DBS-AFVS DH Pensions

Job summary

Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?

Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence?

Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.

• Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
• Our Mission - Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability.

DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working.

Come and join the DBS community today!

Job description

Responsible for the strategic oversight and management of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS), working collaboratively with the MOD delivery partner to ensure the efficient and timely provision of pensions and forecasts to the military community, veterans, and their families. Ensure AFPS compliance with policy and legislative requirements, oversee change and transformation activities, and manage administration and contractor performance to deliver efficient, customer-focused pension services, including discretionary casework undertaken by DBS as the Authority. Provide strategic leadership and governance of the scheme, holding accountability for the AFPS contract and contributing as the recognised Subject Matter Expert (SME) on pensions to wider MOD, Veterans UK, and Authority Pension forums. Maintain liaison with the contractor on contract delivery and engage with policy leads such as Head of Remuneration (Hd REM) and Head of Pension Board as required.

Strategic Oversight of the Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS):

Lead AFPS delivery, ensuring compliance with policy, legislation, and contractual obligations.

Oversee operations, disputes, and customer service to ensure accurate, timely delivery.

Drive process improvement to increase efficiency, reduce cost, and improve service.

Stakeholder Engagement and Complex Casework Liaison

Maintain effective engagement with key stakeholders on complex pension casework and policy issues.

Act as the trusted pension SME to senior leaders and governance boards.

Build strong cross-functional relationships to support joined-up delivery.

Governance and Regulatory Compliance

Ensure AFPS meets the requirements of key regulatory and governance bodies.

Provide reporting and assurance to demonstrate compliance, transparency, and risk control.

Oversee audit and assurance activity and implement recommendations.

Contract Management and Change Control

Lead AFPS contract governance, including delivery changes and controls.

Manage delivery of any external contractual partners

Portfolio and Programme Management

Provide strategic direction for a complex portfolio of pension operations, projects and change requests, collaborating with the DBS Transformation Programme to provide pension expertise to wider strategic change.

Maintain strong controls, risk management, and performance measures.

Act as principal liaison with service providers, holding them to agreed standards and service levels.

Oversee spend and financial controls to ensure value for money and budget discipline.

Leadership and Team Development:

Lead AFPS Operational Change and Delivery teams, promoting high performance, learning, and innovation.

Manage performance, development, and wellbeing in line with departmental policy.

Promote an inclusive culture where all staff can succeed. ·

Horizon Scanning and Risk Mitigation:

Monitor legislative, policy, and operational changes affecting pension delivery.

Develop mitigations to manage risk, maintain continuity, and respond to change.

Lead lessons learned activity to improve future delivery.

Person specification

Ability to think, operate and lead at a strategic level. ·

Ability to communicate effectively.

Ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with stakeholders.

Required Experience:

Essential:

Experience of delivery operational support services.

Knowledge and experience of working with large scale Pension schemes.

Desirable:

Experience of administering a Pension Scheme.

Experience of working with the Armed Forces Community.

Proactive working with Policy leads to achieve business outcomes.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £72,840, Ministry of Defence contributes £21,101 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).

• An environment with flexible working options Monday-Friday
• 25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years' service (pro rata). In addition to 8 public holidays per year, you will also receive leave for the King's birthday
• Hybrid working, where role permits
• An opportunity to be considered for Reward & Recognition.
• Family friendly policies including parental leave and adoption leave
• Learning and development tailored to your role
• Professional and personal development of skills
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• Minimum of 15 days special leave in a rolling 12 month period for volunteer reserve commitments
• Special paid leave to volunteer up to 6 days per year
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

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

Please provide information of how you meet the criteria set out in the job description and person specification. You may wish to further include examples of how you have tackled similar tasks or demonstrated the skills outlines in the job advert.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history and previous skills and experience.

Personal Statement:

Candidates will be required to provide a statement of suitability. (1000 Word Max)

At sift, you will be assessed against your CV and Statement of suitability

Applications will be sifted on all Success Profile elements, but in the event of a high number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted on the following success profile elements:

Primary: Career - Personal Statement

At interview, you will be assessed against the following:

• Experience

Sift and interview timeframes

Sift start date: 06/07/2026

Interviews are currently taking place via the following method: MS Teams

Interview start date: 15/07/2026

Priority order - Application

If candidate scores are still exact, the merit order will then be determined on the sift score in the following order:

1 - Career - Personal Statement
2 - Career - Previous Skills
3 - Career - Job History

Priority order - Interview

In the rare case where individuals have exact matching scores, the order of merit will be determined based on the behaviour scores at interview in the following order:

1 - Career - Personal Statement
2 - Career - Previous Skills
3 - Career - Job History

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 : Angela Linghorn-Baker
• Email : angela.linghorn-baker471@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@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

Candidate Information 2025 Opens in new window (docx, 31kB)MOD Candidate Pack Opens in new window (pdf, 1562kB)Defence Internal Brief notice Opens in new window (docx, 43kB)