About the job

Job summary

The Futures Team provides the threat-informed, long-term global strategic context for policy, strategy and capability development. In collaboration with their global network the Team considers what the future might look like in the coming decades and publishes its thoughts and findings through its Global Strategic Trends Programme. Beyond this work within MOD, the Futures Team contributes to cross-government thinking about the future and works closely with international partners and allies.

You will be responsible for ‘Futures’ and horizon scanning to inform Defence policy and strategy, in particular the delivery of Global Strategic Trends (GST) which is the main forward-looking analysis drawn on by MOD and His Majesty’s Government to inform strategic defence reviews.

Job description

The current responsibilities of the role include:

• Lead a team of 17 Futures staff including two G7s and a large (50%) multinational contingent - Support professional development and improve well-being and promote an inclusive culture, working to increase understanding and engagement through initiative and education.
• Maintain DCDC’s role as the primary Departmental Foresight provider out to 30 years, ensuring Global Strategic Trends (GST) and other Futures’ products meet the requirements of Director Strategy and Director Secretary of State’s Office, Net Assessment and Challenge (SONAC) in providing the contextual baseline for national-level security and defence reviews.
• Develop and run a multi-year GST programme. Bring forward compelling insights that address the potential impact for Defence of long-term trends. 
• Drive innovative approaches to the delivery of the Futures’ programme, by leveraging new technologies (big data analytics, AI) that can enhance and accelerate DCDC Futures analysis. Deliver a transformation of DCDC Futures to digitised and AI-ready modes.
• Responsibility for a Futures research, publication, communications and engagement budget of circa £1M.
• Deliver communications plan, including Ministerial, Senior and Parliamentary briefings, major conferences, engagement with think tanks, academia and others. Promote DCDC Futures outputs through digital means.
• Contribute to conceptual interoperability and Defence Engagement with NATO, principal allies in accordance with Ministry of Defence priorities, Northern Group and the Multi-national Capability Development Campaign (MCDC). Expand DCDC Futures multinational network and participation in core and new regions including Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC), the Middle East, Africa, and countries identified form the Middle Powers strategy. Maintain existing networks in the US, Europe, NATO and the Indo-Pacific. Adjudicate in respect of competing demands/opportunities for partner engagement.
• Deputise for Director DCDC when required. As a member of the DCDC Management Board and Senior Leadership Team, and as DCDC’s senior Civil Servant, role model good behaviours, including promotion of engagement with cross-cutting activity.

Person specification

The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate their experience and skills against the following essential criteria:

• Excellent leadership skills with an ability to create and present a strategic vision or direction, that motivates and empowers others to work towards a common goal. You will also need to demonstrate how you are able to build and lead high performing, diverse and inclusive teams in a matrixed environment.
• Senior experience leading on policy development and solving complex policy problems and issues. You will need to highlight the problems you identified and how you were able to solve them.
• An excellent strategic thinker with a proven track record of using knowledge and experience to create and contribute to a culture of innovation, around complex operational and policy issues, using evidence-based strategies to evaluate the full range of options, understand the impacts and get the right solutions.
• Proven experience in shaping technical and analytical strategies for projects or programmes. Proven ability to communicate highly technical content to non-technical audiences, both verbally and in writing.
• Proven experience of senior stakeholder management in a political, pressured environment with evidence of being able to build a strong network of collaborative relationships at all levels, including at Board level. You must also demonstrate how and when you have been able to influence senior officials within a complex environment.
• Experience in making difficult decisions using sound judgement, evidence and knowledge to provide accurate, expert and professional advice. You must also demonstrate your ability to defend your decision making, and challenge senior officials where necessary.

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

To apply for this post, you will need to complete the online application process accessed via the advertisement listed for this role. This should be completed no later than 23:55 on Sunday 28th July 2024 and will involve providing the two documents outlined below via the Civil Service Jobs portal:

• A CV (no more than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you have provided reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
• A Personal Statement (no more than 2 pages) explaining how your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role. 

Both documents are weighted equally in their scoring, so it's important to consider this when uploading your application. Failure to submit both documents will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the criteria in the person specification. 

For further information about the role and full application process, please refer to the candidate pack attached below. If you wish to receive any material in a different format for accessibility, then please contact People-CivHR-SCSCandidateSupport@mod.gov.uk.

Q&A session

Air Vice-Marshal Fin Monahan will be offering an online Q&A session on Wednesday 24th July between 14:00 – 14:45 to provide an overview of the role and welcome any questions you may have. Candidates can access the meeting by clicking here. Please note this is not part of the formal assessment process.

Security

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

Open to UK nationals only.

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.