Apprentice Deputy Security Officer

Job summary

ICS

The Integrated Corporate Services (ICS) is a new shared corporate service, launched in July 2023. It provides corporate services (HR, Finance, Digital, Commercial, Security and Estates) across the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT).

Our team of just over 300 professionals will be leading the way in how these functions will be delivered in the future. Our ambition is to be the leading provider of integrated corporate services for government and set the standard for quality, efficiency, and innovation in our field.

We offer great working benefits including a world-class pension, flexible working options and a career where your learning and development is taken seriously. We are enormously proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We support candidates with adjustments throughout our recruitment process. Information about disability confidence and just some examples of the adjustments that you can request can be found in the reasonable adjustment section below.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found.

To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

Find Out More

You can also follow our LinkedIn Careers Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/desnz-careers/

Job description

Are you interested in joining a high-performing team of security professionals? If you are ready to challenge yourself and become a sought-after specialist across government then we have a great opportunity for you!

We need an organised, flexible self-starter to join our team, which sits within the ICS Department Security Unit (DSU). The DSU is a friendly, diverse team of individuals with expertise in cyber, information, business continuity, personnel, and physical security. The team manages and regulates access to sensitive material.

This is a crucial, influential role requiring a track record of successfully managing services and people. You will become a valued member of the Government Security Profession and we will encourage you to explore all elements of the security environment to support your growth and development.

Alongside your role, you will be supported to undertake the Level 3 Business Administrator Apprenticeship, which will develop your administrative services, developing you to become an effective member of the team and wider Department. A detailed overview of what knowledge, skills and behaviours apprentices can expect to develop can be found at:

Business administrator / Skills England

Person specification

This role helps manage the secure administration and control of the ICS service, ensuring that DESNZ/DSIT staff can access sensitive material and facilities quickly, reliably, and securely. You will deliver a critical, efficient service to the user community and provide a dedicated reference point for related matters.

The key responsibilities of this role are to:

• Provide secure administrative management, storage and control of all DESNZ/DSIT secure facilities and the sensitive material held within, protecting assets by implementing and monitoring robust access control procedures and ensuring the facilities and equipment are maintained.

• Develop effective working relationships with the various authorities across Government analysing information, establishing resilience processes, and providing informed guidance.

• Deliver a quality induction service to users, providing professional system training to staff at all levels of seniority, including Director Generals and Ministers.

• Support good information management compliance in DESNZ/DSIT, supervising the use of, and actions taken on, security documentation

Essential criteria:

Security clearance at Developed Vetting (DV) level is required for this role so candidates must be willing to go through the DV process.

In order to meet the nationality requirement for access to sensitive material this post is open to UK nationals only. As the post holder will have access to sensitive information, there are limitations on traveling to a small number of countries, and we will undertake security checks as part of the recruitment process. Applications from candidates with close connections to certain countries may take considerably longer to process or in some cases result in a withdrawal of an offer of employment. Further details will be provided at the conditional offer stage.

This is primarily an office-based role with the opportunity to work remotely for one day per week. Typical working hours are expected to be 10:00 am – 6:00 pm; however, flexibility may be required based on team availability and operational needs. We would also need you to reside within a 1.5-hour travel distance to the London office for the provision of emergency assistance as required when on call.

Desirable criteria:

We would love to hear from you if you have a genuine interest in security. We welcome applications from anyone who can bring transferable skills from other fields or sectors.

Our ideal candidate will:

• Be positive, enthusiastic and enjoy working as part of a small team.

• Be an excellent communicator with a proactive, customer-focused approach and confidently respond to last-minute requests.

• Be organised and able to manage multiple tasks and priorities, balancing inboxes while responding promptly to in-person customer needs.

• Be able to build effective relationships, engage and negotiate with key stakeholders and staff at all levels of seniority.

• Have a proactive approach towards staff engagement and to demonstrate the highest standards of security behaviours, with the ability to develop and/or follow security processes and policies.

• Have an analytical approach and the ability to make effective decisions, resolve problems and identify areas for improvement.

• Have a team player attitude, encouraging collaborative team and cross-department working and demonstrating a commitment to developing others.

About the Apprenticeship:

The success candidate will undertake the Level 3 Business Administrator Apprenticeship. The apprenticeship will typically take around 18 months to complete. The Business Administrator Apprenticeship will focus on developing individuals’ administrative services, whilst encouraging the apprentice to support and engage with wider parts of the team and wider organisation.

A detailed overview of what knowledge, skills and behaviours apprentices can expect to develop can be found at: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/business-administrator-v1-0

Apprenticeship & role eligibility requirements:

As this is an apprenticeship role, there are additional eligibility requirements to consider before applying. To undertake the apprenticeship, the candidate will need to be:

• Living in England

• Not in full-time education

• Have achieved or be willing to work towards as part of the apprenticeship Level 2 Maths and English or equivalent.

• Not hold a higher qualification in a similar area as the apprenticeship (for example, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration). If you hold qualifications at Level 3 or higher, please check your qualification with the vacancy holder.

Due to the nature of the clearance needed for the role, this role is only suitable for individuals aged 18 or over.

Behaviours

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

• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together
• Changing and Improving

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,555, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £9,431 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by 1 day per year up to a maximum of 30.
• An extensive range of learning & professional development opportunities, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
• A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home-based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV, personal statement and a number of behavioural statements.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 750 words) to provide evidence of how your skills and experience align with the requirements for this post, with particular emphasis on communication, relationship-building and analysis of information.

Please note - the CV incorporated into the application form is for information purposes only and will not be scored.

Applications will be sifted on behavioural statements and personal statement.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the lead behaviour statement Managing a Quality Service

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The interview will consist of behaviour and strength-based questions.

A detailed overview of what knowledge, skills and behaviours apprentices can expect to develop can be found at: Business administrator / Skills England

Sift and interview dates

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Further Information

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

Who can start an apprenticeship

To start this apprenticeship, you’ll need to be:

• 18 or over
• Living in England
• Not in full-time education

You can apply for an apprenticeship while you’re still at school but you’ll need to be 18 or over by the end of the summer holidays to start the apprenticeship. Please note if successful you must be 18 or over to undergo the relevant security checks.

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

Information about the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) and some examples of adjustments that we offer to disabled candidates and candidates with long-term health conditions during our recruitment process can be found in our DESNZ Candidate Guidance. A DESNZ Plain Text Version of the guidance is also available.

We encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants' section.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

A location-based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Candidates who meet the minimum benchmark may be placed on a Reserve List for consideration for similar roles, including those at a lower grade. Candidates who narrowly miss the benchmark and are not placed on the Reserve List may still be considered for an offer in a similar role at a lower grade.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero 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; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

DESNZ does not normally offer full home working (i.e., working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

DESNZ cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign.

DESNZ holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

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.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

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).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Sophie Milburn
• Email : sophie.milburn@ics.gov.uk

Recruitment team

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

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance DESNZrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Click here to visit Civil Service Commission/Complaints

Attachments

DESNZ TCs v1.2 Opens in new window (doc, 174kB)