Senior Occupational Psychologist

Acting as an internal consultancy to all of the Civil Service, we collaborate with government departments, functions and professions to develop and deliver high quality, customer-focused assessment products and solutions grounded in occupational psychology and psychometrics. Our services aim to help identify and develop the best people from all backgrounds, including the Civil Service’s prestigious talent programmes. 

We also place ourselves at the forefront of assessment innovation, and are actively creating a growing range of evidence-based psychological assessment tools.

You will be joining a high performing multi-disciplinary team of occupational psychologists, psychometricians and digital experts who use evidence-based practice to put the client and user at the heart of what they do.  We are a team that embraces innovation to deliver better results, improved efficiency and added value, with a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. 

If you are passionate about applying psychology and psychometrics in the workplace to really add value across a wide and varied agenda, then we really want to hear from you!

As Senior Occupational Psychologist you will work closely with the Head of the Occupational Psychology Service to provide thought leadership in the areas of selection and assessment for the Civil Service. 

You will play a critical role in supporting the design, development, trialling and evaluation of a suite of online tests used for recruitment and talent selection in the Civil Service.  You will also provide support and advice for clients to ensure best practice use of assessments and create guidance to support candidates through their testing journey.  

You will have the opportunity to lead on psychological and insight-led research projects using both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore the wider recruitment context and better enable the Occupational Psychology Service to make evidence-based decisions. 

You will act as a subject matter expert and represent the Occupational Psychology Service professionally with a wide range of customers and stakeholders.  You will also be expected to contribute to the development of professional practice and work collaboratively with colleagues on a wider portfolio of activities when the need arises.  

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include:

Psychological Assessment at Work

• Scoping and designing bespoke assessment solutions including: psychometric tests, situational judgement questionnaires and other evidence-based sifting tools, behavioural work sample simulations, assessment centres and interviews.
• Using online assessment platforms to implement and support delivery of assessment solutions; working with digital, data assurance and diversity colleagues to ensure new assessments are compliant, fair, and meet customer and user needs.
• Managing multiple assessment projects at all stages of the consultancy cycle.
• Working with customers to ensure best practice use of assessments to support client decision making including pass-mark setting, moderation processes, and reducing risk of adverse impact. 
• Evaluating the effectiveness of assessment solutions by identifying appropriate statistical methods/techniques and interrogation of data to ensure they are robust, fair, reliable and valid (e.g. predictive validity, adverse impact analysis).

Leadership, Engagement and Motivation

• Act as a subject matter expert providing expert advice on recruitment, use of assessments and wider Occupational Psychology areas.
• Keep up-to-date with the latest innovations in assessments, psychometrics, modern testing methods and in particular recruitment testing
• Line management of one trainee psychologist may be required

Providing expert advice and research

• Providing professional occupational psychology advice and guidance to clients and senior leaders to ensure adherence to industry best practice and the highest ethical standards.
• Providing occupational psychologist support for information gathering exercises such as surveys and focus groups, and providing activities to support organisational development. 
• Representing the Occupational Psychology profession at working groups, committees and other forums across government to inform policy and operations.
• Researching new and emerging assessment methods/processes; setting up and conducting detailed studies to explore their impact and efficacy. 

In order to be successful in this role you will have:

• Have strong communication skills (both verbal and written) and be able to explain complex information so others can easily understand;
• Be able to manage and prioritise your workload to meet changing demands and delivery targets;
• Be effective in building and maintaining relationships, both with clients and colleagues;
• Be proactive, taking ownership and accountability for decisions and commitments;
• Be creative, producing new and original ideas and creating things in novel and imaginative ways; 
• Demonstrate persistence, achieving success by delivering despite obstacles or difficulties. 
• Experience in the application of occupational psychology in recruitment, selection and assessment. 
• Knowledge of psychometrics and competence in statistical analysis (including the use of SPSS)

You’ll be reporting directly to the Head of OPS (Grade 6).  You will work with a variety of clients, departments and professions across government. You will need to be able to demonstrate flexibility, the ability to deliver at pace and be someone who your team can really rely on.

You’ll need to demonstrate real passion for applying psychometric expertise, occupational psychology theories and approaches and evidence-based practice. Finally, we are a forward-looking team and so you will need to be too. You’ll embrace change and be eager to learn from it to develop and strengthen your role.

Do you see yourself as a talented individual that can achieve all this, progressing yourself and our team to the next level?

• BPS Test User: Occupational Ability and Personality

i. Have completed Stage 2 Qualification in Occupational Psychology with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and already hold the following titles and memberships (or eligible to achieve them): Chartered Psychologist with BPS, full Member of the Division of Occupational Psychology, registered with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC).

ii. Have completed professional doctorate in Occupational Psychology and already hold the following titles and memberships (or eligible to achieve them): Chartered Psychologist with BPS, full Member of the Division of Occupational Psychology, registered with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC).

iii. Have completed a PhD on a topic relevant to Occupational Psychology and Chartered with a Division of the BPS and registered (or eligible to achieve it) with the HCPC.

2. Registered Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) or willing and eligible to apply for registration

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Civil Service Occupational Psychology Professional Standards at Senior Occupational Psychologist level
• Knowledge and use of, psychological measurement and statistics methods and experience developing, researching and evaluating psychometric instruments

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Job contact :

• Name : Paul Weldon
• Email : paul.weldon@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : menurecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk