About the job

Job summary

Facilities Technician

Grade EO (National) - £25,976 to £30,264

UKHSA Porton Down

Permanent Contract

*Site Stipulates the need for Security Check Clearance, which requires residency for the last 5 years in the UK*

We have an exciting opportunity within the High Containment and Biological Services! High Containment and Biological Services operate within and supports the wider UKHSA mission to provide health security for the nation by protecting from infectious disease and external hazards Biological Services provides high containment in-vivo capability to support this mission. Ongoing areas of work include vaccine batch release testing, influenza, COVID-19, tuberculosis, anthrax, and emerging human pathogens 

As a Facilities Technician, your role is crucial in supporting the facilities team. You play a vital part in ensuring ongoing compliance with the statutory requirements of an animal facility. This includes managing materials, equipment, and facilities to ensure they meet the necessary standards for their intended purpose.

UKHSA Porton Down – on-site

*Please be aware that this role can only be worked from within the UK and not overseas. Relocation expenses are not available.* 

Working Pattern – Full Time – 37.5 hours per week

Job description

Responsibilities section:

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

• Responsible for the identification and ordering of suitable specialist equipment and stock control management and coordination of essential equipment for servicing/repair, liaising with external groups where necessary.
• Liaise with Validation and Calibration group, planning and coordinating essential equipment for testing.
• Ensure that all faults are reported and follow up action documented in line with UKHSA Quality Systems.
• Ensuring database systems (such as Maximo) capture all essential equipment held within the facility.
• Management of contractors/visitors attending site, booking in and S1’s covering tasks.
• Manage all equipment logbooks ensuring that they are up to date and signed.

• Assisting procurement as appropriate, ensuring that orders are placed, processed and receipted in a timely and cost-effective manner.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The Job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary.

Please see job description attached for full list of duties and competencies associated with the post.

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

It is important through your application and Statement of Suitability of 1000 words that you give evidence and examples of proven experience of each of the essential criteria (for full details of all essential criteria please refer to the attached job description):

Essential

• Good general education including a scientific subject (GCSE level).
• Can demonstrate reliability & the ability to work as part of a team.
• Awareness of the regulatory requirements that the facility operates to, e.g. Home Office, Health and Safety Executive, and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
• Achieve and maintain SC level of security clearance.
• Understanding of why animals are used for research purposes
• To be able to communicate effectively with peers, managers, and scientists

Desirable

• Experience of working in an animal facility.
• Experience of working in a regulated environment.
• Experience of working in a safety critical environment 

Please ensure that your statement of suitability does not contain any personal identifiers such as Name, Gender, Location, Marital Status, Sexual Orientation or Religion. The UKHSA operates a fair and open recruitment policy.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £25,976, UK Health Security Agency contributes £7,013 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

Selection process details

STAGE 1 - APPLICATION & SIFT: 

You will be required to complete an application form. This will be assessed in line with the full list of essential criteria as detailed in the attached job description – please do provide evidence of how you meet this. 

If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to an interview.

STAGE 2 – INTERVIEW 

This competition will involve a face to face interview. 

As part of the process, candidates will be invited to interview which will involve an in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence in relation to the criteria set out in the Person Specification. 

Your Statement of Suitability should outline your skills, experience, and achievements, providing evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria (outlined in the person specification section).

You will also be asked to provide information within the ‘Employer/ Activity history’ section of the application form. This is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV, setting out your career history.

The Success Profiles framework will be used to assess and recruit the most suitable candidate.  The following behaviours will be used at the interview:

• Changing and improving
• Working together
• Managing a quality service
• Delivery at pace

Expected Timeline:

Advert close: 23:55hrs on 11th April 2024 – unfortunately, late applications will not be considered. Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Shortlist: 22nd April 2024

Interviews: w/c 7th May 2024

Please note these dates could be subject to change.  

Eligibility Criteria

Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants)

Nationality requirements

Appointments to roles within UKHSA will be made in accordance with the Civil Service nationality rules. These can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• Nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• Certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.

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 welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

Security clearance level requirement

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.  Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Basic Personnel Security Standard.  People working with government assets must complete SC Clearance.

For meaningful National Security Vetting checks to be carried out individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 5 years as the role requires Security Check (SC) clearance.

For posts on UKHSA Civil Service terms and conditions, new entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band. For existing Civil Servants and roles advertised across government, the rules of transfer apply, i.e., level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive a 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest. 

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.