Army - Capability Safety Team Manager

Job summary

At the Ministry of Defence, you will work within a highly capable team of Safety Officers. We employ talented people who challenge and guide each other. This is an opportunity for an experienced safety professional from within capability in development safety.

The Capability Safety function, within the Army Safety Group, has been formed to be able to meet the challenge of ensuring equipment coming into service is safe by design and safe to operate. Capability Safety differs from a Safety Health Environment and Fire (SHEF) role as it is specifically associated to the safety management of the Military’s operating equipment as it is developed. However, a level of expertise covering both SHEF and Capability roles is highly desirable as is equipment engineering experience.

This Senior Executive Officer role would play a key part within the team where you will be able to make a real contribution to the work of the Army Headquarters. You will be supporting the Head of Army Safety Group and managing a small team of capability safety advisors and enhancing your skills and knowledge within an integral part of the Army’s capability as you will be a key member in the assurance of Army Capability Safety. Without their equipment, the Army will not be able to operate, and we aim to ensure any new equipment coming into service will not cause harm to the Service personnel operating it or anyone else in the vicinity of where it is being operated.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

You will be committed to providing excellent safety support and line management to a small team of professional capability development safety advisors. Ensuring your staff receive all the necessary training and development to successfully undertake their roles. You will also advise major Programmes and Systems on safety legislation and policy compliance.

You will play a visible and active role, not only within the Army Headquarters, but more widely across other Services. There will be elements of travel in the role which will see you meeting a wide range and diverse people across the Army.

You will be responsible for ensuring that safety activity critical to the development and operation of Army capability is conducted. Providing specialist advice to the Army regarding the safety of their platforms and equipment and provide assurance to Army of their safety cases as they develop. You are not responsible for writing the safety cases themselves. We would like you to possess good partner relationship and customer leadership skills. We require you to be personable, proactive and professional with the ability to be a champion for safety and possess a respectful ability to influence others.

Main Role Responsibilities:

• Provide the day-to-day matrix and line management of assigned Higher Executive Officer staff, ensuring all staff and their respective output areas receive the appropriate level of support.
• Act as a Safety Delivery Team Subject Matter Expert for Army sponsored equipment, attending, or ensuring that one of their team attends any safety related meetings as directed by Deputy Head (DH) & Assistant Head (AH) Capability Safety.
• Act as a Safety Team Leader ensuring that all HR requirements are met with consultation and support from DH & AH Capability Safety.
• Work with stakeholders to drive Army Capability safety to a known, managed and ultimately as low as reasonably practicable state.
• Directly liaise with National Armaments Directorate (formerly Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) on behalf of the DH/AH Capability Safety for all equipment safety matters.
• Empowered to assist & request assistance from other Capability Safety Delivery Teams (matrix management).
• Act as a Digitalisation Champion for Capability Safety and provide assurance that Information Management policy is adhered to.

Person specification

Essential Skills Required:

• You will be Microsoft Office literate, able to use Office 365, Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
• Excellent stakeholder engagement skills, able to quickly build up rapport resulting in trusted working relationships.
• Strong communicator, confident in clearly setting direction and adapting your approach to diverse audiences, breaking down and conveying messages to ensure they are understood.
• Self-driven and able to work with autonomy, managing and organising a varied workload and able to balance and reprioritise tasks where necessary, applying an agile way of working.
• A keen interest in safety and engineering paired with an enquiring mindset, as well as the ability and drive to enhance digital and electronic information management.
• Able to review and evaluate a large amount of information in order to assess and analyse risk successfully. Good judgement is key within this role, and you are confident in making sound evidence-based decisions.
• A willingness to learn new skills and be prepared to successfully complete Auditor and System Safety training courses to enable you to be effective in your new role.

