About the job

Job summary

Your Role: Are you looking for a high-reaching and exciting role that can make a real difference? Do you have the passion and dedication to be part of an ambitious organisation at the forefront of supporting the Ministry of Defence to ensure the safety of personnel and protection of the environment? If so, then we would like to hear from you!

As part of a cohesive and friendly assurance team you will be encouraged to use your analytical skills and awareness of system safety to aid you with identifying areas for improvement within the organisation’s regulation set and acceptable means for compliance. As part of an assurance team you will assist in the completion of sophisticated end to end audits that will allow you to articulate recommendations to reduce risk to an acceptable level and when required, contribute to the raising of enforcement action against unsafe practices. Your developed communication skills are key to conveying facts and information you identify through your analysis. You should also be at ease with producing written reports and technical briefings to a range of stakeholders across the Ministry of Defence.

If you have an interest in safety, have an inquisitive mind, and wish to make a difference then we would be delighted to receive your application.

The Organisation: The Defence Safety Authority (DSA) is responsible for the regulation of Defence health, safety, and environmental protection. Its purpose is to provide independent, evidence- based assurance to the Secretary of State for Defence (SoS), that their policy on safety in Defence is being promoted and implemented within the course of Defence activities. The DSA brings together the MOD safety regulators across all environments, including maritime, air, land, nuclear, ordnance and fire, and accident investigators into a single independent organisation led by a 3* officer.

Our Department: The Defence Land Safety Regulator (DLSR) is one of 9 Regulators that sit within DSA, and it regulates the acquisition and use of equipment that operates on land, the safe conduct of Defence Movement and Transport activities, the licensing of all Defence fuel and gas installations worldwide and all Defence Adventurous Training centres. DLSR consists of circa 70 personnel and comprises of four Sub-Regulators: Adventurous Training Safety Regulator (ATSR), Fuel and Gas Safety Regulator (FGSR), Land Systems Safety Regulator (LSSR) and Movement and Transport Safety Regulator (MTSR). Your position sits within LSSR.

At the DSA, we are committed to equal employment opportunities and building a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunities Employer recruiting solely based on merit; we strive to eradicate bias and search for all types of talent. We work diligently to ensure every social group can feel included; our dedication to diversity is evident across our organization and reflects our vision of encouraging an inclusive workforce that harnesses the power of difference to safeguard our nation's security and stability.

We’ll also ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request further information.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week. 

Job description

As a growing organisation we have a fantastic opportunity for dedicated individuals to join us. This role will offer you the opportunity to work within the Land System Safety Regulator, to independently regulate safety and environmental protection for the acquisition, management and operation of ground-based vehicles and equipment used across the entire Defence portfolio. These could range from robotic autonomous vehicles, a main battle tank, a flight simulator or even a secret communications system. Within the team you will analyse and exploit land systems safety and environmental information, advise regulatory intervention and assist in the identification and reporting of land system risk areas, thereby contributing to reducing Risks to Life (RtL) and improving Health, Safety and Environmental Protection (HS&EP) across Defence.

The work undertaken by the LSSR team is interesting and exciting, no two days will be the same and you will be encouraged to immerse yourself in a mixture of wide-ranging tasks, and to use your natural curiosity, communication, and analytical skills to engage with partners across Defence.

You will work closely with external Defence safety and assurance organisations to develop relationships, gain an understanding of issues, share information arising from risk-based analysis, and conduct audits, both remote desk-based and site-based as appropriate.

Using analytical skills, you will review data looking for trends and areas which require you to conduct further investigation so that risk to life activities can be reduced and the likelihood of further injuries and/or damage to equipment can be minimised.

When applicable, you will recommend any enforcement action where breaches in regulations have occurred or where a risk is deemed unacceptable, and improvement is required.

Exploiting your excellent writing skills, you will produce comprehensive electronic post inspection reports explaining in detail any areas of non-compliance as well as making recommendations for improvement.

Your considered opinions will be invaluable to numerous related working groups and stakeholder committee meetings which you will actively participate in, offering succinct and accurate advice.

As a self-disciplined operator you will develop and sustain an expert level of knowledge of ground-based systems pertinent to Defence including the relevant policies and regulations.

You will be expected to collaborate with others and provide advice and guidance with regards to changes within HSE regulations for possible read across into updating Defence policy.

Occasionally you may be required to provide ad-hoc support to, and deputise for, the team’s Lead Auditor.

Person specification

Person Specification

• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work flexibly in order to meet stretching deadlines.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Can work independently and as part of a wider team.
• Ability to interact and engage confidently with a range of stakeholders across Defence.
• Experience of conducting assurance activity is desirable but not essential.

Desirable Experience

• Audit or assurance experience
• Safety management
• Project management
• System design
• Engineering
• Quality management
• Legislation compliance
• Information analysis

Previous experience of any of these roles would provide transferable skills and be very welcome however they are not essential, and training will be provided.

Desirable Qualifications

• Lead Auditor of Safety Management Systems (ISO 45001)
• National Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety (NEBOSH)
• System Safety Awareness Online

 If you do not hold these desirable qualifications, for the successful applicant, attendance on these courses can be arranged.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,290, Ministry of Defence contributes £9,528 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.

CV – this has been asked for to show your job history, as well as your previous skills and experience relevant to system safety.

 Behaviours

 As part of the application process, you will be required to submit a different example of when you have demonstrated each of the Civil Service Behaviours below. Your examples must be no more than 250 words for each.

• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership (interview only)
• Seeing the Big Picture (interview only)
• Making Effective Decisions (interview only)

 Please use the ‘STAR’ technique when writing your examples to enable you to provide a meaningful and complete example for assessment. For those not familiar with STAR, it is an acronym that stands for:

• Situation
• Task
• Action
• Result.

 It is suggested that you make full use of the 250 word-allowance available, ensuring you provide full details of your own actions and how you have fully demonstrated all aspects of the Behaviour at the level of the role applied for. As a guide, approximately 70% of the word-allowance should be used to describe your actions.

Technical Competence or Other

System Safety – as a successful auditor within LSSR you will be required to understand System Safety. Please tell us what you understand about System Safety (interview only).

Sift

Within 10 days of the advert closure date, the sift will be conducted. If a large number of applications are received, then an initial sift may be held on the lead behaviour, Communicating & Influencing, and your experience. All other behaviours will be assessed if you progress to full sift.

Interviews

Interviews are expected to take place at MOD Abbey Wood North, in the week commencing 18 Dec. The panel will ask questions to explore what you are capable of and your experience. You will be expected to use DIFFERENT Behaviour examples at interview to the ones you provide on your application form.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.

Candidates who meet the requirements for the position but are unsuccessful on this occasion may be placed on a Reserve list and may be offered a similar position at the same or a lower grade should one become available within the next 12 months.

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.

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.