Business Change Manager

Job summary

Ready to lead change that makes a real difference?

Do you thrive on bringing people, projects, and transformation together to deliver lasting impact?

If so, we would love to hear from you.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Business Change Manager to join our Project Delivery and Portfolio Management team.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) is a brilliant place to work where our people feel valued, have a voice and can be their authentic selves. We value difference and diversity, because it helps us be more innovative and make better decisions.

We are dedicated to being an inclusive employer, offering equitable opportunities for all individuals. Our goal is to build a diverse workforce, and we hope to attract applications from all backgrounds and underrepresented groups.

Job description

As a Business Change Manager, you will play a pivotal role in promoting and supporting the business in implementing change and improvements by carrying out Business Change activities for a range of projects from relatively small changes, continuous improvement initiatives and complex projects, as well as contributing to the progression of the Business Change profession and Continuous Improvement within APHA.

You will proactively prepare the business for the impact of the changes being delivered by the project or change initiative. You will provide a bridge between the project and the business users to ensure that activities are planned and completed to enable the business to implement the agreed change and realise the business benefits.

Change initiatives to be managed will range from complex projects and smaller changes including involvement with continuous improvement (CI). The role will include working across disciplines with colleagues focused on business analysis, project management and project management office.

You will be required to carry out duties commensurate with the grade and purpose of the role including, but not limited to, the following:

Leadership & Delivery - Lead on business change activity and work with the project team to support delivery of the business case benefits and outcomes. Champion the use of best practice and provide expert advice for team members and project community. Assess and understand the impact on stakeholders to improve the likelihood of their adoption of the change.

Business Case - Support the Project Manager in preparing and updating the change management elements of the business case.

Change Products - Support the Project Manager to create the required Business Change products. Leads on engagement with key contacts. Ensures products are fit for purpose.

Change Planning -Establish and maintain the change plan for a specific area of responsibility.

Business Readiness - Identify, qualify, and update the business readiness criteria across the area of responsibility before implementation. Support the tracking of these to 'approve/refuse' go-live.

Benefits Management -Support the Benefits Manager, Project Manager and stakeholders to identify and leverage benefits. Considers Benefits Management in all Business Change activities.

Change Communication -Work with Stakeholder Managers and Project Managers to create and maintain communications plans relating to Business Change messaging. Provides content for communications relating to Business Change across area of responsibility.

Stakeholder Management - Identify and classify stakeholders and ensure their inclusion in stakeholder engagement plan. Act as a point of contact for larger pool / more senior stakeholders.

Guidance and Support – Provide direction and guidance to team. Lead Business Change activities across area of responsibility.

Person specification

You will be able to demonstrate:

• Experience of working in a business change or project role at practitioner level
• Proven leadership skills, with the ability to inspire and motivate teams to achieve high performance
• Being an excellent communicator with strong interpersonal and presentation skills to enable effective interaction with a wide range of colleagues and stakeholders
• Ability to persuade and influence senior grades and stakeholders, and to advise and guide more junior employees on complex or contentious issues
• Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to address and resolve issues proactively
• Being adaptable with ability and willingness to embrace change
• Excellent planning and organisational skills, with the ability to deliver results efficiently in a fast-paced and complex work environment
• Proficiency in the use of change, continuous improvement and project management tools and techniques

Qualifications

Candidate must be qualified to a Practitioner level, in one of the following relevant PPM qualifications: Accreditation/Qualification in portfolio/programme/project management, i.e. Management of Portfolios, MSP, Prince2, APM, Agile, Change Management or relevant equivalent experience.

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving

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

• Leadership

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,052, Animal and Plant Health Agency contributes £12,761 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).

Why work for APHA?

At APHA, we are committed to supporting you to develop your skills, knowledge, and professional capability throughout your career.

From day one, you will be welcomed through a structured induction programme, helping you understand the Civil Service, our work, and how we operate. You’ll work closely with your line manager to set clear priorities and develop a performance, learning, and development plan tailored to your role.

Alongside formal training, you will have opportunities to apply and develop your knowledge in a practical environment, contributing to continuous improvement and innovation.