Desirable Skills & Experience:

• You will be an experienced capability safety advisor to minimum intermediate level.
• Experience of supporting senior level decisions, perhaps with experience of working within or alongside safety regulators such as the Health and Safety Executive
• Experience of working with Safety Management Systems
• A qualification in an engineering related subject area or interest, experience with engineering.
• A qualification or experience of the project and programme management environment.
• A practiced safety delivery and assurance professional with experience in large scale and sophisticated organisations or with giving impactful advice to leaders and or decision makers.

Training

The successful applicant will be required to complete the IOSH/NEBOSH suite of training if not already held. There are plenty of other learning opportunities found within the Civil Service Learning hub that you may benefit from and others that may interest you

Development Opportunities

To obtain and develop behaviours and skills through formal and ‘on the job’ training. The job holder will progress through the stages of the HS EP Functional Competency Framework. You must demonstrate you are already at ‘intermediate’ level as described in HS EP Functional Competency Framework. Additionally, you may gain qualifications via IOSH membership and the suite of training courses, with the possibility of reaching chartered status.

Qualifications

A qualification in Health and Safety

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture

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

• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £46,040, Ministry of Defence contributes £13,337 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

The Army prides itself on being a supportive employer and where possible encourages flexible working, helping you to maintain a great work/life balance.

Other benefits for Army civil servants include:

• 25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years’ service
• Highly competitive pension scheme
• Personal and professional development of skills
• Alternative working patterns for many roles
• Access to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), a free service that assists you with achieving a productive, healthy environment that is conducive to a healthy lifestyle.
• Enhanced parental and adoption leave
• 6 days special leave per year which can be used for volunteering activities
• Learning and Development

We believe that everyone has the potential to make a difference and you will be supported to help you learn and advance in your career. This includes working towards membership of a professional body and/or undertaking a modern apprenticeship as part of your role.

A modern apprenticeship is a combined package of work and training. Through the schemes available you will gain a professional qualification, practical experience, and the broader skills required to develop in your current role and pave the way for your future career.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and working from home as part of a non-contractual hybrid working arrangement. All office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to site capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD workplace, will also count towards this level of office attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this and other flexible working arrangements may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.

The post does not offer relocation expenses.

External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.

Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.

Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.

Any move to MOD 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/.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment however some exemptions are in place, please refer to local guidance. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – We may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Policy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.

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 and Experience.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history.

Candidates will be required to provide a statement of suitability in no more than 750 words detailing how you meet the essential criteria.

At sift, you will be assessed against your CV, Statement of suitability and the following Behaviours:

• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions

Where a large number of applications are received, an initial sift will be conducted based on the evidence you provide in support of Leadership.

The remaining elements will only be reviewed if you are successful at this initial sift.

At interview, you will be assessed against the following Behaviours:

• Delivering at Pace
• Managing a Quality Service
• Seeing the Big Picture

Application sifting will be scheduled to take place within 7 days of the application closing date. Interview dates are to be confirmed and will be held in person. We endeavour to keep to these time frames, but these are subject to change around business needs.

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.

There may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all DCS candidates that meet the minimum criteria for the job. For example, in certain recruitment situations such as a high volume of applications, seasonal demand, or peak periods, the employer may wish to limit the overall number of interviews offered to both DCS and non-DCS applicants.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.
Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

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 security check (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

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

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.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 : Brigadier Giles Malec
• Email : Giles.Malec213@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk

Further information

Please ensure you read the attached candidate information document prior to completing your application. If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received from DBS, or believe that DBS has failed to follow the recruitment process in line with the Civil Service Commission principles of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of Fair and Open competition, you can raise a formal complaint by writing to DBS at the following address: Defence Business Services, Scanning Hub, Room 6124, Tomlinson House, Norcross Lane, Blackpool, FY5 3WP. If after raising your complaint with DBS you remain dissatisfied you can complain directly to the Civil Service Commission at the following address: Civil Service commission, Room G/8, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ Or by email: info@csc.gov.uk.

Attachments

EVP Army TLB Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 3851kB)MOD Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1562kB)Defence Internal Brief notice Opens in new window (docx, 25kB)Candidate Information Pack Opens in new window (docx, 31kB)