About the job

Job summary

At Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), we supply and maintain vital equipment and services for the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force. Together, we deliver a vast range of essential defence programmes, and strive for what's next. Because it helps keep our military at the top of their game and our nation safe – for today, and tomorrow.

We offer 25+ days’ holiday, flexible and hybrid working, enhanced parental leave schemes, shopping discounts, and an exceptional employer pension contribution of around 27%, to help work work for you.

Please note, for security reasons this role is open to sole UK nationals only. A ‘sole UK national’ refers to an individual who holds citizenship solely in the UK, without dual citizenship or nationality from another country. If successful, you’ll be required to pass Security Check clearance. We’re unable to offer visa sponsorship.

This role requires you to have lived in the UK for the last 5 years and obtain Security Check (SC) security clearance. Clearance must be obtained without any caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role you have been recruited for. If it isn’t obtained, or is obtained but with caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role, any conditional offer made to you will be withdrawn. Obtaining SC security clearance can be a lengthy process, and we reserve the right to withdraw any conditional offer made if the necessary security clearance isn’t obtained within 12 months.

Job description

If you are excited by the prospect of working in the exciting and challenging environment of Salvage and Marine Operations, then this could be the ideal opportunity for you. DE&S is looking for a Safety Engineer to join them as part of the SALMO (Salvage & Marine Operations) department.

Our SALMO team is the lead across the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the provision of marine salvage and emergency response. Our specialists including Master Mariners, Marine Engineers, Naval Architects, Environmental Scientists, ROV (Remote Operated Vehicle) Pilots and Divers provide a centre of expertise for subsea activities and marine operations. Our operations are varied and include salvage assistance to damaged surface vessels, location of aircraft on the sea-bottom, survey of WWII wrecks, towage of warships and submarines, emergency response preparedness exercises and underwater engineering support to resolve defects on Navy platforms at home and overseas.

We will provide you with the necessary training and development and help you on your journey to becoming an experienced Safety Engineer, and in your continuing professional development within the safety sector.

At DE&S, we champion flexible ways of working. Regular in-person attendance is required to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourselves with the site, the team, and your role.

What you’ll be doing

• Applying your safety engineering expertise to reduce safety risk to the end user.
• Interpreting and applying safety policy for the design, integration, and support of maritime systems or equipment
• Developing and managing key safety artefacts for the integration of AUV and ROV systems onto the host platform (Royal Fleet Auxiliary or Charter Vessel)
• Generating safety case reports and undertaking risk assessments
• Identifying opportunities for safety improvements and delivering against these
• Monitoring the effectiveness of safety management systems through audit, assurance and governance activities
• Managing a team to deliver safety outputs
• Providing advice and support to colleagues, ensuring that appropriate safety requirements are correctly applied and delivered in contracts
• Managing contractors who perform safety management activities on behalf of SALMO

Person specification

To be successful with your application, you'll need to show that you meet the following essential criteria:

• You will hold a HNC (i.e. Level 4 or higher) qualification in a relevant engineering or science discipline, or will demonstrate equivalent working experience
• Have demonstrable experience using a range of safety tools and techniques, to provide advice and guidance on technical projects, e.g. Hazard Log Management; Hazard Identification; Risk Assessment and ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Practicable) justifications preferable in high hazard environment (e.g. petrochemical)
• Experience of engaging with stakeholders to support safety-related decision making
• You will hold professional registration at Incorporated Engineer status or higher, or demonstrate suitable equivalent experience with a view to achieving registration within six months of taking up the role

In addition to the responsibilities above, the following technical competences and behaviours will be assessed at interview:

• Adoption of Safety Risk Management – Practitioner
• Complies with System Safety Requirements – Practitioner
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,500, Ministry of Defence contributes £12,015 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

Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:

1. Pre-sift - We will check that you meet any essential or eligibility criteria that are listed in the Person Specification section of this advert. On your CV, please clearly show how you meet the essential criteria.

2.Sift - Your CV will be assessed against the following categories, using a simple numerical scoring system: Key Achievements; Relevant Experience; Applied Knowledge and Skills

Please follow our guidance on CV writing for best chance of success.

3. Interview - If you're invited to interview, you'll be assessed against the Sift categories listed above, as well as the Technical Competences and Behaviours listed in the Person Specification section of this advert.

Security

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

Open to UK nationals only.

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.