About the job

Job summary

APHA is an executive agency of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). We are responsible for identifying, managing, and controlling incidents and outbreaks of endemic and exotic diseases and pests in animals, plants, and bees, as well as carrying out research. We provide unique capabilities and an evidence base for UK government, together with international reference centre responsibilities.

Epidemiological Sciences is a nationally important, multidisciplinary department with expert skills in epidemiology, statistics, risk analysis, modelling, and data science. The successful applicant will play a critical role in the department’s function supporting government policy making through research and surveillance activities.

The job holder will apply their epidemiological expertise to support the delivery of epidemiological research and surveillance projects in the fields of national and international veterinary public health. This post will require liaison with APHA colleagues, external customers and delivery partners, provision of epidemiological, analytical and management input to various projects, design of epidemiological studies and generation of reports on surveillance trends.

Job description

The successful candidate will be contributing to the design, analysis, and successful delivery of epidemiology projects. They will be required to work both independently and collaboratively on supporting all aspects of study scoping, design, and delivery. They will be expected to assist with writing up findings in scientific literature and internal reports and present at meetings and conferences and to government policy customers. They will also be expected to maintain an up-to-date understanding of the science and methodologies relevant to the projects they are engaged in, building relationships, and collaborating with expert colleagues in APHA.

The post holder will be responsible for delivering epidemiological tasks within research and surveillance projects of the Department of Epidemiological Sciences (DES) and APHA Science departments.

Main responsibilities include:

• Development, maintenance, and application of expertise in epidemiology and the control of infectious diseases, GB livestock systems and endemic and exotic disease threats (particular post emphasis on bacterial disease and food safety, including antimicrobial resistance, and TSEs)
• Maintaining existing and building new working relationships with members of multidisciplinary project teams and with internal and external customers and stakeholders
• Managing projects or tasks to ensure successful delivery of project objectives on time and within planned budgets
• Engagement of farmers in project activities and assist with conducting farm/abattoir sampling visits and questionnaire delivery, as required
• Conducting appropriate descriptive, univariable and multivariable analysis on datasets to address research and questions and intervention monitoring
• Overseeing and supporting the production of routine disease surveillance reports, progress & final reports for research projects and scientific publications
• Presenting results at meetings and events - internal, stakeholder, customer, scientific
• Ensuring that work meets relevant quality standards
• Staff management including training, as necessary
• Providing wider flexible epidemiological support to DES as required in response to changing work requirements and priorities (such as in a disease outbreak)

Person specification

Required skills and experience:

• Handling of complex datasets and epidemiological data analysis
• Scientific and technical writing skills
• Experience of peer-review scientific publication of work
• A strong interest in animal disease epidemiology
• Experience of software packages for epidemiological analysis such as STATA or R
• Strong personal organisation, time management, inter-personal and communication skills
• A high level of experience with Microsoft Office products particularly Excel, Word, and PowerPoint

Periodic travel within the UK will be required and this could include farm or abattoir visits as part of on-going research. The successful candidate may have to ensure that no contact is made with farmed animals for a period of 1-2 days or more before visiting livestock farms. International travel to meetings and conferences may also be required.

Out of hours work may be required in the event of an incident.

Some travel will be required to attend training courses and meetings. You must have a valid driving licence or be able to call upon suitable alternate means of transport.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,136, Animal and Plant Health Agency contributes £8,676 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.

Application Process

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

For the personal statement, please write up to 500 words demonstrating how you meet the required skills and experience for this role.

Sift

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the personal statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Sift and interview dates as well as the interview location to be confirmed.

Interview

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed on Behaviours, Technical skills, and your experience.

A presentation or additional exercise may also be assessed.

Location

Please be aware that this role(s) will be contractually based in a Defra group workplace/office. The successful candidate is required to carry out all their duties from a UK location, and cannot do so from an overseas location at any time.

As part of the pre-employment process, successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. The agreed contractual workplace is then the substantive and permanent place of work for the successful candidate(s).

Where the location is 'National' the successful appointee should discuss and agree an appropriate contractual location in line with both Defra’s location policy and site capacity, prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

Successful applicants currently employed by the hiring Defra organisation for this post may choose to remain in their current contractual location or may choose to change contractual location to one of those listed above. This should be discussed and agreed prior to proceeding with pre-employment processes.

The agreed amount of time spent at a workplace for this post will reflect the requirement for Civil Servants to spend at least 60% of their working time in an organisation workplace with the option to work the remaining time flexibly from home. Working time spent at a workplace may include time spent at other organisational locations including field-based operational locations, together with supplier, customer or partner locations. This is a non-contractual agreement which is consistent with common Civil Service expectations.

Travel costs to non-contractual workplaces will be subject to departmental travel and subsistence policies. Travel costs to contractual workplaces are the responsibility of the employee.

Defra includes the core department, APHA, RPA, Cefas and VMD.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Merit Lists

Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be posted in merit order by location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application.

Near miss

Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions in APHA which may be at a lower grade but have a potential skills match.

Salary

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

Visa Sponsorship Statement

Please take note that Defra does not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License sponsor and are unable to sponsor any individuals for Skilled Worker Sponsorship.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: 

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via defrarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional

Accessibility

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

Criminal Record Check

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

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

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

Internal Fraud Database Check

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.

Full Time Only

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying. We may consider two part-time staff on a job share basis if continuity can be arranged. Part-time hours will only be considered as part of a job share.

Higher Security Clearance

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter.

The Weybridge site is a strategically important national asset due to its role as a reference laboratory supporting the Government’s response to national emergencies including disease outbreaks. For this reason all postholders based at the APHA Weybridge site must hold a valid Counter Terrorist Check (CTC) security clearance or above. It is up to each person applying for a post at APHA Weybridge to ensure they meet the CTC residency criteria. Applicants must be currently resident in the UK & have a minimum of 3 years continuous UK residency. If you cannot meet this criteria CTC clearance will not be possible as this is part of pre-employment checks before taking up the post.

Childcare Vouchers 

Any move to Defra from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.