About the job

Job summary

The Defence Safety Authority (DSA) is responsible for the regulation of Defence Health, Safety and Environmental Protection (HS&EP), operating under a Charter from the Secretary of State for Defence (SofS). The DSA provides independent assurance direct to the SofS that the law is followed and the policy on HS&EP in Defence is being promoted and implemented. This regulation is achieved through proportional and appropriate evidence-based assessment of the activity that supports the Defence’s operational imperatives. The DSA hosts Defence safety and environmental regulators across all operating environments and incorporates the Defence Accident Investigation Branch (DAIB) and a HQ within a single independent organisation led by a 3* military officer.

The Defence Maritime Regulator (DMR) Vision is to provide high-quality safety and environmental protection across the Defence Maritime Domain through assurance, regulation and enforcement to support the generation of operational capability. The DMR Mission to protect people and the environment from harm arising from Defence Maritime Activity. This allows DMR to provide the SofS for Defence the required assurance that appropriate standards of Maritime HS&EP are maintained and delivered across Maritime Activities.

DMR consists of four teams:

• Regulation and Compliance (R&C) – responsible for developing and maintaining the HS&EP regulations and associated documents, monitoring compliance across the Maritime Domain, managing the Defence Legislation Support Tool (DLST), the Defence Shipping Register (DSR) and the Maritime Activities Register (MAR).
• Executive and Enabling – responsible for management and analysis of regulatory information, tools and business planning.
• DMR Inspectorate (divided into two Grade 7 areas of responsibility) – responsible for third party assurance of Maritime Activities. This includes Defence Shipping, Ports and Harbours, and Diving. Assurance of the Maritime component of the Defence Safety and Environmental Management System through audit and inspection of Accountable Person organisation and arrangements, and regulatory compliance.

The two Inspectorate Team:

• Shipping: provides third party assurance of Shipping and Diving within Defence through regular engagement and programmed audits.
• Maritime Services: provides assurance of all other activity within Defence, including ports and harbours and boats, through regular engagement and programmed audits.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week

Job description

This is a Marine Services Officer Grade 1 (MSO1) retained grade post based in Bristol or Portsmouth within the Inspectorate (Shipping and Diving) of DMR within the DSA.

This is an exciting, unique opportunity for a suitably qualified and experienced person to join a dynamic team. The role will be responsible for leading assurance activity across the entire submarine enterprise, from acquisitions, in-service operations to submarine disposal. The successful candidate will have extensive experience of the submarine enterprise and deliver advice , guidance and assurance information to all levels of the Defence Maritime Domain, including to both civilian and military Senior Management.

The post holder will need to be a proven self-starter capable of acting independently, able to communicate effectively both verbally and written.  Also capable of interacting at all levels in both a commercial and military context to build relations with key stakeholders.  There will be huge opportunities for the successful candidate to grow their experience in safety and environmental management and/or assurance within the Defence maritime domain. The successful candidate will work in the Defence Maritime Regulator (DMR) Inspectorate Team as an Inspector.  Travel around the UK and sometimes overseas will be required. 

Line management responsibility is expected of this post. The successful candidate will need the ability to work effectively in a team and take ownership of their own tasks driving them to completion, whilst maintaining relationships across the DMR, DSA and the Regulated Community. The successful candidate is expected to hold an SC Security clearance, however should meetings or engagements require additional clearance as this role develops then the candidate should be aware of a potential need to achieve Developed Vetting. 

Primary Responsibilities:

• To Deliver against the DMR Audit programme;
  • Generate relationships, routes to gathering assurance and providing exert insight into the Submarine Domain.
  • Generating and delivering audit activity, and input into DMR’s assurance processes as the leading expert on Submarine safety within DMR.
  • Supporting Inspectorate audits as directed by the DMR Management board.
  • Gather regulatory intelligence within the maritime domain to assist in the development of the audit programme;
• Support DMR in assuring the Defence Maritime Regulator that Duty Holders have in place safety systems as part of a safety and environmental management system that delivers compliance with DMR Regulations.
• Maintain an environmental protection focus.
• Make recommendations to DMR senior management team on subsequent courses of action.

Secondary Responsibilities:

• Identify potential improvements in maritime safety and environmental protection, drawing on evidence from assurance of stakeholders, accident and incident investigations, trend analysis, benchmarking against other organisations and stakeholder feedback.
• Support the development of DMR processes.
• Promote the spread of good safety and environmental practices from other domains and organisations.
• Provide advice and guidance on the interpretation of policy and general safety and environmental protection and provide advice to Accountable Persons and their departments (where this does not compromise the independence of the team).
• Answer Parliamentary or Freedom of Information Act questions.
• Investigate serious events as directed by the Maritime Regulator.
• Support other areas of the team where necessary.
• Contribute to Learning from Experience (LFE).

If you need to contact Defence Business Services (DBS) regarding this vacancy, please indicate that your vacancy is being handled by Resourcing Team 1. 

If you experience any technical difficulties with the CS Jobs system, please contact the Support Team at candidate@support.oleeo.com 

Person specification

Essential skills:

• Minimum of five years’ experience within the Submarine domain.
• Experience of Submarine Engineering or Operations, and Submarine Safety.
• Experience of audit and/or assurance processes.
• Safety and environmental protection knowledge.
• Working with stakeholders external to your business area/organisation.

Mandatory Qualifications:  On entry, maritime professional staff joining as an MSO1 Retained Grade must have at least one of the qualifications: 

1) Maritime Coastguard Agency Recognised STCW II/2 Master unlimited certificate of Competency; or

2) MCA Recognised STCW III/2 Chief Engineer unlimited Certificate of Competency; or

3) RN Ship Command Qualifications or Engineering Equivalent; or

4) Degree or Equivalent in; Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Marine Technology or Port Operations.

5) Qualifications in support of Shipping or Port Operations or Maritime Engineering

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £59,498, Ministry of Defence contributes £14,698 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.

The selection process will through Sift of CS Jobs Application, and then interviews to candidates successful at sift. 

The behaviours to be assessed are: 

• Communicating and Influencing (application and interview),
• Leadership (application and interview),
• Seeing the Bigger Picture (application and interview),

Technical Skills:

• HS&EP functional competency; Inspection, Audit and Assurance
• HS&EP functional competency; Hazard and Risk

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.

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights. 

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.