Deputy Director Capital Works, National Biosecurity Centre (NBC) Programme

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

On-Site

Expires: Expiring in less than 4 weeks

Full time

£86,000 per year

Job summary

As Deputy Director, Capital Works within the NBC programme, the key immediate challenge will be to act as overall client-side lead for enabling and infrastructure works to clear and prepare the site for the main construction to begin in 2027, of long-term infrastructure to support go live of the new facilities, and for the delivery of future maintenance and critical works to keep the Weybridge site operational until NBC delivers.

The urgency of the re-development at Weybridge means that these must be achieved to meet the Defra strategy for the site. This will be a critical role given the complex interdependencies on a site which must remain operational throughout the works.

The post-holder will work closely with the NBC Programme Director and project sponsors acting as the primary civil service conduit for formal governance, ensuring that investment decisions, financial payments, approvals and change control are exercised. They will manage key relationships with stakeholders within Defra and across Government.

They will lead on benefits management, monitoring and realisation across the portfolio, ensuring any associated business change is planned, tracked and embedded, and will maintain strong stakeholder engagement within the main end users - APHA and Defra Group Property.

They will maintain, evolve and implement the workforce strategy and associated recruitment needed to build the long-term capability required for Weybridge, and will ensure upward visibility of progress, risks and issues through the programme and into Defra and Government-wide reporting. The postholder will be the critical link between the Programme and the machinery of Government.

This is a specialist Deputy Director role that will operate within the Defra Group Project Delivery Profession. Reporting to the NBC Programme Director with specific responsibility for sponsorship of the delivery of defined capital works, they will be a key part of the NBC Senior Leadership team, working closely with the NBC Programme Executive, the main Internal Governance Board for the Programme.

Job description

Acting as overall client-side lead for capital project delivery on behalf of the NBC Programme Intelligent Client Function (ICF). They will be responsible for a portfolio of projects including assurance of investment and procurement decisions and payment approvals. This primarily encompasses enabling projects, infrastructure and site logistics in the near term, as well as Weybridge site wide critical works and future maintenance, but other capital projects may form part of the role/portfolio in future.
Working with the Programme Director and Project Sponsors to support the development of project delivery strategies, collaborating with supply chain partners to integrate all enabling, infrastructure, and early works including energy, power, services and logistics.
Assure compliance with planning conditions for all projects within the portfolio.
Ensuring projects remain aligned with programme constraints (e.g. clearing the footprint on time), focusing on value-for-money exercising financial approvals and change control across the portfolio, leading benefits realisation throughout the project throughout their lifecycle, and reporting progress, issues, risks and mitigations to the Programme Executive and Board.
Building and maintaining respected and trusted relationships with APHA, Defra group Property, government stakeholders and key regulators to ensure safety, ethical, and biosecurity standards are met.
Acting as a member of the Senior Leadership Team for NBC, leading the development of the workforce strategy and associated recruitment to build the long-term capability required by the Programme, and supporting the delivery of corporate objectives for
the Programme and DEFRA.
Supporting the SRO and Programme Director to manage relationships and retain credibility within Defra.
Note: An employee may be required to carry out additional duties within the scope of the grade and within the limits of their skill, competence and training.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

Experience of overseeing the delivery of major complex construction projects from within an Intelligent Client function, working alongside scientific, engineering and construction delivery professionals across a diverse, complex organisation.
Experience of managing design, construction, benefits realisation and business change within of complex, technical design-led programmes, which may include multi-discipline high containment laboratories, scientific facilities or other complex infrastructure.
Strong leadership and stakeholder management skills with a track record of building trusted relationships across high-calibre, multi disciplinary teams (across multiple suppliers) and diverse customer groups to deliver against demanding timescales
Experience of the governance, assurance and oversight requirements associated with leading a complex public sector project, such as those within the GMPP Portfolio or similar, including handling upwards governance reporting.
A sound understanding of the regulatory, legal and financial approval processes relevant to complex, technical, design-led programmes and experience of engagement with regulatory authorities.
Experience of developing and implementing workforce strategy and leading recruitment to build long-term capability within a complex programme or organisation.

Desirable

Professional membership of a recognised accrediting body relevant to programme or project delivery, governance or business change, such as APM, the Change Management Institute or equivalent.
Accreditation at senior or master practitioner level under the government project delivery profession scheme or working towards it – or a willingness to achieve such accreditation, supported by the Department.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £86,000, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £24,914 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).

Learning and development tailored to your role
An environment with flexible working options
A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

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

To apply for this post please follow the online application process which includes submitting the following documents no later than 23:55pm on the 22nd November 2026.

1. A CV (no longer than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.

2. A Statement of Suitability (no more than 1000 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the person specification.

Applications will be sifted on CV and statement of suitability.

Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only has limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification.

As part of the online application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions.

If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you will have the option to select 'prefer not to say'. The
information you provide when submitting your application will help us monitor our progress towards the Civil Service becoming the most inclusive employer.

If you are shortlisted, you will be asked to take part in the following additional assessment:

Individual leadership assessment (ILA) - This assessment will not result in a pass or fail decision. Rather, they are designed to support the panel’s decision-making and highlight areas for the panel to explore further at interview. For further information regarding the assessments please visit - https://scs-assessments.co.uk/ Short listed applicants will be offered an informal discussion with the Vacancy Holder.

You will be asked to attend a panel interview, in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the essential criteria for the role. As part of the interview, we may ask you to prepare and present a short presentation or undertake a practical desktop exercise. This will be confirmed in the interview invitation. We will also ask some strengths-based questions.

Interviews will be held face to face in 2, Marsham Street London.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) 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

Salary range

£86,000 per year