About the job

Job summary

This post is available for permanent appointment as a Civil Service (CS) Desk Officer at the Defence Aircrew Publications Squadron (DAPS).

DAPS comprises Assurance Flight, Delivery Flight and Performance Flight, each staffed with a mixture of military and Civil Service Higher Executive Officer Desk Officers.

DAPS provides Subject Matter Expertise (SME) on the content and management of Aircrew Publications, including hard and soft copies, of commercial publications and military specific publications for Air Systems (AS) of all three Services to the relevant Type Airworthiness Authority (TAA), provides TAAs with independent assurance assessing their Aircrew Publications against the pillars of Airworthiness, Air Safety and Fitness for Purpose and also provides support to all three Services on performance matters as required.

The position is advertised at 37 hours per week, although part-time hours would be considered. Managed hybrid working is an option, however regular attendance at the Squadron is essential to ensure Squadron output standards are maintained through regular review meetings and print copy reviews.

Job description

The primary task of a DAPS Desk Officer is to own, and maintain, DAPS’s relationships with the AS user community, the Release to Service Authority and the AS Delivery Team. The Desk Officer will be required to provide SME advice and guidance on the maintenance and effective management of Aircrew Publications for specific AS according to their background, along with through life assurance of the publications and processes. They may also be responsible for the authoring of publications where no other Publication Organization exists.

The job requires the Desk Officer to become conversant with the TAA’s document set and its origins, and have a strong awareness of the operational and regulatory environment in which it is used.

Desk Officers will be required to communicate verbally, in meetings, by email, or by written assessment depending on the requirement; therefore the successful applicant will have good communication skills and be able to produce a coherent auditable argument supporting any advised course of action.

Desk Officer advice is also required to support the introduction of new AS which may involve early engagement in the procurement process for each new AS.

The job requires the successful applicant to liaise with technical staff in industry, as well as Service personnel, so travel within the UK is to be expected. There may be a need for limited overseas travel.

Person specification

The candidate must have a good knowledge of the role of the Air System Document Set in the maintenance of Airworthiness and Air Safety in the Defence Aviation Environment. This might have been obtained as aircrew, within industry or a Delivery Team, or within an aviation engineering organisation. Good communication skills are essential, including the ability to draft documents for aircrew or briefs for Senior Officers, using clear, concise English.

The ability to review performance information, including revisions and amendments to new and extant aircrew publications may be an advantage and would require some numeric competence and mathematical analytical skills.

This role may be suited to an individual with experience in the use of, or assessment of, Aircrew Publications. An inquiring attitude and the ability to make evidence-based judgements is essential.

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.

Please apply online by the closing date, providing detail of your experience and suitability for the role. A sift of all applications will then take place, with those candidates suitable for interview will be contacted to arrange a date for an interview at DAPS.

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

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

• Changing and Improving 
  
• Making Effective Decisions
  
• Managing a Quality Service
  
• Leadership

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.