Deputy Director, Great British Energy - Nuclear (GBE-N) Sponsorship and Policy

Job summary

Nuclear power is a vital part of country’s energy mix, providing clean, reliable, baseload power. In order to meet the government’s energy security and net zero goals, a major ramp up in nuclear capacity will be needed. That is why minister have committed to working with industry to deliver a ‘golden age’ for nuclear and have already made the biggest commitment to new nuclear plants for fifty years.

As well as new large-scale plants at Hinkley Point and Sizewell C, the government also wants to see new designs – small and advanced modular reactors (SMRs and AMRs) – deployed, providing clean energy. The first SMR project will be developed by Great British Energy – Nuclear (GBE-N), the government’s nuclear delivery body, in partnership with Rolls Royce SMR, at Wylfa in North Wales, providing enough energy to power the equivalent of three million homes.

This Deputy Director role is a crucial one within the nuclear policy team in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). The post-holder will manage the department’s relationship with GBE-N, supporting them and supporting them to deliver against government objectives. The post-holder will also lead work on key policy questions relating to the SMR programme, on issues like the financing model for the initial project and how government can work with industry to maximise the economic benefits of the programme for the UK. In addition, the post-holder will be responsible for broader policy on the future of government-backed nuclear projects.

Working alongside another Deputy Director, the post-holder will lead a team of c. 30 policy officials. They will work closely with other senior officials and ministers across the department and Whitehall. This is a great opportunity to work in one of the most important areas of UK energy policy, leading a close-knit, collaborative and high-performing team.

Job description

As Deputy Director, GBE-N Sponsorship and Policy, your key responsibilities will include:

• Work closely with GBE-N to address key policy questions associated with the SMR programme, and to facilitate its successful delivery.
• Lead work for the Department on policy questions associated with the SMR supply chain, and opportunities for strengthening the UK's capacity to deliver new nuclear.
• Progress policy questions, supported by GBE-N, regarding future new nuclear strategy, including those associated with nuclear technologies and nuclear siting.
• Policy responsibility for implementation, where these relate to GBE-N and the SMR programme, of Government recommendations agreed to following the recent Regulatory Taskforce.
• Manage the policy and sponsorship team, ensuring it is one in which members are supported and have growth and development opportunities.
• Leadership within the Department's nuclear cluster, to ensure join up across policies and that the cluster is a destination of choice for civil servants to pursue their careers.
• Budget-holder responsibility for Department advisers, and oversight of Parliamentary handling and correspondence related to GBE-N / the SMR programme.

Person specification

Essential skills and experience.

• Outstanding stakeholder management skills. The ability to build relationships and establish trust and credibility with senior officials, ministers and industry stakeholders.
• Excellent leadership skills and the ability to maintain a positive, collaborative, inclusive culture within the team.
• A strong understanding of the key components of project delivery, including project finance.
• The ability to work at pace under considerable pressure and to exercise sound judgement on complex issues.
• Experience of policy-making regarding nuclear energy.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £81,000, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £23,465 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero offers a competitive mix of benefits including:

• A culture of flexible working, such as job sharing, homeworking and compressed hours.
• Automatic enrolment into the Civil Service Pension Scheme, with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• 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, which all staff are actively encouraged to pursue.
• Access to a range of retail, travel and lifestyle employee discounts.
• A hybrid office/home based working model where staff will spend a norm of 40-60% of their time in the office (minimum of 40%) over a month with flex dependent on balancing business and individual need.

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.

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process, outlined below. This should be completed no later than 23:55, Monday 27th April 2026. As part of the application process, you are asked to complete the following:

1. A CV setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role, relevant achievements in recent posts, together with reasons for any gaps within the last two years. This should include, where applicable, details of budgets and numbers of people managed, notable achievements in recent posts.
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 essential criteria in the person specification.
3. Final Interview

For further information on the application process and an overview on what to expect, please visit the Civil Service Careers website.

As part of the application process, you will be asked a number of diversity-related questions on the diversity monitoring form attached to the vacancy advert. If you do not wish to provide a declaration on any of the particular characteristics, you have the option to select 'prefer not to say’. See the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for more information. Should you encounter any issues with your application please contact: scscandidate.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

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

Recruitment team

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

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance desnzresourcing.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/contact-us/

Attachments

2026.04.13 Deputy Director GBE-N Sponsorship and Policy Draft Candidate Information Pack v. 3.pptx Opens in new window (pdf, 796kB)456348 - Deputy Director, GBE-N Sponsorship and Policy Accessibility Pack (1) Opens in new window (docx, 213kB)