Defence Business Services (DBS) - Veterans Services Field Team Manager

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 28.97%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working.

“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.”

Come and join the DBS community today!

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Job description

Veterans Services
Veteran Services (VS) is part of the Armed Forces and Veterans Team and is responsible for providing support to the Armed Forces (AF) community through a Triage Service and a network of Case Managers across the UK and Republic of Ireland. We work with the Royal Navy, the British Army, the Royal Air Force, local authorities, voluntary organisations, service charities and OGD’s. The service provides assistance for those transitioning from service to civilian life, advising bereaved families, applying for armed forces compensation, and providing information and guidance on the support available to the AF community. Our Transition services are governed by the MOD’s Holistic Transition Policy as detailed in Joint Service Publication (JSP)100.

Our network of case managers facilitate access to support based on a holistic assessment of each client’s situation covering aspects such as healthcare, accommodation, finances, employment and wellbeing. They provide information and guidance on the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, war Disablement Pension Scheme and general guidance on Service pensions as well as DWP benefits.

Our National Triage team provide a professional, high quality first point of contact service. They offer information and guidance on the range of welfare support available from Veterans Services as well as partners in other sectors, as well as assess and prioritise need for case build and allocation across Veterans Services.

We have a national footprint located across the UK and at 5 DBS centres in Kidderminster, Norcross, Gosport, Belfast, and Glasgow. We are recruiting for a Field team Manager for our new London and Kent Field Team

The role is expected to be based in Woolwich or Tunbridge Wells.

The location for this role is flexible within reason; for example, working or being based at MOD sites across South London (subject to line manager agreement and site capacity). Please indicate your location preference in your personal statement.

The role will have a responsibility for engaging across a distinct geographical area, with line management of dispersed staff. Further details on area coverage will be covered at a later stage.

This role will involve significant travel, particularly within your designated region, and may include visits to other locations across the UK. All work-related travel and subsistence costs will be reimbursed except when travelling to your base location, in line with departmental policy.

The MOD supports hybrid working with regular attendance expected in the office.

Joining VS offers the opportunity to be part of a professional, committed, energetic team, working in a high-profile, fast-paced subject area that attracts significant media and ministerial attention. You will be required to work at pace to achieve your objectives, support our collective aims and respond to the dynamic environment in which we operate. Flexibility will be required as we evolve and respond to priority changes in the Armed Forces support landscape.

The VS team are key in the delivery and roll out of VALOUR across the UK, as the MOD’s delivery of welfare support to service leavers and veterans. This is an exciting time to join, to work alongside our VALOUR partners to develop and deliver enhanced systems and support to veterans and the wider Armed Forces community. Our Field team Managers will work closely with VALOUR Field Officers, with VALOUR Recognised Centres and other MOD partners to coordinate MOD representation and delivery across your area of responsibility. More information is available at VALOUR: information and next steps - GOV.UK and candidates are strongly advised to make themselves aware and familiar with developments.

The Field Team Manager Role
The Field Team Manager is responsible for managing and overseeing the delivery of a progressive, high-quality service within a designated geographical area. You will be responsible for line managing a local field team (typically between 4-8 staff), ensuring that colleagues are knowledgeable and competent to deliver high-quality client outcomes in line with Veterans Services’ remit. Your ability to lead, manage and inspire your team through change is important. Collaboration is key, as you will work with other field teams and colleagues across the organisation to ensure a unified approach. You will be required to develop and maintain effective external stakeholder relationships and work proactively and effectively alongside VALOUR partners to deliver Government ambitions to transform the UK’s veteran support landscape.

Additionally, you will contribute to the continuous improvement and ongoing development of Veterans Services.

You will be required to work with clients, stakeholders and colleagues by all suitable means, including face to face, email, phone and a range of meeting platforms including Skype, MS Teams. You will be a confident communicator and presenter, able to convey information, engage audiences and build positive enduring relationships at all levels. You should be able to demonstrate empathy, compassion and a motivation to support and guide people. You will have confidence and/or familiarity with MS Office applications, including MS Teams, Word, Excel, One Note and a willingness and aptitude for learning new IT skills.

