About the job

Job summary

His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde (HMNB Clyde) is home to the United Kingdom’s Strategic Nuclear Deterrent, Astute Class Attack Submarines, First Mine Counter Measure Squadron and 43 Cdo Royal Marines. It is an operational support and maintenance base, within the Navy Command TLB and comprises both Faslane and Coulport sites. HMNB Clyde’s primary purpose is to provide engineering and logistical support to the Royal Navy in maintaining Continuous at Sea Deterrent (CASD). This is achieved by ensuring at least one Vanguard Class submarine is on patrol at sea every day of the year.

RNAD Coulport is responsible for the storage, processing, maintenance and issue of the Trident Weapon System and the munitioning of all submarine-embarked tactical weapons.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

This is an exciting opportunity for someone experienced in the field of radiation protection and radioactive waste management. As part of a small team of professional health physicists you will be responsible for providing advice to line managers on the requirements of IRR17, EASR18, REPPIR19 and other related legislation. After training you will be part of an ‘on-call’ roster for operational health physics advice and to respond in the event of a radiation accident or radiation emergency.

Key responsibilities of this role include:

• To provide advice on radiation protection, radioactive waste management and nuclear emergency response
• To review and update radiation protection policy and practices to meet statutory requirements and reflect best practice
• To act as Intelligent Customer for the receipt of services provided by the Base’s commercial partners at Faslane, Coulport and Rosyth
• To conduct routine and discretionary audits of facilities working with ionising radiations and the arrangements for nuclear emergency response
• To carry out investigations into events and occurrences with radiological implications
• To liaise with relevant regulators including DNSR, ONR and SEPA

The Terms of Reference and Responsibilities attached to the advert provide further details of the HPPS1 role.

If you need to contact Defence Business Services (DBS) regarding this vacancy, please indicate that your vacancy is being handled by Resourcing Team 1.  

If you experience any technical difficulties with the CS Jobs system, please contact the Support Team at candidate@support.oleeo.com. 

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. 

The successful applicant will have contact with patients and service users.  During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been necessary to take significant steps to protect the health and safety of our staff, patients and service users.  MOD policy remains aligned with the government position that vaccines are the best way to protect yourself and others from the risk of getting seriously ill/dying from COVID-19 and reducing the risk of spreading COVID-19 to others.  We therefore encourage all our employees and prospective ones to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to any exemptions that may apply.  Detail concerning the options available for vaccination against COVID-19, along with information on risks and side effects is available from: Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines - NHS (www.nhs.uk) to enable individuals to make an informed decision. 

Person specification

A minimum of 2 years relevant experience in an operational environment and membership of the Society for Radiological Protection is desirable. An understanding of Nuclear Site Licensing or Authorisation Conditions, particularly those relevant to radiation protection and radioactive substances, is also desirable.

Qualifications

Undergraduate degree in a Science or Engineering discipline.  Dependent on experience, the successful candidate will have to attend and successfully complete training modules in both submarine reactor systems and nuclear emergency response.

It is desirable the successful candidate will be a certificated Radiation Protection Adviser or be in the process of preparing their application.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £53,721, Ministry of Defence contributes £14,504 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.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include: job history, qualification details, and previous skills and experience. Each one will be scored 1-7 and will make up your overall score to assess suitability for interview. 

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your behaviours, experience and technical skills. It will also include assessment against the Nuclear Competency Framework for the Nuclear Competences listed. 

We will assess you against the following technical skills and behaviours during the selection process: 

Nuc 1.4 Radiation Protection, Level 2

Nuc 3.3 Nuclear Emergency Response Events, Demonstrations and Exercises, Level 2

Nuc 7.3 Management and Disposal of Radioactive Waste and the Management of Radioactive Discharges, Level 2

Making Effective Decisions

Communicating and Influencing

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.  

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights. 

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.