The Department for Business and Trade is offering £130,000 for a director general to lead work on the government’s new industrial strategy.
The Labour government made the development of a new industrial strategy a key plank of its general election campaign.
DBT’s new director general for industrial strategy will lead work to develop the roadmap, taking input from businesses and academics and using insights from trade commissioners and the Foreign Office’s network, according to the job advert for the post.
Candidates are therefore expected to demonstrate “exceptional personal credibility working with senior business leaders at the highest levels, with outstanding influencing and interpersonal skills”, the job advert says.
They will also need a “collaborative leadership style adept at bridging departmental boundaries and skilled in building coalitions at all levels”. Since the strategy is a “cross-government endeavour”, the DG will need to work closely with the Treasury – particularly its DG leading on growth – and “leverage existing coordination, building a shared sense of ownership across the prosperity departments”.
The advert says the strategy “will set out how Britain will compete in a complex global economy facing increased geopolitical tensions”.
“We will need to navigate the macro trends of digitalisation, demography and decarbonisation. We need to ensure the country is positioned to exploit its strong comparative advantages in sectors such as advanced manufacturing, creative, green, tech and finance and professional services,” it adds.
The successful candidate will be responsible for ensuring the strategy gives businesses “sufficient clarity and certainty so they can make long term investments”, using in-house and publicly available data to provide “actionable insights”.
Applicants must have a track record of leading high-performing teams to deliver in “challenging, complex, and ambiguous environments”; experience of developing economic policy through working with central government; and the ability to use data and historical and international examples to identify “key opportunities to develop innovative policy choices”.
Former prime minister Theresa May used the term "industrial strategy" to describe her flagship economic plan in 2017. However, the term mostly dropped out of usage when the strategy was "transitioned" into the then-Conservative government's government's Plan for Growth in 2021. It was finally mothballed when a machinery of government change split the then-Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy into three departments, including DBT, in February 2023.
However, the Labour Party revived the term in its general election campaign, saying an industrial strategy would be a core part of its plan for economic growth. It said the strategy would focus on four areas: delivering clean power by 2030, caring for the future, harnessing data for the public good and building a resilient economy.
The last person to hold the equivalent role was Jo Shanmugalingam, who was director general for industrial strategy, science and innovation for four years before becoming second permanent secretary at the Department for Transport in May 2023.
Job applications close on 18 August.