Team Leader - Sampling Team

Job summary

As Team Leader for the Sampling Team, you will play a vital part in safeguarding food safety across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is an exciting opportunity to lead a specialist team whose work underpins the Food Standards Agency’s mission to ensure food is safe and accurately described.

Working at the heart of science, evidence and research, you will guide activity that supports national surveillance and strengthens the UK’s ability to monitor an evolving food landscape. You will shape strategy, foster strong collaboration across government and the wider scientific community, and promote a culture that values innovation and integrity. This role offers the chance to influence the approach taken to sampling across the organisation, while supporting colleagues through expert guidance and clear leadership.

If you are motivated by meaningful scientific impact and enjoy bringing people together to deliver high quality outcomes, this is an opportunity to contribute to work that genuinely builds trust in food.

Job description

The successful candidate will oversee the delivery of national sampling programmes, ensuring they operate efficiently and in line with organisational priorities. Working closely with internal and external partners, they will coordinate activity that supports surveillance, legislation and policy development, offering specialist advice across a range of food safety issues. The role includes leading projects such as the Retail Surveillance Survey and other sampling initiatives, driving continuous improvement in capability and approach.

The postholder will represent the organisation at working groups, contribute to cross government collaboration and play an active part in the wider leadership team within the Science and Research Unit. They will manage and develop staff, promote effective planning, and ensure that resources are used responsibly while maintaining a strong commitment to scientific excellence and stakeholder engagement.

Working pattern guidance

If applying as a job share partnership you should both complete separate application forms on Civil Service Jobs but should make it clear that you are applying as job sharers. Further details on job sharing can be found here JSF – What is the recruitment process for job sharers? , Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk)

Applicants who wish to work compressed hours are welcome to apply - however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

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.

Qualifications

A degree or equivalent experience in a relevant science discipline.

Technical skills

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

• Please provide evidence of how you meet the following Technical criteria. You do not need to follow the instruction to provide your answer in a STAR formatTechnical Criteria: •A degree or equivalent experience in a relevant science discipline.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,279, Food Standards Agency contributes £16,883 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 Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

Full details of the selection process are detailed 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.

A degree or equivalent experience in a relevant science discipline.

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

• Lead criteria: Sound evidence of managing projects focussed on surveillance, sampling and/or monitoring, with the skills and ability to balance statistical relevance, budget and competing priorities to achieve desired outcomes.
• Strong leadership skills to ensure the delivery of outputs within agreed timescales, as well as adjusting quickly to shifting priorities.
• Excellent communication skills including the proven ability to ensure that complex scientific information is presented in a clear and concise manner and to explain technical issues to non-specialists, both orally and in writing.
• Track record of demonstrated experience in leading and managing scientifically focussed staff/teams and delivering excellent performance.

Lead Criteria An initial sift will take place on the Lead Criteria.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, the minimum pass mark for the Lead Criteria may be raised at shortlisting stage. Candidates who apply under the DCS, GPTW or RIS schemes and meet the minimum requirements will be unaffected by the pass mark raise.

Interview

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

Experience

• Sound evidence of managing projects focussed on surveillance, sampling and/or monitoring, with the skills and ability to balance statistical relevance, budget and competing priorities to achieve desired outcomes.
• Strong leadership skills to ensure the delivery of outputs within agreed timescales, as well as adjusting quickly to shifting priorities.
• Excellent communication skills including the proven ability to ensure that complex scientific information is presented in a clear and concise manner and to explain technical issues to non-specialists, both orally and in writing.
• Track record of demonstrated experience in leading and managing scientifically focussed staff/teams and delivering excellent performance.

Strengths

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

Assessment exercise

As part of the interview process, you will be asked to prepare a seen presentation. Further information will be provided to you on the day / invitation to interview email.

Expected Timeline

Advert closes: 15th February

Sift: Expected to take place from 16th February

Final panel interview: Expected to take place w/c 2nd March

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.

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that the FSA does not offer visa sponsorship and cannot provide advice on visa applications

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.

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 : Shona ORourke
• Email : Shona.ORourke@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 - Team Leader - Sampling Team (Grade 7) 446766 Opens in new window (pdf, 1022kB)Terms and Conditions as at April 2020 Opens in new window (pdf, 42kB)