Army - Senior Business Manager (Overseas)

Job summary

The Ministry of Defence, Civil Service workforce is diverse, with many different functions and professions ranging from cyber and digital transformation, police officers, security guards, trainers, human resources, teachers, psychologists, storekeepers, and policy secretariat staff to support the British Army.

The Collective Training Group (CTG) has a global footprint, delivering world-class combined arms training to Field Army Formations, Brigades and Units for operations and readiness. The Headquarters is located in Warminster, with training establishments located in the UK, Canada, Belize, Germany and Kenya. This post is located in the Headquarters, British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) with responsibility to support British Army Training Support Unit Belize (BATSUB) at reach, with occasional travel for visits.

BATSUB is a permanent British Army garrison located at Price Barracks in Ladyville, near Belize City. It facilitates intensive, world class jungle warfare training for UK, Belize Defence Force and international personnel. BATSUB has a workforce of Military Personnel supported by more than 100 Locally Employed Civilians in numerous roles including Admin and facilities management.

The focus for BATUK is the delivery of collective training for combined arms light role and Combat Service Support forces, to support their preparation for readiness and commitments. Civil Service roles in BATUK are challenging and will develop your skills and provide you with professional reward. BATUK people really do matter and our “one team” consists of mainly Army but Tri-Service personnel, UK Based Civil Servants (UKBCs), Locally Engaged Civilians (LECs) and Contractors. We benefit from the richness of diversity that a team such as this brings.

This post is advertised at 37 hours per week. Tour length - 3 years with the potential for extension

Job description

The Senior Business Manager is suited to an experienced strategic leader who will lead initiatives and oversee the planning, HR, governance and assurance of Locally Engaged Civilians (LECs) across CTG’s overseas locations. Based in Nanyuki, Kenya, the role ensures that employment practices meet Ministry of Defence standards and in country legal requirements with considerations to local political matters, while driving workforce transformation and improving the LEC employment experience across both BATUK and BATSUB locations.

You will be a core member of the Primary Planning Group and will act as the Civil Service representative within the Headquarters, ensuring alignment with Civil Service codes, standards, and working practices, and supporting the delivery of a coherent Whole Force approach.

The post will also provide pastoral support to UKBCs and offers extensive engagement with senior stakeholders in a uniquely challenging and rewarding environment. The post is responsible to Commander BATUK and Commander BATSUB as the Senior Business Manager, reporting directly to the Commander CTG.

You will be relied upon to ensure practices are consistent, compliant and aligned with Ministry of Defence (MOD) policy, employment law, local legislations and wider organisational priorities. Advising senior leaders on workforce issues, supporting transformation and working closely with stakeholders to continuously drive improvement across the organisation.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop and implement effective resource planning strategies to meet firm base outputs and Land Warfare Centre (LWC) priorities.
• Support workforce transformation and efficiency programmes across BATUK and BATSUB.
• LEC annual pay reviews and Pay System Management through oversight and assurance of pay and grading structures and total reward systems for BATUK and BATSUB
• Provide assurance over all workforce financial processes and conduct audits to ensure compliance and value for money
• Drive improvements to the lived experience of LEC staff while supporting wider transformation and efficiency initiatives to promote a positive, compliant and high quality employment environment
• Ensure recruitment processes are fair, transparent and compliant with MoD standards and local employment law.
• Manage and assure disciplinary and efficiency cases, working with MoD legal advisers and overseeing panels for complex cases ensuring fairness and transparency
• Lead efforts to standardise overseas policies and regulations for LECs, ensuring consistency of guidance across locations
• Custodian of overseas UKBC’s
• Oversee financial assurance, complex employee relations cases, and policy standardisation
• Line Management responsibilities, ensuring a consistent approach to management of UKBC’s

If you need to contact Defence Business Services (DBS) regarding this vacancy, please indicate that your vacancy is being handled by Resourcing Team 1. If you experience any technical difficulties with the CS Jobs system, please contact the Support Team at candidate@support.oleeo.com

Person specification

Essential skills required:

• A proven strong, creative, professional leader with strategic capabilities to be a role model across overseas locations
• Experience in workforce services and business administration with a strong understanding of financial and HR practices particularly in international or Defence environments
• Excellent oral and written communication skills to convey, complex, sensitive and sometimes controversial information to support decision-making
• Ability to engage, influence and negotiate effectively with senior stakeholders, including delivery of difficult messages professionally.
• Strong strategic thinking with ability to anticipate and address issues proactively with the capability to make sound decisions on complex, contentious issues when multiple courses of action are present
• Associate or Chartered CIPD Membership

Desirable skills:

• Proven ability to coordinate multiple workstreams and plan across short, medium and long term timeframes and respond effectively to sudden and unexpected demands whilst managing own priorities and others
• Competent at adjusting business and resource planning (including financial) in response to shifting priorities
• Experience delivering change and continuous improvements to enhance business processes and services
• Line management experience where you have fostered a positive team culture by supporting, developing and motivating staff consistently
• Experience leading in diverse or multi-cultural workforce environments

Memberships

Associate or Chartered CIPD Membership is required

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Changing and Improving

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

• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,630, Ministry of Defence contributes £17,854 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

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.

Specific offered benefits:

HQ BATUK is located in the county of Laikipia, close to Mount Kenya. The area has an abundance of wildlife and is a truly unique location to be based remotely from the UK.

Discover My Benefits:

Please follow the link to visit the Discover My Benefits site which showcases the benefits and discounts offered when working as a civilian for the MOD. https://discovermybenefits.mod.gov.uk/civilian/

This post offers full relocation allowances subject to availability. Cost of Living Overseas Allowances is payable based on personal circumstances and marital status.

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.

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.

At application stage you will be assessed against the following:

• CV
• Personal Statement - 500 words demonstrating your skills and experience inline with the essential criteria on this advert
• Behaviour - Communicating & Influencing

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

Your Personal Statement and CV evidence will only be reviewed if you are successful at this initial sift.

At interview stage you will be assessed against the following:

• Behaviours
  • Changing & Improving
  • Making Effective Decisions
  • Working Together

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 via Teams. We endeavour to keep to these time frames, but these are subject to change around business needs.

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.

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.

The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and 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 mitigation's can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

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 Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.

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 : Amie Themistocleous
• Email : Amie.Themistocleous468@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : DBSCivPers-ResourcingTeam1@mod.gov.uk

Further information

Please see Further Information document attached.

Attachments

20241009 - Further Information - External Opens in new window (docx, 34kB)Defence Civil Service Offer Opens in new window (pdf, 1562kB)