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The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is the latest ministry to create a second permanent secretary role, as it seeks a “outstanding, collaborative and inclusive” leader to make a success of its major programmes.

BEIS joins departments including the Treasury, Home Office and – most recently – the Department for Transport in creating a second permanent secretary post. The role, which has a salary of £160,000, involves leading “one of the largest and most challenging portfolios in government," according to the job advert. This will include oversight of several technology-centric initiatives and executive agencies, covering satellites and the clean-up of the UK’s nuclear facilities.

The successful candidate will oversee delivery of BEIS’s net-zero programmes to decarbonise the UK’s building stock and the deployment of renewable and nuclear energy sources in particular.

“These programmes are complex, often involving multi-stakeholder partnerships from across the private and public sector. Their cost and impact is measured in billions, and the stakes are extremely high: decarbonisation of the UK economy will depend on the success of this role,” the job ad says.

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The second perm sec will also be directly responsible for around a third of the department’s 5,000-strong workforce, as well as some of BEIS’s arm’s-length bodies including the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the UK Space Agency, Companies House and the British Business Bank.

They will advise the business secretary and work closely with perm sec Sarah Munby, who will continue to oversee policymaking, regulatory, legislative, international and broader strategic questions.

Writing in the candidate pack for the role, Munby said the second perm sec job had been created to “increase the scope and capacity of senior leadership within this growing department”.

“Working in close partnership with me, this role will provide leadership across the whole breadth of the department’s programme portfolio, with a focus on ‘making it happen’. I am looking for someone who will help us drive results and impact on the ground,” she wrote. “My goal is this partnership becomes a formidable team working together seamlessly to lead BEIS to the very highest standard. Sitting at the heart of the department, the mandate is a large and complex one and the role requires someone with an outstanding, collaborative and inclusive track record of leadership, and someone with strong delivery experience in a complex environment, who is confident and credible with a range of senior stakeholders, both inside and outside of government.”

Applications are open until 17 June.