Successful applicants will be provided with training to meet the demands of this role and are expected to maintain up to date and relevant skills and training whilst in post, both guided by Civil Service Required Learning and by independently identifying opportunities whilst in post.

Travel throughout your designated area of responsibility and a valid driving licence will be required. Frequent travel and occasional overnight stays are necessary as part of the role to engage, collaborate, and fulfil team training requirements.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

A Field Team Manager is responsible for:

• Service Delivery Management – Leading monitoring and assuring the delivery of high quality service including statistical reporting and analysis, quality assurance checks and acting as a point of escalation for your staff in complex and high profile casework. Proactively contributing to continuous improvement.
  
• Line Management and leadership - Understand and practice Civil Service line management principles and procedures and lead the delivery of high quality casework and management, with the wellbeing and care of staff a priority.
• Stakeholder Engagement Developing and maintain positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders, leading on alignment with VALOUR in your area of responsibility.
• Effective contribution to the Veterans Services Management Team - Continuous collaboration with internal colleagues to achieve consistent and high-quality service across the UK, and a consistent experience for our staff and colleagues.
• Learning and Development - Maintaining commitment to your own learning and development and for developing those staff under your leadership.

Person specification

Essential:

• Proven organisational skills and ability to plan workload efficiently.
• Excellent communication skills – oral and written, including proven presentation skills and the skills and confidence to speak in public to a range of audiences.
• Excellent interpersonal and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent leadership, coaching and development skills.
• Ability to motivate engage and manage a dispersed team (remotely and face to face).
• Excellent problem-solving skills.
• Experience and confidence in the use of IT (including all main MS Office applications) and aptitude to learn new systems.
• Empathy, compassion and a motivation to support and guide others
• A full UK Driving Licence and/or willingness to undertake frequent travel (local and UK wide)

Desirable:

• Knowledge of the Armed Forces and its Resettlement and Transition processes.
• Experience in giving information and guidance and/or leading the provision of an advice and guidance service particularly with veterans.
• If applying for posts in Wales or Scotland, knowledge of the nature of Devolved Government and provision for armed forces communities

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,720, Ministry of Defence contributes £10,927 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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.

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.

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

London locations may attract an allowance of £3,300 per annum.

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.

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.

Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles Framework to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience.

Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit.

Applications will be sifted on all Success Profile elements, but in the event of a high number of applications, a sift will be conducted on your

Primary: Career - Personal Statement, Secondary: Behaviour - Managing a Quality Service. In this instance the remaining elements will be tested at interview.

At application stage you will be assessed against the following:

Behaviours:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions

Experience:

• CV - Please provide dates, name of employer, job titles and short summary of main duties only. Details of relevant skills knowledge and experience should be given in the personal statement
• Personal Statement - Important Tip - please provide clear examples of how you meet the criteria set out in the person specification. You may wish to further include examples of how you have tackled similar tasks or demonstrated the skills outlined in the wider job advert.

At interview you will be assessed against the following:

Behaviours:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture

Experience

• Personal Statement - Important Tip - please provide clear examples of how you meet the criteria set out in the person specification. You may wish to further include examples of how you have tackled similar tasks or demonstrated the skills outlined in the wider job advert.

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. Behaviour - Managing a Quality Service
3. Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing
4. Behaviour - Seeing the Big Picture

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

1. Career - Personal Statement
2. Behaviour - Managing a Quality Service
3. Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing
4. Behaviour - Making Effective Decisions
5. Career - Job History

We want to offer opportunities to all who are successful at interview for our roles, but this isn’t always possible, so we do hold candidates on an active reserve list for 12 months.

Application sifting to take place week commencing: 15/03/2026

Interviews are currently taking place via ms teams and will be conducted week commencing: 30/03/2026

A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews. We endeavour to stick to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs.

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 Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@mod.gov.uk

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.

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.

To assist with your application please find attached -

DBS Candidate Information Guide - Working for Defence Business Services - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

(26) UK Ministry of Defence: Life , LinkedIn

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 : Arren Hymas
• Email : arren.hymas100@mod.gov.uk
• Telephone : 07929178600

Recruitment team

• Email : DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@mod.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@MOD.gov.uk in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm…

Attachments

Defence Civil Servant Offer 2024 Opens in new window (pdf, 1562kB)