About the job

Job summary

Do you want to work for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and care for the Defence Estate? DIO enables Defence to live, work, train and deploy, all with sustainability in mind. From net carbon zero accommodations to runways for the F35 fighter jets; our outputs are unique in the UK and across the globe!

Learn much more about DIO in our Candidate Information Guide attached.

DIO recognises that a diverse workforce is at the heart of different insights, ideas and innovation. A workforce diverse in background and life experience produces trusted public services and better decisions. We want our people to be curious and continuously strive for improvement, collaborative in an inclusive culture, ambitious and resilient and committed to Defence, empowered and able to challenge so you can play a key part in shaping the direction of our organisation.

About DIO

View our YouTube video to see more about our work  

Why Join Us

DIO cares about the Defence estate. We are a dynamic organisation that responds to the evolving needs of our military personnel, the way in which they live and work. We are proud to be the expert partner Defence needs for all their infrastructure requirements. From large scale infrastructure to everyday facilities management, our activities focus relentlessly on our customers. We deliver value for money, and consistently innovate to find proactive solutions to meet their needs. We meet our objectives as one team; capable, curious, collaborative and committed.

About Technical Services

Technical Services comprises the following core areas:

• Electrical & Mechanical Engineering
• Civil & Structural Engineering
• Asset Class Engineering
• Health & Safety
• Environmental Protection and Sustainability
• Program Support Team
• Risk, Assurance & Standards Team

Technical Services provides in-house consultancy to DIO and the wider MOD, the specialist skills available through the Technical Services team span Construction, Engineering, Physical Security Requirements, Safety Systems, Environmental Management, Sustainable Development, Access and Recreation, Historic Environment and Natural Environment.

Job description

The ‘Senior Structural Engineer – Explosives Effects’ is a key role within the Building and Civil Engineering Infrastructure (B&CEI) Team providing subject matter advice for DIO. The role forms a key element in providing the MOD’s intelligent client interface with industry and will provide specialist professional advice on the procurement, design, installation, maintenance, inspection, and refurbishment of the wide-ranging built infrastructure.

This role will provide specialist civil and structural engineering advice related to buildings and structures that are subject to weapons effects, such as blast, fragmentation, penetration and shock. The role will also provide support to the wider structures team on some of the other unique infrastructure where required.

The B&CEI team sets policy and provides safety assurance functions and technical oversight to ensure the MOD discharges its responsibilities under the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974. The work includes the investigation of incidents caused by structural defects or failures, and this may require Safety Alerts to be produced. The job also involves producing DIO technical publications to set standards or provide guidance.

The applicant must be willing to undergo Developed Vetting if required.

Person specification

As the Senior Structural Engineer (Exposive Effects) you will be responsible for:

• Maintaining MOD policy and standards documents related to explosive effects and structures.
• Provide independent assurance and reporting to ensure compliance with policy and legislation.
• Provide support to DIO Safeguarding with respect to: new and existing buildings and structures on the MOD estate; proposed new third party development.
• Conduct research and design in support of the development of DIO technical publications.
• Attend industry and cross government working groups.
• Provision of ‘ad hoc’ technical support and advice to DIO, MOD and wider industry where required.

Essential Criteria: 

The applicant must have the following:

• Specific knowledge relating to the structural engineering of buildings.
• A broad understanding of the following materials (with a deeper knowledge of at least one):
• • • Concrete
    • Masonry
    • Steel
    • Timber 
• Experience in the application of Eurocodes.
• Knowledge of the Construction Design Management (CDM) Regulations.
• Willingness to undergo training and development.

Desirable Skills and Experience:

• Blast Effects on Structures
• Explosives
• Accident and incident investigations.
• Reviewing and writing policy or design guidance.
• Sustainable construction and/or modular buildings.
• Historic structures.

It is desirable for the post holder to hold the following qualifications:

• Chartered Engineer (CEng) or Incorporated Engineer (IEng) and actively working towards Chartered Engineer (CEng) status.
• Membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers (MICE) or Structural Engineers (MIStructE).

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,080, Ministry of Defence contributes £11,632 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.

Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience. 

Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile Framework elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit.

Please provide your evidence using the STAR Technique using the attached information on how to apply.

Situation: Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand. Where are you? Who was there with you? What had happened?

Task: The recruitment panel will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in. What was the task that you had to complete and why? What did you have to achieve?

Action: What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information of what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it, and the behaviours you used. Try to use “I” rather than “we” to explain your actions that lead to the result. Be careful not to take credit for something that you did not do.

Result: Don’t be shy about taking credit for your behaviour. Quote specific facts and figures easily understandable. What results did the actions produce? What did you achieve through your actions, and did you meet your goals? Was it a successful outcome? If not, what did you learn from the experience? Keep the situation and task parts brief.

Concentrate on the action and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. Make sure you focus on your strengths. When providing your evidence please ensure that you avoid acronyms and company specific jargon.

At application you will be assessed against the following:

Experience:

• CV - detailing Job History, Previous Skills and Experience
• Personal Statement: As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a Personal Statement of 500 words, the purpose for this, is for you to showcase your relevant skills and experience against the job requirements. The statement is your opportunity to give examples of how you fit the requirements of the role.

When writing a personal statement, it is important that you:

• Read the job specification so you are clear about the job requirements
• Outline the skills and experience that you have that are relevant to the job and use examples to help demonstrate this
• Keep to the word limit, if your statement is too brief it will not provide the required depth of detail and evidence to be assessed fully
• Please do not use acronyms

We require you to provide evidence and a demonstration of specific skills, knowledge or transferable experience. This will allow you to provide evidence to show a more rounded picture of your suitability for the role.

At interview you will be assessed against the following:

Behaviours:

• Behaviour 1 – Leadership
• Behaviour 2 – Making Effective Decisions

Technical: 

Tested at Interview Stage (from UK SPEC):

• Technical 1 – Use of general and specialist engineering knowledge and understanding to apply existing and emerging technology.
• Technical 2 - Application of appropriate theoretical and practical methods to design, develop, construct and maintain infrastructure and buildings.

We want to offer opportunities to all who are successful at interview for our roles, but this isn't always possible, so we do hold candidates on an active reserve list for 12 months.

Application sifting is scheduled to take place on week commencing:1 July 2024.

Interviews are currently taking place remotely through a digital platform, this will be confirmed with the successful candidates who are invited to an interview and aim to be conducted week commencing: 15 July 2024.

A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews. We endeavour to stick to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs.

To assist with your application please find attached below:

1. DIO Candidate Information Guide
2. DIO Candidate Information Guide - Accessible Version
3. Commercial Skills and Competency Framework

For help and support with your application check out our Civil Service Careers Homepage and the How to apply section

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.