About the job

Job summary

Do you want a career where you can make a real difference? Do you want to work in a government department that is at the forefront of current policy making decisions that will impact the UK and beyond? If yes then a career at the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) could be for you.

Here at DESNZ we are securing the UK’s long-term energy supply, bringing down energy bills and halving inflation. We are seizing the opportunities of Net Zero to lead the world in new green industries and encouraging greater energy efficiency across the UK. The work of the department has never been more timely or relevant, and by joining us you will be part of making that difference.

Our work is varied, interesting and most importantly its impactful. Our DESNZ Values are interwoven into everything we do; we are Bold, we are Collaborative, we are Inclusive and we Learn. As a department we are committed to these values to build a culture where everyone can thrive. 

We offer great working benefits including a world-class pension, flexible working options and a career where your learning and development is taken seriously. We are fortunate to have a range of excellent staff networks and are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader employer. We will support talented people from all backgrounds to build a career and thrive.

Find Out More

We regularly run events where you can find out more about the department and tips for the application process. You can sign up for upcoming events here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/departmentforenergysecurityandnetzero?

You can also follow our LinkedIn Careers Page: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/desnz-careers/

Job description

This is an exciting opportunity within the Crisis Management & Fuel Resilience (CMFR) team, supporting high-profile cross-cutting risk and resilience work at the forefront of seniors' and ministers’ priorities. You will provide critical expertise and build links between DESNZ and other partners across Government to ensure we are ready to respond to emergencies whenever they occur!

In an increasingly digitised and interconnected world, protecting the UK against cyber-attack is more vital than ever and our Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), faces evolving threats from a range of malicious cyber-actors.

You will play a key role in protecting the UK energy sector from cyber attacks by working with teams in DESNZ and across-Government, including the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), regulators and industry. You will ensure that collectively we have robust and well-practised plans in place to deal with cyber incidents.

If you would like to play a role in shaping policy and increasing the UK's cyber resilience, we would love to hear from you!

About the team:

This role sits jointly between the Emergency Response and Cyber Policy Teams. Our friendly, welcoming and supportive team ensures the risks of significant disruption to energy supplies are understood, prepared for and responded to effectively. We work across Whitehall and industry on the mitigation, prevention and reduction of risks, including severe weather (floods, storms, space weather), supply chain issues, cyber-attacks, terrorism, state actors and industrial action. Our team works reciprocally to improve the resilience of sectors, in particular the oil, gas and electricity sectors, leading on the development of contingency plans and mitigation policies.

Our team provides emergency response coordination across DESNZ's portfolio. We bring together the different strands of complex response operations and feed into cross-government COBR response structures and activity. We collaboratively develop and exercise plans and provide bespoke emergency response training to make sure that government is ready to respond effectively to incidents that threaten our areas of interest.

Person specification

Cyber security might sound technical, but effective response and preparedness for cyber incidents comes down to understanding and communicating the risk. This means knowing what mitigations and actions need to be taken, being prepared to respond and working with key partners to collectively act according to the practised and integrated processes we have in place.

We are looking for a talented HEO (or someone ready for promotion) who is able to build and maintain productive relationships with partners, and deliver against our and strategic and business objectives.

Working in our Emergency Response: Capabilities and Operations (ERCO) Team, you will focus on ensuring DESNZ have plans and processes in place to respond effectively to cyber incidents within the sectors DESNZ is responsible for. You will work alongside our Cyber Policy Team to ensure departmental and industry plans complement each other and assure that they are clear, detailed and set out how the Department deals with cyber incidents. You will also manage the cyber exercising programme that test our plans and people. This work is vital in assuring seniors and ministers.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Support the delivery of the cyber incident response plan and work to respond to cyber incidents as a Lead Government Department during crises.
  
• Deliver our cyber exercising programme to ensure Government and industry have effective and regularly tested cyber incident response plans in place and ensure that these exercises dovetail into DESNZ and other Government cyber incident response plans.
  
