About the job

Job summary

APHA plays a crucial role in protecting the UK’s biosecurity. It delivers functions that are critical to animal and plant health, and which in turn secure human health and confidence in the food supply chain. The regulatory underpinning provided by the Agency, is also integral to our ability to be a successful food trading nation. 

You will find APHA staff at the border, on farms, and in world-leading laboratories. All of them are delivering on our mission to safeguard animal and plant health for the benefit of everyone in society, the environment and the economy. 

APHA is a world-leading Agency, respected around the world and at the farm gate. It is on a transformation journey, modernising and digitising its operations to continue to rise to the challenges of biosecurity risks in a global world, and the opportunities of developments in science and technology.   

To lead APHA you will need to bring vision, inspirational leadership and a track record of successful operational delivery in a complex environment to make sure the Agency continues to deliver its pivotal role to the UK’s biosecurity. You will be comfortable leading in a crisis. 

Across Government and externally too, you will need to be able to carry the confidence of a broad variety of stakeholders.

You don't need to be a scientist or a vet, but you do need to share our commitment to the critical role APHA plays in delivering world-class services for the benefit of society, the environment and the economy. 

Job description

As the CEO, you are accountable for the leadership of APHA and delivery of its objectives. You  are also a critical leader within Defra, working alongside other senior leaders and chief executives to deliver collectively across the entirety of the Department.   

Leadership and management

• Work with Defra and the APHA Steering Board to define and deliver the organisation’s strategy, aims and objectives. 
• Ensure that the organisation has the resources, skills and capability to enable it to deliver its aims and objectives.
• Lead, manage and motivate the Executive Team in their delivery of performance outcomes.
• Be an inspirational and inclusive role model to staff, exhibiting the behaviours we expect of all our people.
• Provide visible and credible leadership in a science and veterinary environment and in technical meetings, connecting with and inspire different professions

Delivery

• Ensure the effective delivery of APHA's key goals, across England, Scotland and Wales, including delivering on statutory and legal obligations
• Plan, lead and manage APHA’s response to disease outbreaks, ensuring visible leadership and organisational resilience
• Act as the Senior User in the multi-year development of the National Science Centre for Animal Health including overall leadership of associated transformation
• Maintain and develop best practice, value for money and continued business improvement to the highest ethical and professional standards
• Drive organisation-wide commitment to customer service excellence, transparency and value for money.
• Finance and Governance:
• Take personal responsibility as the Accounting Officer for financial probity and regularity and value for money on APHA expenditure and internal governance.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Relationships:
• Work collaboratively across the Defra Group and with the devolved administrations of Scotland and Wales, including with the Chief Vet of the UK, and also the Chief Vets of Scotland and Wales.

Represent the organisation to a complex and varied stakeholder group and promote a wide understanding of the work that APHA does and the role that it plays

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Demonstrable track record of experience in an operational leadership role in a large, complex, multidisciplinary body with evidence of success in:
  • inspiring a diverse workforce through a period of transformational change;
  • delivering agreed targets with excellent management of business performance and judgement of risk; and
  • leading through emergencies with visibility and resilience. 
• Demonstrable ability to set the strategic direction for an organisation.
• Highly effective communication and influencing skills, with the personal credibility to gain the trust of a diverse range of senior stakeholders across multiple sectors.
• A track record of working in genuine partnership across organisational boundaries and the ability to work effectively with a range of global partners to deliver mutual objectives.
• Significant experience of managing and delivering against a substantial and complex budget and the personal resilience to operate in a high profile and highly scrutinised environment to enable you to fulfil the role of Accounting Officer
• A successful record of building and leading high performing, collaborative teams within a geographically dispersed organisation with effective delegation and empowerment of colleagues

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £125,000, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contributes £33,750 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

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process no later than 17:00pm on 12 June 2024.

All applications must be submitted using the link www.gatenbysanderson.com/job/GSe110468

 

The remaining recruitment timeline is described in the Candidate Pack.

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.