About the job

Job summary

Diverse Perspectives and experiences are critical to our success, and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role. We look forward to receiving your application.

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.

At the Health and Safety Executive, we believe everyone has the right to come home safe and well from their job. That's why our mission is protecting people and places, helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.

We don't just inspect workplaces and investigate incidents, we campaign for better Health & Safety practice, we develop and review guidance and regulations, we provide specialist products and services both here and overseas, and we produce crucial research and statistics, all towards our goal of helping Great Britain work well.

We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic Physicist, Acoustician or allied scientific discipline with experience and understanding of human exposure to noise / vibration in the workplace or in the wider environment to join the Exposure Assessment and Control (EAC) Team at the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).

EAC is part of HSE Science Divisions' Health Group whose purpose is to prevent worker ill health caused by exposure to chemical, physical and biological hazards.

In this role you will develop and manage the portfolio of research and scientific support in noise and vibration that underpins HSE's guidance and regulatory approach.

This is an excellent opportunity for a professional to make their mark on an organisation dedicated to protecting people and places and helping to lead safer and healthier lives. The position will be based at our Science & Research Centre in Buxton, Derbyshire. The Centre is an internationally renowned scientific facility for health and safety, employing scientific, medical and technical specialists in a purpose-built laboratory at our 550-acre site. 

Job description

The responsibilities of your role will include but will not be limited to:

• Develop and lead the delivery of a portfolio of work for HSE and other stakeholders on noise and vibration exposure and control in humans within the wider context of workplace health risk management. This will include working with colleagues/end users from original idea stage through to project approval and final delivery of outputs.
• Lead and develop the technical capacity and professional standing of the science of noise and vibration exposure and control and keep up to date with developments in the worldwide community. Also, to identify suitable continuous professional development (CPD) and training opportunities.
• Technically lead projects as appropriate including identifying skills and resource required from other colleagues and working with them and project managers to direct and suitably deploy resource.
• Work with and encourage team colleagues to conduct innovative research and development that is aligned to SD's business and science strategies.
• Present findings of research to HSE, industry stakeholders and scientific peers in the UK and internationally.
• Travel for site visits and meetings as required, as well as taking the opportunity for attendance at conferences both within and occasionally outside the UK.
• Apply your expertise in other technical areas within the context of health risk management e.g. aerosols, ventilation, RPE if required. 

Part time working hours are available for this role. We can accept part time applicants who can commit to working a minimum of 30 hours per week.

At HSE, we are proud to be able to offer our people the opportunity to work in a hybrid way which combines working from home and the office. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your allocated office will be your contractual place of work. There will be a requirement to travel to the office for various activities e.g., collaborative working, supporting and training colleagues. If hybrid working is suitable for you and your role, the arrangements will be determined primarily by business need, but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. Therefore, we would encourage candidates to consider if the commute from home to the office is a feasible distance to travel before making an application. Please note that if you are successful, hybrid working will be discussed prior to taking up the post.

The practical laboratory-based nature of the work does mean there will be a requirement to regularly attend the Buxton site for routine work activities and collaborative working. In addition, you may be required to travel across the UK for site visits, including overnight stays.

Whatever your role, we take your career and development seriously, and want to enable you to build a fulfilling and successful career with HSE and the wider Civil Service. It is crucial that our employees have the right skills to develop their careers and meet the challenges ahead; you will benefit from regular performance and development reviews to ensure this development is ongoing. As a Civil Service employee, you will be entitled to a large range of benefits, including payment of relevant professional memberships and access to learning and development.

More details about the services available at the Science & Research Centre and HSE can be found on our website here: www.hsl.gov.uk 

Person specification

Essential skills:

You will have:

• Significant, relevant and recent practical experience of leading research or assessment and management of human exposure to noise and/or vibration. Experience within the workplace, environmental impact assessment, product safety or other contexts will be considered.
• Significant experience of leading, motivating and managing other project team members.
• Significant experience of initiating and developing projects from initial idea to final delivery including for example
  writing research proposals, business cases and/or applications for funding.
• The ability to work both as part of a multidisciplinary team and autonomously across boundaries of the Science
  Division and rest of HSE, promoting cross team working and effective communication to identify solutions and ensure work can be delivered.
• Excellent communication skills, enabling you to manage and collaborate effectively, maintain positive professional working relationships, engage with others and influence at all levels both within HSE and with external collaborators and stakeholders.
• Outstanding organisational and preparedness skills for planning, scheduling and undertaking a varied workload, including the ability to work on multiple projects at any one time, to maximise productivity and ensure delivery to time, cost and quality.

Desirable past experience and skills:

Data analysis capability including, familiarity with noise and/or vibration data acquisition systems, the ability to write code e.g. Matlab, Visual Basic, Python, R script, and develop and operate databases (e.g. Access). 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,788, Health and Safety Executive contributes £11,012 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 Guidance:

To apply for this post please supply a CV which demonstrates your job history, qualifications, skills and experience and how these meet the job description responsibilities and person specification for the role, as outlined in the advert. 

SIFT:
At sift, we will assess your CV against the 'Responsibilities' and the 'Essential Skills' listed in the advert. The sift will take place during the week commencing 5th February 2024.

Interview information:
If you are successful at the sift stage, there will be a 2 stage interview process. Please see below further information:

Interview stage 1: If successful at sift stage, the first stage interview will take place Tuesday 13 February 2024.

You will be invited to a MS Teams video interview. Within the first stage interview we will assess you against the 'Responsibilities' and 'Person Specification' criteria for the role.

If successful at interview stage 1, you will be invited to interview stage 2, which will be held in person at HSE Buxton. 

Interview stage 2: will be in person at HSE Buxton, and will take place Monday 4th March 2024.

You will be assessed on your experience, behaviours and technical skills aligned to the 'Responsibilities' and 'Person Specification' criteria for the role. This in person interview will explore in more depth, compared to interview 1, your skills and experience.

All dates are subject to change and you will be notified. 

Please note that a Reserve List will be held for the period of up to 12 months.

Due to the nature of security checks undertaken, applicants must have 3 years continuous residency in the UK up to the date of the application and, Home Office approval for indefinite leave to remain within the UK.

It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful in their application.

For a summary of HSE terms and conditions as part of Civil Service Reform, please see the attached document.

Any move to HSE 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.

If you have a disability and you need an application form in an alternative format or you would like to know more about our recruitment process, please contact: hr.resourcing-team@hse.gov.uk.

Please note, if you are a current civil servant and you are currently undergoing any of the following formal actions your application will not be progressed any further; Formal discipline action, any formal action regarding attendance, poor performance or any restriction of duties as a result of disciplinary action.

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.