Business Administration Apprenticeship

Job summary

• Are you seeking a varied career in business support?
• Do you have an excellent attention to detail?

If so, the Business Administration Level 3 Apprenticeship is for you.

Join Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) to launch your business operations career and become part of the support behind the science.

You will share our values collaboration, innovation and impact which are at the heart of everything we do. You don’t need to be scientific or technical to shine…instead you will have the opportunity to pro-actively offer suggestions to improve processes and enjoy on the job learning.

Starting your journey in a cohort of like-minded individuals you will become part of Operational Services within Dstl Operations. Being supported by your friendly Capability Supervisor you will experience a variety of work to develop skills in:

• Business administration
• Asset Management
• Process management
• Logistics

Your current situation?

You may have never worked in an office, you may be finishing sixth form, leaving the armed forces, looking for a career change or not enjoying your current studies. No matter what your current situation is, if you are at least 18 years old you can become part of our Business Operations cohort starting in September 2026.

What’s next?

Once you have completed your apprenticeship, if you have demonstrated the required behaviours, we will support you in applying for a permanent position at Dstl, or with another apprenticeship.

Job description

In this role you will:

You will learn the essential support operations provide to hands-on science and technical delivery within Dstl.You will also develop your skills in record and document management as well as suggesting ways to improve processes and find solutions.

You will spend 20% of your time learning virtually with our training provider and use safe working practices ensuring that you and your colleagues report on any unsafe practices, no matter how big or small.

You will follow safety guidelines, respecting and contributing to a strong Dstl safety culture.

For more information on the Business Administration Apprenticeship, please see the attached candidate pack below.

Person specification

We are looking for individuals who have good communication skills – both verbal and written and who has a willingness to adapt as business priorities change.

You will also have the ability to prioritise tasks and manage time effectively with support, you will also have familiarity with Microsoft packages as well as having the willingness to learn and improve skills in Microsoft and other software packages.

For more information on the Business Administration Apprenticeship, please see the attached candidate pack below.

Important Information:

Our work in defence, security and intelligence requires our employees to be UK Nationals who are able to gain a high level of security clearance to undertake the projects we are involved in to protect us from security threats.

This role will require Security Clearance and you should have resided in the UK for the past 5 years.

For this reason, only UK Nationals will be able to apply for this role. If you are an international or dual-national candidate, and you think you have the skills we need, please consider applying to any of our government, security or defence partners.

Individuals within DSTL who hold dual nationality and currently hold the required clearance level may apply. If found suitable for the role further security discussions will need to take place before a formal offer can be made.

You must be at least 18 years old in September 2026 to undertake this apprenticeship.

Attendance:

At Dstl, our vision is to have a modern way of working efficiently, accommodating and enabling our people to create, collaborate and deliver.

To do this successfully in this job will require attendance at a Dstl location; Government Departments including wider MoD or Delivery and Mission Partner’s premises for 60% of your working time.

Where business needs allow, and with the agreement of your line manager, there may be the option for a combination of workplace and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement.

Qualifications

Essential
•GCSE in Maths and English Language at Level4/C or above (or equivalent)

Behaviours

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

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £25,470, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory contributes £7,378 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Benefits

Dstl’s full range of great benefits can be found in the information pack which includes:

• Financial: An excellent pension scheme starting from 26% employer contribution (find out more here). In Year Rewarding Achievement bonuses and thank you vouchers. Rental deposit scheme and cycle to work scheme, option to join Vivup Benefits Payment Scheme.

• Flexible working: Options include alternative working patterns such as; compressed hours, job shares and annualised hours (agreed number of hours per annum paid monthly i.e. working term-time only).

• Working hours: Flexibility around your working day (e.g. start time, finish time). Ability to bank hours in a 12 month reference period including the ability to accrue and use 3 days per calendar month.

• Annual leave: 25 days pro rata (rising to 30 after 5 years) plus 8 public holidays with the ability to buy/sell 5 additional days per annum.

• Family: Maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks with full pay, an additional 13 weeks statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid

• Learning and Development: Dstl encourages and supports charterships, accreditations and provides employees access to fully funded apprenticeships up to level 7 (Masters Degree). Dstl will pay for 2 memberships with relevant bodies/institutions. Employees also have access to Civil Service Learning.

• Facilities: Onsite parking, EV Charging points, restaurants, cafés and gyms.

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.

We want you to have your best chance of success in our recruitment process, so If at any stage of the application process you would like help or assistance, please contact the Dstl Recruitment Team dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk and we will do all we can to support you.

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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/artificial-intelligence-and-recruitment/ .

At the application stage we will be assessing the essential criteria against your submitted application against the essential criteria outlined in the job profile.

Sifting will take place between 24th-27th March with interviews to be held face to face between 13th-30th April at either Dstl Porton Down or Dstl Portsdown West

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

Open to UK nationals only.

This job is not open to candidates who hold a dual nationality.

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 : Dstl Recruitment
• Email : dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk

Further information

Should you wish to raise a formal complaint about the Dstl recruitment process you should email dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk stating the nature of the issue. We will respond within 5 working days.

Attachments

20260210_Business Administration_Apprenticeship_Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 5943kB)