Inclusion, support, and the wellbeing of our people are central to what we do, ensuring everyone at APHA can thrive both professionally and personally.

Benefits

• Civil Service Pension - Defra contributes an average of 28.97% of your salary towards your pension

• 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 tailored to your role.

• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts from retailers such as high street coffee shops, cinema’s, supermarkets, high street retailers and many, many more.

• Staff bonuses and recognition including appreciate vouchers of up to £200 and larger in year awards of up to £1000,

• Salary sacrifice benefit options and an employee discount scheme such as bike to work, Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme, every £8 they pay in, the government adds £2, up to a maximum of £2,000 a year for each child.

• Discounted gym membership with Fitness First or Pure Gym.

• Special Leave with pay, per year, for volunteering.

• Making it work for you - With so many flexible working options, most people can find a work schedule to suit their circumstances.

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.

Application Process

As part of the application process you will be asked to provide a CV and complete a 750-word Personal Statement detailing your suitability for the role based on the bullet points within the Person Specification section of the advertisement above.

CV Guidance

Your CV should consist of your career history, including any key achievements and your main responsibilities in each role and be no longer than 2 pages. Your CV will be used to provide further context on your Personal Statement but will not be scored against the essential criteria.

Personal Statement Guidance

When completing your Personal Statement, please read and understand the Person Specification thoroughly, as this is what your written evidence will be assessed against. Please ensure you evidence the key personal qualities and experiences that align with the criteria. Consider the Job Description and look to demonstrate how your previous experience may align with the expectations and be applicable to the role. The written evidence you provide must relate to your own experiences. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc.

You will also be asked to provide 250-word statement demonstrating how you meet the following LeadBehaviour:

• Leadership

Further details around what this will entail can be found on the application form.

Sift

Should a large number of applications be received, there will be an initial sift assessing the Personal Statement. Those who pass the initial sift will be progressed either to a full sift or straight to interview.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Interview

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on Behaviour and Experience questions.

The Behaviours are as follows:.

Behaviours

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Leadership (Lead Behaviour)
• Communicating and Influencing

The behaviour, Communicating and Influencing will be assessed by a presentation.

Details of the presentation will be sent to you prior to the interview.

Experience will be assessed through questions.

After the interview

Once all the interviews have been conducted, candidates will be notified of the outcome by email. If you are successful at the interview stage, we will be in touch to offer you a role. Offers will be made in merit order.

Eligibility

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake, please contact us via: defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk using the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]’

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 based on your own personal experience. Submitting content that has been generated by AI or copied from others and presented as your own may be considered plagiarism. Applications found to contain such content may be withdrawn, and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please refer to our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Fixed Term Appointments

This role is a fixed term Business Change Manager position advertised in the location(s) as listed in the advert.

Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs offered a fixed term role will be considered on a loan opportunity (civil servants) or secondment opportunity (accredited NDPBs) for the length of the role. Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

Responsibilities will include those listed within the advert. The post is not permanent. It is time limited due to a fixed funding period or as part of a specific project. The fixed term will end when the funding or the project expires.This Fixed Term Appointment will end on 31/03/2028.

The terms and conditions on which you will join can be discussed with the vacancy manager at the point you are matched to a role.

The post holder must work from one of the locations listed in the Location section of the advert.

Location

Please be aware that this role(s) will be contractually based in a Defra group workplace/office. The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location (excluding Northern Ireland) and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

For most candidates your hours of work will be a blend of working from an APHA workplace (specific to the team location) with working at home.

As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).

Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisation allocations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations. Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies.

Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee. The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

Defra includes the Core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Near Miss

Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions within Defra Group which may be at a lower grade but have a potential skills match.

Merit Lists

Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be posted in merit order by location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application.

Salary

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

Criminal Record Check

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

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.

Internal Fraud Database Check

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.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

• Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Accessibility

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

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to Defra 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.

Visa Sponsorship Statement

Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.

Feedback

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

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.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 : Recruitment Hub Team
• Email : recruitment.sdd@apha.gov.uk

Recruitment team

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

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact Government Recruitment Services via email: defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: here

Attachments

APHA Information Pack Jul2026 1 Opens in new window (pdf, 1959kB)