About the job

Job summary

Looking for a new challenge?

The Strategic Command Safety Centre is looking for an enthusiastic, motivated and experienced individual to join us and work as an integral part of the team and fill one of the roles as an Acquisition & Land Equipment Health, Safety and Environmental Protection Advisor.

Strategic Command (UKStratCom) is one of the four Military Commands operating in the UK and overseas, including locations in Cyprus, Gibraltar and the South Atlantic. The Strategic Command Safety Centre enables UKStratCom to deliver its core outputs whilst protecting Health, Safety and the Environment.

The role is responsible for supporting the Safety Centre by providing Strategic Command Business Units, Heads of Establishment, etc. in the UK and overseas with professional advice and assurance on their Land Systems and Acquisition Safety, to enable them to meet the Health and Safety, Environmental Protection (HS&EP) objectives in the UKStratCom Command Plan and Executive Committee/ HS&EP Committee priorities and comply with Defence Regulations.

Flexible working arrangements have been established within UKStratCom, which support alternative working arrangements; however, the post is integral to the Safety Centre and the successful candidate will be required to attend the Bristol office on a regular basis.

Strategic Command is going through a significant transformation programme which aims to improve the way the Command conducts its business and delivers for Defence and the nation. As a consequence of this, all posts within Strategic Command Headquarters and in time the wider organisation, are/will be subject to review and potential changes as we continuously improve across the period of the transformation programme. These changes may be minor or could be more substantive and will generate new opportunities.  Throughout, the Command’s transformation programme is committed to following the MOD’s framework on managing and supporting people through the change process and places an emphasis on early and open consultation and engagement with the Command’s personnel and Trade Unions. 

The post is advertised at 37 hours per week and is intended to be full-time and therefore part-time or job share can only be considered if full-time cover can be achieved.

Job description

The post provides a unique opportunity within UKStratCom to join the Safety Centre team and be one of the leads for Acquisition and Land Equipment Safety, with the opportunity to acting as a SME/focal point for the Land Equipment Safety discipline across UKStratCom.

Your role will be at the heart of the development and delivery of the 2nd Party assurance (2PA) program for these important elements of Safety and Environmental Management. As such you will need to work closely with internal and external stakeholders to identify policy, legal requirements and standards that are required to be met to provide Comd UKStratCom with assurance that Subordinate Units Safety and Environmental Management Systems are implemented effectively.

This opportunity will bring the best out of your communication skills and provide you with challenges and opportunities to excel in this area, whilst striving to continually improve safety and environmental management standards in Land Equipment and Acquisition Safety Systems. This will be achieved through the maintenance of the UKStratCom Policy documentation, the provision of advice, delivery of training and the development of a network of Subject Matter Experts across MOD.

The post holder will:

• Work with the other Acquisition and Land Equipment Health, Safety and Environmental Protection post holder in the team to establish, implement and maintain 2PA arrangements for acquisition and land systems HS&EP, appropriate to the needs of the Command and compliant with Operating Procedures (SOPs), Defence policy and regulations; 
• Act as a focal point for land equipment and support the acquisition HS&EP focal point, providing competent advice and support to UKStratCom and other Enabling Organisations under agreed Customer Supply Agreements (CSAs); 
• Review and monitor business unit equipment Safety and Environment Cases and Registers;
• Review and maintain UKStratCom Operating Procedures (ASEMS) in line with overarching policies; 
• Review land equipment and acquisition HS&EP first party assurance (1PA) undertaken by UKStratCom and other Enabling Organisations under agreed CSAs;
• Review regulator inspection reports, record enforcement notices and monitor the implementation of associated action plans; 
• Ensure risks are owned and managed at the appropriate level(s) and liaise with all relevant stakeholders to advise on suitable actions to be taken to ensure land systems HS&EP risks are kept ALARP and Tolerable within Safety and Environmental Cases;  
• Develop and maintain good relations with internal and external stakeholders; 
• Provide awareness briefings to stakeholders, line management and team members as and when required and represent the Safety Centre at relevant meetings, committees and working groups; 
• Contributes to and supports the UKStratCom Safety Centre HS&EP Audit Program as an audit team member where required.

The post is integral to the Safety Centre team based in Abbey Wood North (ABWN) in Bristol and the successful candidate will be required to work from the ABWN office on a regular basis.

Frequent travel within the UK as well as travel outside of the UK, including where necessary to operational environments, will be required to fulfil the requirements of the post.

Person specification

You will be expected to have previous experience and good knowledge of the rules and regulations for Land Equipment and Acquisition Safety.

Suitable applicants will possess good communication skills and be able to work independently whilst delivering results within their area of responsibility.

The post holder will be supporting the UKStratCom audit and assurance programme and is required to complete regular travel in the UK and overseas – including, where necessary, to operational environments.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,290, Ministry of Defence contributes £9,528 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

This vacancy is advertised using Success Profiles and the Health, Safety and Environmental Protection (HS&EP) Framework. This vacancy will assess your Behaviours, Technical Skills and Experience. Applicants should submit their application via the Civil Service Jobs portal, which will be sifted within 10 working days of the closing date. Interviews will be held in person at the MOD Abbey Wood North site, Bristol and are planned for the week commencing 17th June.

CV - The application stage will require you to give details of your employment history, previous experience and skills and qualifications. Please note that CVs cannot be uploaded to the advert as an attached file and must be submitted using the CV template provided on the CS Jobs application dashboard. Please do not include personal information that identifies you in the CV.

Statement of Suitability - 750 words max. Please use the statement to highlight how your employment history, knowledge, skills, experience and qualifications make you suitable for this role. Please do not include personal information that identifies you in the statement.

Your CV and Statement of Suitability will be used to assess Experience and Technical Skills. These will be assessed against the Health, Safety & Environmental Protection (HS&EP) Competence Framework. Candidates should ensure that they are familiar with this when submitting examples of their Technical Skills.

At sift and interview, you will be assessed against the following Success Profiles Behaviours:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

It is strongly suggested that you familiarise yourself with the Civil Service Success Profiles Behaviours document which is available online and at the base of this advert. Please familiarise yourself with the Behaviour requirements expected at Level 3 (HEO). You will be asked to provide a single example scenario for each Behaviour, using a structured format such as the STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result), ensuring you provide full details of your own actions and how you have fully demonstrated the Behaviour at this level.

At interview stage, candidates will be asked skills and experienced based questions surrounding your CV and statement of suitability.

At interview stage, you will be asked to demonstrate your Technical Skills, which will be assessed against the MOD Functional Competency Framework for Health, Safety and Environment Protection in Defence (Version 1 Jan 2023). Candidates should ensure they are familiar with these when providing examples of their Technical Skills. Specifically, you will be assessed against: 

• Law, Policy & Guidance- Intermediate
• Stakeholder Engagement - Intermediate

Answers to the technical questions are looking to test your knowledge and experience against the two functional HS&EP competencies.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

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: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk.

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. 

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.