House, Newport the following benefits are also available:
- Free car parking is available on site;
- On-site facilities including gymnasium, shop, restaurant
Please note that benefits may be subject to change.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
How to apply
- In order to capture your employment history please complete the employment history box under the ‘Your CV’ section of the online application form.
- All communications will be electronic therefore it is vitally important that you check your Civil Service Jobs account regularly, as well as your spam/junk email folder
Sift
An initial sift of applications will be carried out to create a shortlist.
This will be based on the evidence provided for the following Success Profile elements:
Experience
When completing your 1000 word Personal Statement, please ensure that you cover the following essential criteria:
- Experience of working within a policy development and delivery role.
- Or experience of working within an IP environment or working across the innovation support landscape within the UK.
- The ability to see the big picture and take a strategic approach to the development and implementation of the roles policy priorities.
- The ability to use evidence to develop and deliver policy and delivery options and recommendations.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to clearly and confidently engage with colleagues, partners and stakeholders at all levels.
Please note : any wording submitted over the specified word count will not be assessed. Applicants should take care to ensure theyre within the allocated word limit when submitting their application.
Interviews
If invited to interview Behaviour, Experience and Strengths based questioning will be used.
Behaviours
The below behaviours will be assessed at interview
Seeing the Bigger Picture
- Understand the strategic drivers for your area of work.
- Remain alert to emerging issues and trends which might impact your work area.
- Establish professional relationships with a range of stakeholders and collaborate with these to share information, resources and support.
- Encourage joined up team work within own team and across other groups.
Making Effective Decisions
- Analyse and use a range of relevant, credible information from internal and external sources to support decisions.
- Present strong recommendations in a timely manner outlining the consideration of other options, costs, benefits and risks.
Communicating and Influencing
- Communicate in a straightforward, honest and engaging manner, choosing appropriate styles to maximise understanding and impact.
- Share information as appropriate and check understanding.
Experience
The below experience will be assessed at interview
- Experience of working within an IP environment or working across the innovation support landscape within the UK
Please note candidates that proceed to the interview stage will be required to deliver a presentation. Details will be provided in the invite to interview information.
Strengths
Strengths are the things that we do regularly, do well and that motivate us. We have selected the Strengths that are relevant for this role from the Civil Service Strengths Dictionary. You will be assessed against these during your interview using strength-based interview questions.
Interviews for this role will be carried out virtually via Microsoft Teams (video)
The successful candidate would be expected to remain in the role for a minimum of 12 months before applying for another role.
If you require job-specific information, please contact:
Name: Sally Long
E-mail: Sally.Long@ipo.gov.uk
Telephone: 01633 814163
This post is being advertised to Internal, across Government and external candidates at the same time.
The IPO do not hold a sponsor licence, therefore if applicable please ensure your VISA enables you to work in the UK at the IPO without sponsorship.
Incomplete and/or late submissions will not be accepted or considered.
Should you have any queries or require any assistance in this matter, please contact the IPO Recruitment team at Recruitment@ipo.gov.uk prior to the closing of the post.
In line with Government guidance, successfully appointed candidates will need to provide documents for our Right to Work checks. Information on this will be sent within the invite to interview text.
Diversity Statement
The IPO is an inclusive employer where diversity is respected and differences valued. Our positive approach to diversity allows us to select the most suitable applicants free from bias on factors such as age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, religion, and many more protected characteristics.
If you require an adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, then please let the recruitment team know via ; recruitment@ipo.gov.uk
Candidates to note
Please select the arrows below to drop down each heading for further information, alternatively you can contact recruitment@ipo.gov.uk;
Information on Fraud data base and childcare vouchers
Any move to the Intellectual Property Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at
https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/
From 8 June 2020, The Intellectual Property Office is to provide a Fair Processing Notice to all new applicants after they have been successful at interview.
As one aspect of pre-employment screening, personal details (name, National Insurance Number and date of birth) will be checked against the Civil Service Resourcing Extract Internal Fraud database. Anyone included on the Internal Fraud Database will be refused employment unless they can demonstrate exceptional circumstances. The Intellectual Property Office will, on behalf of the vacancy holder, inform applicants when they are refused employment because of their inclusion in the Internal Fraud database.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
Terms & Conditions
Please note that IPO has updated its terms and conditions of employment as part of Civil Service Reform. It is the candidates responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful on application.
Please see the attached Terms and Conditions document.
Voluntary Moves: If your pay (excluding allowances) is above the IPO maximum for the grade it will be capped at the IPO maximum for the grade when you transfer.
OGD loan or permanent transfers
Please note that due to the childcare changes introduced by HMRC in October 2018, employees going on loan/transferring to another government department that were in receipt of childcare vouchers in their previous department will not be able to continue receiving these post transfer.
For more information on the childcare schemes offered by IPO, please contact HRandPayrollteam@ipo.gov.uk
If moving internally on lateral transfer you will remain on your current base salary. Please note: All allowances are specific of individual roles and may not be transferable.
Pension information
Further information Civil Service pension schemes can be found here: https://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
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).
Apply and further information
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Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : IPO Recruitment Team
- Email : Recruitment@ipo.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : Recruitment@ipo.gov.uk
Further information
The Civil Service recruits by merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commissions Recruitment Principles.
Complaints Procedure:
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, please contact;
Penny Phillpotts
Intellectual Property Office,
Concept House,
Cardiff Road,
Newport,
NP10 8QQ.
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/