• Support the design and development of internal DESNZ cyber incident response exercises to build capability within DESNZ. Capture lessons identified from all activities and ensure we are proactively monitoring the implementation of those lessons.
  
• Work with the Cyber Policy Team to ensure that DESNZ activities on preparedness align with industries plans and activities.
  
• Maintain situational awareness of threats and incidents in the energy sector to ensure incident management plans and exercising scenarios are up to date in line with the cyber threat
  
• Support DESNZ's response to cyber security incidents as required.
  
• Maintain a network with other DESNZ teams, ensuring advice and support on cyber incident response policy.
  
• Participate in cross-Whitehall cyber exercising as and when appropriate.
  
• Engage and collaborate with NCSC and our regulators to develop new standards and platforms for cyber testing and training.
  
• Play a key role in the wider DESNZ emergency on-call and response functions.
  

Other key responsibilities will be:

• Lead by example, helping to promote a positive culture of diversity, inclusion and collaboration within our team and beyond.
  
• Drive yours and others personal development, ensuring we/they are happy, motivated and clear in our/their objectives and priorities.
  
• Maintain positive relationships with stakeholders to ensure a multidisciplinary and combined approach and interact with appropriate organisations across HMG and
• Agencies to work collaboratively on capability development and positively promote DESNZ' interests;
  
• Communicate effectively to provide advice and support internally and externally to partners and staff.

Skills and experience

You do not need to be a cyber security or a crisis management specialist, as we provide on the job training. This role would suit someone who is practically minded or who has an interest in moving into national security and/or crisis management policy.  Experience of the energy sector, incident management, cyber security and/or crisis management is desirable but not necessary.

We are looking for someone who is flexible, proactive, enthusiastic and energetic, who can learn quickly and work collaboratively with others across industry and wider government.

Essential criteria

You will:

• Be able to work with stakeholders to deliver against shared priorities and programmes of work.
  
• Enjoy delivering across multiple concurrent workstreams, prioritising when needed and meeting deadlines.
  
• Enjoy solving problems and developing policy solutions, possibly in a crisis management setting.
  
• Have an eye for detail and good analytical and data skills.
• Cyber security or crisis management experience useful but not essential.
  
• Emergencies can occur at any time so you will become a member of the Out of Hours Emergency Rota (roughly 1 week in 6), providing a 24hr/7days a week capability. An additional allowance is provided for this function.
  
• Have or be willing to acquire DV security clearance, which is essential for this role. The DV process can be completed in post, and requires you have 10 years residency in the UK and UK National Status. (Please contact the vacancy manager if you are unsure whether you meet these requirements).

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,410, Department for Energy Security & Net Zero contributes £9,290 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, Strengths and Experience.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV, personal statement and a number of behavioural statements.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 500 words) to explain why you are interested in the role and what you would bring to the team

Please note - the CV incorporated into the application form is for information purposes only and will not be scored.

Applications will be sifted on behavioural statements and personal statement.

In the event of a large number of applicants, applications will be sifted on the lead behavioural statement - Delivering at Pace.

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

The interview will consist of behaviour and strength based questions.

Sift and interview dates

Expected Timeline subject to change

Sift dates: w/c 22/01/2024

Interview dates: w/c 05/02/2024

Interview Location: MS Teams.

Candidates are asked to note the above timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process.

Further Information

Reasonable Adjustment

We are proud to be a disability confident leader and we welcome applications from disabled candidates and candidates with long-term conditions.

We fully support adjustments throughout our recruitment process and we encourage candidates to discuss their adjustment needs by emailing the job contact which can be found under the contact point for applicants section.

We do not have an exhaustive list of adjustments that we support but just some examples include additional time to complete your application form, behaviour questions up to 72 hours prior to interview and having extra time at interview. 

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

A location-based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero  from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

DESNZ does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home). 

DESNZ cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign.

DESNZ holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. 

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Feedback

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 developed vetting (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.