About the job

Job summary

The Ministry of Defence employs over 50,000 Civil Servants. Within that, the Army Top Level Budget employs around 8,000 MOD Civil Servants at over 300 locations. Under the Army’s Information Directorate, the Cyber and Security pillar has a diverse and highly capable workforce. This exciting post, in the Principal Security Advisor's (PSyA) team, co-ordinates the response to security incidents and manages the resultant risk.

The Army Warning, Advice and Reporting Point (WARP) is the single authority for the recording, onward reporting, management, and investigation of all types of security incidents within the Army (Personnel, Physical, Information and Cyber). It acts as the front door into the PSyA team for requests for security advice and is responsible for the dissemination of security and threat messaging to the wider Army. 
  
You will co-ordinate a small team of case managers, on behalf of the Army WARP Lead, whose role is central to Army WARP achieving its mandated functions.
 
You will be contributing to the on-going improvement of the Army’s security culture and, as a result, will be provided with the opportunity to develop a wide range of skills and engage with a broad range of staff at all levels of the Army and the wider Ministry of Defence. This role provides an excellent opportunity to gain a wider insight in to both the Civil Service and the Armed Forces, and to facilitate personal development, both within and outside the team. This includes the opportunity to take part in one of the MOD’s internal apprenticeship schemes. 
 
Secure behaviours play an integral role in protecting both the UK, and our Armed Forces, against external and internal threats. Through this role, you will have the opportunity to develop a broader understanding of the threats facing the Army across the physical, cyber, technical and personnel domains.  You will also become a member of the Government Security Profession and, in time, be eligible for corporate membership of the Security Institute, both of which will present you with further opportunities for continued professional development.
 
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week. Flexible and hybrid working options are available, with an expectation that 60% of the time will be office-based. This post has Line Management responsibility for a total of 6 EO case managers split between Andover and Corsham.

Job description

This post is based in Andover, but requires regular travel to Corsham and Upavon, with the opportunity to work from those locations on a weekly basis. It sits above a team of 4 Andover-based case managers with responsibility for the response to Personnel, Physical and Information security incidents, and 2 Corsham-based cyber case managers responsible for cyber security incidents, vulnerability management and system visibility. You will manage and support the team, whist directly managing complex, sensitive or high-profile incidents, including support to Counter Intelligence operations.

Policy and process - You will need to develop and maintain a working knowledge of Army and Defence security policy to support your roles and responsibilities, including helping to develop and maintain the Army WARP Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).  You will help the Army WARP Lead in the development and documenting internal processes, including for the Army WARP Duty Officer.

Case management - You will oversee the triage of incoming security incident reports, onward reporting to relevant stake holders, and directing relevant parties to take containment and investigatory actions. You will be responsible for the direct management of, and response to, complex, sensitive or high-profile security incidents, including proving support to Counter Intelligence investigations. You will ensure all policy and legislative requirements are adhered to in relation to the reporting and management of security incidents. You will provide guidance on, and oversight of, requests for system logs and digital forensic analysis.
   
Security products – You will oversee the recording, hosting and dissemination of Defence and Army security products, and the regular updating of distribution lists. You will be required to draft Army security products when appropriate, and to provide advice and guidance to other authors.  
   
Lessons, analysis & data – You will ensure the accuracy of security incident data, carrying out assurance activity, directing remediation, and providing support as required. You will provide subject matter expert support to training, education and awareness materials, Army and Defence intervention activities and Army Security Culture improvement activities. You will need to produce written and verbal briefs up to Ministerial level, as appropriate. You will be required to gather accurate statistical data in relation to security incident reporting, and then use that and other data sources to assist in the preparation of responses to Subject Access Requests (SARs), Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, Ministerial Questions (MQs), Parliamentary Questions (PQs) etc. in relation to security incidents, staffing them in accordance with relevant processes.

Team management – You will be responsible for the management and co-ordination for the day-to-day work of Army WARP, overseeing and line managing 6 EO Civil Servants based in Andover and Corsham. You will also be responsible for any recruitment activity for those roles, with support from the Army WARP lead.

Meetings and relationships - You will be expected to represent Army WARP at relevant internal and external meetings and fora, in support, or in lieu, of the Army WARP Lead, as required, including presenting educational material in relation to the work of Army WARP. You will also be responsible for building and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships with other parts of the Army and the MOD.

Other – You will deputise for the Army WARP lead, when appropriate. You will be responsible for the overall management of the Army WARP group mailbox, ensuring the team triage, action and file emails in a timely fashion. After a suitable period in post, you will be required to join a rota of staff providing out of hour cover, which attracts an allowance. The branch is reviewing and overhauling its information management practises and ways of working; you will be expected to engage with these efforts, fully adopting changes and making suggestions for further improvement. Regular, pre-planned travel is required, for which a full driving licence is desirable. Travel is by MOD vehicles or public transport; there is no requirement to own or have access to a car.

Person specification

The role involves working in a dynamic and fast-paced environment, handling a variety of multi-faceted tasks and dealing with conflicting priorities.

You will ideally possess the following desirable skills and experience:

• A methodical and proactive approach
• Good judgemental, analytical, time management and communication skills
• The ability to understand and interpret multiple data sources.
• The ability to work and make decisions autonomously. 
• Able to deal with sensitive matters and uphold the ‘need to know’ principle at all times.
• A good standard of IT literacy (O365, MS Teams, use of database systems, etc.)
• Experience in a security related role or of security related responsibilities
• Experience of writing for senior staff
• Experience of managing a team and driving performance

As well as security in general, you need to have in interest in, and an aptitude for cyber security. Whilst you don’t need to be a technical expert or have hands-on experience of configuring or maintaining computer systems, you do need to be able to quickly grasp concepts and principles.

Training and the chance to build relevant experience are part of the job, but require a self-starting approach, an enquiring mind, and the desire to learn.

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 and Experience.

This post will be recruited using Success Profiles. This means, for each role we advertise, we consider what you will need to demonstrate in order to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history, previous skills and experience.  

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership

If there are a large number of applications, we will mark the examples for ‘Making Effective Decisions’ and CV.

The CV should include: a job history that explains a little about each post you’ve held and your major achievements whilst in them, covering the last 5 years or at least 2 posts; and a summary of all the skills and experience you gained from those jobs and other non-work responsibilities. A separate section on Desirable Skills gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the skills and experience listed in the Person Specification.

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

• Making effective decisions
• Communicating and influencing
• Working together
• Delivering at pace

Interviews will be held at Army Headquarters, Andover, on a date to be arranged in due course. We will give as much notice as possible, and never less than 2 full working days.

Other notes

You should ensure that you are familiar with the key indicators for each behaviour at this grade before completing the application form and while preparing for interview. You should structure your evidence for behaviours using the STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result) where possible, and focus on your own actions and thought processes in relation to a specific piece of work, circumstance or course of events. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5b27cf2240f0b634b469fb1a/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

Desirable skills and experience are just that, desirable. You should not be put off from applying if you don’t have all the desirable skills and experience listed; they are only part of the way in which we will access each application.

We will upload feedback into Civil Service Jobs after both the sift and interview stages. If you are invited to interview you are strongly advised to review the sift feedback as part of your preparation process. Interviews aren’t easy and we want to help you give the best representation of yourself. 

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 developed vetting (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.