Novice Official Veterinarian

Job summary

Are you a veterinarian (including newly qualified or early-career vets) looking for structured training and hands-on experience to develop as an Official Veterinarian?

Do you have knowledge of applying veterinary judgement and risk assessments to protect animal welfare and food safety?

If so, this is an exciting opportunity to join the Food Standards Agency (FSA) as a Novice Official Veterinarian, and we’d love to hear from you!

The FSA is a non-ministerial department of over 1600 people. We play a critical role in protecting public health and consumers’ wider interests in food across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our vision is an important one - to drive change, delivering “food you can trust” and working towards a healthier and more sustainable food system.

Job description

You will play a vital role in protecting public health, animal welfare and food safety while developing your career in a supportive, professional environment. The role offers a blend of practical veterinary work, technical learning and collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders across the Wales and West region.

As a Novice Official Veterinarian, you will be supported to work towards full Official Veterinarian status through structured training and supervised practice. You will work across approved establishments and other premises, contributing to official controls while building confidence, competence and professional judgement. This role suits motivated veterinary professionals who are keen to apply their skills in a regulatory setting and make a meaningful impact.

In this role you will carry out official veterinary controls within abattoirs and other food premises, assessing compliance with food safety, hygiene and animal welfare legislation. You will review food chain information, undertake ante-mortem and post-mortem inspections, and contribute to proportionate, risk-based enforcement activity where required. Working closely with inspection teams, you will provide technical direction and support to ensure consistent and effective delivery of official controls.

Alongside plant-based duties, you will undertake unannounced inspections in cutting plants and carry out animal health checks on dairy farms. You will build effective working relationships with Food Business Operators, colleagues and partner organisations, while maintaining accurate records and high-quality reports. The role also involves supporting health and safety at plant level, taking part in contingency responses, and engaging in ongoing learning and professional development to maintain technical and legislative knowledge.

Working pattern guidance

You will be required to work a 4 day compressed week.

What qualification can you achieve?

This is a Novice position, and the roles on offer will allow you to train on the job to achieve the Official Veterinarian designation.

Where will I be working?

These roles are available in the Wales and West region of the UK. Please refer to the map in the candidate pack which outlines the area you’ll be covering. Candidates are required to live within the boundaries of this map, or be willing to relocate to this area. Please note that the FSA does not offer any financial support for relocation purposes.

As part of your application you will be asked to confirm your postcode for the address where you currently reside, and whether or not you intend to relocate for work purposes. Should you be offered a position with us, we will verify that you reside within this remit as part of the pre-employment process. Failure to meet this requirement may result in your offer of employment being withdrawn.

With on-the-job training, and plenty of opportunities for progression in the FSA, the Novice Official Veterinarian role gives you a strong first step if you’re seeking to build a career around keeping Britain’s food safe for all.

To hear more about working for the FSA as an Official Veterinarian please visit our Career Site

Person specification

Please read the attached Candidate Pack to discover further details about the role, our organisation, who we are looking for and the criteria we will assess against during the selection process.

We look forward to receiving your application and wish you every success.

Licences

Full UK Driving Licence and access to a vehicle for work purposes

Qualifications

Official Veterinarian Surgeon (red/white) designation, or willing to work towards designation, on appointment

Memberships

Membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS) or eligible to register to the RCVS on successful completion of a veterinary degree

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,613, Food Standards Agency contributes £11,765 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Our candidate pack details the benefits that the FSA has to offer. Please also refer to the attached Terms and Conditions statement.

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, Strengths and Experience.

Full details of the selection process can be found in the attached candidate pack.

Application and shortlisting

You will be asked to provide personal details (not seen by the Panel) and to confirm your eligibility to apply for the role.

Technical: You will be asked a question to confirm that you meet the Technical requirements of the role.

• Membership of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS) or eligible to register to the RCVS on successful completion of a veterinary degree
• Official Veterinarian Surgeon (red/white) designation, or willing to work towards designation, on appointment
• A full UK Driving Licence with access to a vehicle for work purposes

If you cannot answer yes to this question – you will not be able to proceed further with your application.

You will then be asked to complete an application which will be used to assess you against the following essential criteria.

Essential criteria

Experience

• Knowledge of relevant regulatory frameworks, such as the hygiene package and animal welfare legislations
• Understanding of applying veterinary risk assessments
• Demonstrable experience of managing a complex and competing workload to achieve successful outcomes

When submitting your personal statement, you are encouraged to use the full 750 words available to the best of your ability, as this will help the panel to determine your suitability to be taken through for interview.

Interview

If successful at shortlisting stage, you will be invited to a final interview in which we will assess you against the following Experience, Strengths requirements of the role and Civil Service Behaviours.

Behaviours

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Full details of the positive indicators being assessed for each Behaviour can be found in the Candidate Pack.

Experience

• Knowledge of relevant regulatory frameworks, such as the hygiene package and animal welfare legislations

Strengths

We will also assess you against a number of Civil Service Strengths – these are not disclosed prior to interview.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

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.

Expected Timeline

Advert closes: 21/06/26

Sift: Expected to take place w/c 22/06/26

Final panel interview: Expected to take place w/c 06/07/26

Interviews will be held remotely via MS Teams. (If you do not have the Microsoft Teams application installed on your computer, you can join on the web without installing the application).

Please note that indicated dates may be subject to change.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to the Food Standards Agency 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

Reserve List

A reserve list will be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that the FSA does not hold a licence to sponsor any visa applications. When candidates are invited for interview they will be asked to provide right to work documentation in advance before an offer of employment is made.

Occupational Health Referral

Please note that as part of the pre-employment checking process, all candidates that are offered a position must undergo an Occupational Health referral to ensure they are fit to carry out the responsibilities of the role. Candidates are advised to be truthful when answering all questions as part of this process, as to not do so may impact your offer of employment.

Making a complaint

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.

If you feel your application has not been treated fairly in accordance with the principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should email the FSA’s Director of People at jo.bushnell@food.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a 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 : Gerardo Couto
• Email : Gerardo.Couto@food.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : hr.recruitment.campaigns@food.gov.uk

Further information

If you wish to raise a complaint then please email hr.recruitment.campaigns@food.gov.uk in the first instance.

Attachments

Candidate Pack - Novice Official Veterinarian - 464216 Opens in new window (pdf, 1078kB)Terms and Conditions as at April 2020 Opens in new window (pdf, 42kB)