About the job

Job summary

Defra is the Lead Government Department in England for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) recovery, and responsible for the provision of remediation capability in the UK, for CBRN incidents which overwhelm local arrangements. The Defra CBRN Recovery Policy & Operations Team is responsible for the underlying policy and operational requirements this role demands.

Our team vision is to be prepared, adaptable and resilient in reinforcing the UK's ability to manage CBRN incidents, drawing together national and international expertise to deliver CBRN recovery coordination and remediation, addressing the ever-changing threat of CBRN incidents.

The team are currently reviewing our Radiological and Nuclear Recovery strategy, determining how the UK will coordinate cross-Government recovery activities and deliver monitoring, remediation (including decontamination) and waste management in the event of a major malicious or accidental release of radiological or nuclear materials.

The team are delivering a programme of policy development and applied scientific research and development in partnership with other government departments and agencies to improve the country’s ability to recover from a CBRN incident or nuclear accident.

We are looking for an Operational Delivery lead to drive the transition of new technologies developed using government funded research and development programmes into operational use.  The successful candidate will also help develop access to existing operational capabilities across the public and private sectors, improving the resilience of planned recovery operations working closely with commercial specialists within Defra and other government departments.

Job description

Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) incidents, resulting from malicious use by terrorist groups or state actors, civil nuclear accidents or spills of hazardous materials, present significant recovery challenges. An area contaminated with a CBRN agent could remain dangerous, unhabitable and a serious public health risk if not dealt with appropriately. It also means that CBRN incidents, whether accidental or malicious, can cause serious issues when affecting critical sites.

Defra is the Lead Government Department (LGD) for Recovery from CBRN incidents in England. Defra is also responsible for the provision of remediation (including decontamination) capabilities for incidents which overwhelm local arrangements for the whole of the UK and its overseas territories.

Defra CBRN Recovery Policy & Operations Team are looking for a Technology Transfer lead.  This is a new, exciting, stretching post with the opportunity to challenge assumptions and shape development of new technological solutions to decontamination challenges. We are looking for someone enthusiastic and interested in this fascinating operational delivery area.

The CBRN Recovery Policy & Operations Team sits within the Flood, Water and CBRN Emergencies Division. The division is a fast paced and high-profile team at the heart of Defra’s contingency planning, working closely with resilience teams across government, scientists and engineers, operational leads, communications colleagues, Private Offices and Ministers.

• We prepare for the recovery following the release of CBRN material into the open or built environment, and the recovery of the environment from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents and accidents.
• We plan for and respond to natural hazards such as flooding and drought
• We lead on risk management and planning for threats to water supply and lead on incidents working closely with the water sector and other sector leads across government.
• We also coordinate Defra’s interests in other incidents such as flooding and water security issues, working across the Defra Group to understand risks and provide ministers with advice, consistent and timely information during an emergency.

The work will require developing close working relationships with innovators in government and industry, identifying opportunities for commercial exploitation of new technologies and options for maintaining new technologies at a state of readiness for use in the event of an incident.

The Flood, Water and CBRN Emergencies team consists of 28 permanent staff based in London, Bristol, Manchester, Crewe and Stafford.

Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be responsible for developing and leading technology transfer within Defra, in close partnership with Defra’s CBRN science team and other government agencies. Defra’s CBRN Recovery strategy is currently being refreshed, and so the successful candidate will have significant influence on Defra’s future direction and resilience in this space. This will include identifying operational gaps and working with the science team to address these by operationalising new technologies.  Some of these technologies will be the outputs from research conducted by the Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl). In the medium term, other technologies developed by industry will need to be operationalised for CBRN recovery applications and for commercial exploitation more generally. The successful candidate will help government access these technologies in a timely fashion, developing effective partnerships across sectors of the economy. 

This is an exciting, stretching post with the potential to have a real-world impact during high-profile incidents of significant public, political and media interest. As such, we are looking for someone who is strong across the SEO behaviours with the ability to develop strong relationships with industrial partners, who has strong commercial awareness and an understanding of the operational challenges posed by CBRN incidents.  The successful candidate must be able to successfully influence key stakeholders (including industry specialists and international partners), be capable of understanding and communicating information to a non-technical audience,  confident in building networks as well as see the bigger cross-HMG picture. Strong written, reasoning, and verbal communication skills are a must.

As part of the Floods, Water and CBRN Emergencies team the successful candidate should also expect to work closely with members of the wider team and other Defra teams during major incidents such as flooding. Given the nature of our work we need members of the team to be willing to work unsociable hours when the need arises. You will also be expected to part of our out of hours duty rota – you will be compensated for this role. The minimum expected commitment for this post is 3-years.

Person specification

We are looking for an individual who will enjoy shaping and driving a new strategy in a complex policy area, with a willingness and enthusiasm to learn from and work with a diverse range of colleagues and stakeholders. You will need to be able to show, through your application, that:

• You quickly build long lasting relationships based on mutual trust and respect
• You work collaboratively, constantly seeking better ways of doing things and working with others to challenge assumptions and shape policy direction
• You are confident in taking ownership for decisions and using your judgement at pace, recovering quickly from set backs and learning from your experiences
• You are innovative, and enjoy thinking of new ways to engage stakeholders, developing commercially viable routes for operationalising new technologies
• You are comfortable dealing with scientific and technical information
• You are experienced in communicating complex ideas to a non-technical audience
• You have some domain knowledge of malicious use of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials, or civil nuclear accidents, or a willingness and interest to learn
• You will be willing and able to travel extensively across the UK and possibly overseas to visit partner agencies in both industry and the public sector
• You will hold or be willing to apply for SC clearance

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £39,439, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £10,648 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, Strengths and Experience.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV, personal statement and behaviour statement. 

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form

In this role you will work closely with scientists and technical experts both within Defra and across the Government, so please highlight any experience working with scientific information and communicating with subject matter experts in your personal statement.

Sift

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the behaviour, Working Together. 

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview. 

Sift and interview dates as well as the interview location to be confirmed.

Interview

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on  Behaviours and Strengths.

Candidates will be asked to give a presentation at the interview. We will give you advance notice of the title of the presentation.

We would welcome a conversation with candidates about any adjustments that might help you, either as part of the application process or if you are successful. Please also get in touch if you have any questions about the process or about the clearance levels required. 

Location

As part of the pre-employment process for this post, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).

Where the location is ‘National’ the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

Successful applicants currently employed by the hiring Defra organisation for this post may choose to remain in their current contractual location or may choose to change contractual location to one of those listed above. This should be discussed and agreed prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.

Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.

The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD

Salary

New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Merit Lists

Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be appointed in merit order for each location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application.

Childcare Vouchers

Any move to Defra 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

Criminal Record Check

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. 

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to (Select as applicable from: Disclosure and Barring Service) on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. 

NSV

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

Internal Fraud Database Check

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: 

Contact Government Recruitment Service via defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. 

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Accessibility

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Visa Sponsorship Statement

Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.

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.