About the job

Job summary

DE&S Deca provides maintenance, repair, overhaul, upgrade and obsolescence management for a diverse range of avionic and electronic equipment. It is a global repair hub for maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade services for the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force and the Army capabilities.

Having merged with DE&S in 2023 with the aim of growing both capability and capacity, Deca offers a wide range of maintenance and repair services that ensure aircraft, ships, submarines and land equipment have resilience and agility within their supply chains to ensure “security of supply”, increasing the availability of mission critical equipment. These world-class services are delivered in partnership with industry.

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.

Nationality, visas and vetting: 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. 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or is obtained but with caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role, any conditional offer made to you will be withdrawn.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

As the Deca Operations Executive, you will be a Key member of the executive team,  providing strategic and functional direction to ensure that the Agency’s commitments are met.

Your pivotal role will involve shaping, guiding and leading on all operations policies and processes to deliver strong direction, governance and control of our business operations.

You will have overall accountability for delivering quality, cost and delivery Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across all operational teams at Sealand, Stafford, and other locations where DECA employees work, this will involve frequent interaction with internal and external senior customers.

As the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) for Transformation projects, your tasks will include setting direction, gaining business case approval, tendering, and implementation, in line with our project delivery framework.  

You will be accountable for the strategic operations programmes, providing vision, direction and developing an effective operating model.  

At DE&S Deca, we champion flexible ways of working. Regular in-person attendance is required for a minimum of 3 days per week 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

• Uphold and champion organisational values and ethics; ensure they’re developed and embedded in policies, practises and procedures.
• Monitor and control business activities and performance via the senior management team: ensure compliance with UK legislation and regulations.
• Participate in executive level committees including Executive Management Board, Compliance, Risk, Transformation Steering Board, and F35 Programme Board.
• Deputise for the Chief Executive as requested this can include full responsibility for DECA in the absence of the CE.
• Delivery of the Agency’s business objectives; provide strategic, operations and commercial analysis and guidance on all activities, plans, targets and business drivers.
• Lead highly visible and high value projects and programmes as required, ranging up to £10M in project value.

Person specification

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

• Educated to degree level or equivalent in a business management discipline, or relevant experience of working at Executive level.
• Experience in Operations management, including maintenance and repair operations.
• Demonstrable knowledge of the Defence industry.

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

• Stakeholder Management – Expert
• Governance and Performance Reporting – Expert
• Leadership – CSBC4
• Changing and Improving – CSBC4

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £66,800, Ministry of Defence contributes £18,036 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.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

Offering at a lower level
If you’re not successful at interview, we may offer you a role at a lower level if this is a match for your skills and experience. If this applies to your application, you’ll be scored against criteria for the lower-level role and offers will be made in merit order. If you accept this position, you’ll be able to take advantage of opportunities to develop your career as part of our team.

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.