About the job

Job summary

Would you like to use your IT knowledge, skills or technical qualifications to make a difference and help our customers deliver Defence operations, military capability and support?

Would you like to gain a recognised qualification through fully supported training and development?

We are Defence Digital, part of Strategic Command, fulfilling an important role in the age of information warfare within the Ministry of Defence (MOD). We provide digital and technology services to our Armed Forces, ensuring they can operate securely via various communication means, including radio, satellite and internet. Operating at scale, with an annual budget in excess of £2Bn and a diverse team of 2,500 colleagues, we're aiming to make our Armed Forces some of the most technologically advanced in the world.

If you can see yourself contributing to the world of Defence digital and technology, the next chapter of your career may be with us!

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

The purpose of Defence Digital Customer Services is:

• To provide our customers with a consistent and proactive focal point for engaging with Defence Digital.
• To understand our customers' businesses and their challenges, playing a critical role in representing their view across all levels of DD.

The Customer Manager position is responsible for the day-to-day relationships with key business customers, ensuring consistency in engagement across the business. At this level, you will act as translator and mediator between IT operations and the business and be the single point of contact for the business.

This is a multifaceted and fast paced role, drawing on a range of skills. It is essential that the post holder is flexible, work to the demanding timelines of priority user groups and manage their time efficiently.

Joining us enables you to take advantage of our excellent benefits package, including flexible working, discount schemes, a generous leave allowance and a market-leading Civil Service pension.

Our commitment to your development is fundamental. We’ll provide as many learning opportunities as we can, allowing you to gain industry recognised qualifications, such as ITIL v4, as well as in-house training, within your field and beyond. We’ll support your development within the role from day 1.

Responsibilities

Responsibilities will include:

• Support and track IT hardware/software issue resolution, raising awareness when required.

• Ensure that IT equipment and processes are fully functional and enable customers to work optimally.

• Facilitate and advise on improvement initiatives, to modernise ways of working and behaviours.

• Be the face of DD and the first contact for allocated customer communities.

• Build DD’s reputation at senior level and maintain and grow working relationships between DD and key parties.

• Produce specific communications, updates and prompts – e.g., on key DD changes.

• Enable regular formal engagements with key customer points of contact and with other key customers as required.

• Work with DD project teams to understand emerging IT issues, that may impact the customer, or new capabilities that could be incorporated into key allocated customer communities and processes.

• Support allocated customer communities in the articulation of new requirements, working with DD colleagues to find a route to market.

• As the need arises, provide wider customer support to customers, particularly Priority User Groups and other customers supported by the team.

• Provide customer insight back into DD.

• Horizon scanning for new capability and policy being introduced by Defence Digital, as well as customer requirements.

Person specification

As a customer champion, you’ll put the customer needs first, whilst still aligning with business requirements that both manage and meet expectations. In supporting live service and customer change, you’ll need great customer facing skills, adding value at every layer, being innovative and adaptable to change. You’ll need the ability to work alone and as a team member and have a broad knowledge of network infrastructures, and digital systems and services.

This is a role that requires interacting with a varied range of people and you’ll need to use your excellent communication skills, to build and maintain great working relationships with both internal and external customers.

If you have the following skills and experience, we would love to hear from you!

• Highly effective networking and able to negotiate well and influence people.
• Able to communicate effectively to a variety of audiences, synthesising information to portray key messages and facilitate effective decision making.
• Good problem-solving skills, including being able to demonstrate self-resilience when resolving issues.

Desirable/beneficial qualifications and skills:

• ITIL qualification (can be gained in post)
• Cyber Confident training (to be gained in post)
• Proficient in using O365 and associated applications
• The desire to continue to learn and develop as an ICT professional!

Dependent on the business need, there is a requirement to travel to meetings within the UK, including the occasional overnight stay away from home (and potentially occasional overseas visits).

This job role is suitable for hybrid working, which is an informal, non-contractual and voluntary arrangement, blending a balance of attendance in the workplace (your permanent duty station which is based on business assessment of where the work is best done) and working from home as a personal choice (if the role is suitable for this).  If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

This position can be based at either Main Building, London SW1A 2HB, Abbey Wood, Bristol, BS34 8JH or MOD Corsham, Wiltshire SN13 9NR.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,080, Ministry of Defence contributes £11,631 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, Experience and Technical skills.

To apply please complete the CV template provided on the CS Jobs dashboard. You will be assessed against your relevant, skills, knowledge and experience which demonstrates the essential criteria listed within this advert.

All applicants will also need to provide a personal statement (max. 1250 words) and it is essential that this includes evidence of the following essential criteria. Each one will be scored 1-7 and make up part of your overall score to assess your suitability to be invited to interview:

1. Tell us about your experience or ability to work in a customer focused environment, responding to emerging issues, identifying and communicating solutions, to minimise disruption to ICT Services.

2. Describe when you have used excellent communication skills in a customer-facing environment.

3. Tell us about your experience of driving change and innovation to improve performance and customer experience in a live service environment.

4. From your own knowledge and experience, demonstrate how you work collaboratively across a wide range of stakeholders.

Interviews

We’ll assess you against these behaviours, technical skills & experience during the interview process:

You will assessed against the following behaviours at interview : 

• Leadership
• Changing and Improving
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality service
• Working together

Technical skills

• Stakeholder relationship management (IT operations)

Experience

• You will be asked questions regarding your relevant experience for this role.

The Digital, Data and Technology Profession Capability Framework used in this vacancy can be found at: Business relationship manager - GOV.UK (Business relationship manager - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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.