About the job

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a dedicated individual to work in the Programme Management Office (PMO) for the F-35 Lightning Programme, in Air Capability at Air Command, RAF High Wycombe.  The PMO directly supports the Programme Director and Senior Responsible Owner of this complex programme to ensure successful delivery of this capability to the Front Line. 

Following the MOD's defined standards and processes for project and programme management, this role will implement and share best practice within and outside the Lightning team, cohering risk, programme governance, assurance and information management to best manage all programme information. The successful applicant will be required to apply best practice in support of the PMO Team Lead to implement the Programme battle rhythm and lead in the area of Information Management.

This role is an excellent opportunity for the successful candidate to gain valuable PMO experience on a high profile Defence Programme.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office, will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.

This post is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

This post is part of the F-35 Lightning PMO, and is an integral post in this critical programme. 

This role presents an excellent opportunity to gain valuable Portfolio, Programme and Project Management (P3M) experience across a complex programme, enhanced by on the job training opportunities that offer the ability to gain professional P3M qualifications.

As a member of the F-35 Lightning PMO Team, you will be actively involved in the scheduling, running and subsequent reporting from a variety of governance boards and working groups. This is a high profile programme and as such, no two days are the same. Responsibilities are varied and will include:

• Engage on a daily basis with the programme stakeholder communities to progress delivery and assist with the drafting, management and on-going version control of the necessary supporting P3M documentation and artefacts;
• Management of Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies and Opportunities to ensure timely and accurate reporting in our internal reporting system, PARMIS;
• Participation in Learning from Experience and Continuous Improvement and Stakeholder management;
• Management of external Assurance activity and engagement with other government departments as part of the annual assurance process
• Implement the meeting battle rhythm by facilitating all key meetings, providing secretariat support to the wider team
  and recording actions and decisions to track to completion.
• Action the change control process to maintain version control of Programme defining information.
• Cover SEO responsibilities during periods of gapping or absence.

Person specification

The successful candidate will ideally have some qualifications and experience in programme and/or project management although this is not essential. Training will be given where required.  You will:

• Have sound written and oral communications skills (writing records of meeting and liaising with Stakeholders).
• Be a strong team player and be able to work supervised and independently.
• Experience of working with Sharepoint and MS Teams.
• Deliver outputs within acceptable time limits and to an established battle-rhythm. On occasion turn work around quickly to meet wider demands.
• Take a proactive approach, demonstrating flexibility and innovation when faced with challenges.
  
• Show commitment to personal development.
• Be able to work primarily from the office at RAF High Wycombe and occasionally from MOD Abbey Wood (Bristol) and RAF Marham; (expect 3 days per week) as well as from home.

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 and Experience.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history; qualification details and previous skills and experience.  

We will assess your application against the following behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace - Application and Interview
• Managing a Quality Service - Application
• Changing and Improving - Application and Interview
• Developing Self and Others - Interview
• Working Together - Interview

After an initial sift, candidates will be invited to interview. Owing to the proximity to Christmas, it is expected that interviews will take place in January.

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

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.