About the job

Job summary

The Civil Service embraces equality, diversity, and inclusion. At HSE, your personal qualities are as important as your professional experience. We welcome applications from all backgrounds and all walks of life. Our approach is to recruit “on merit on the basis of fair and open competition”, in line with the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. As such, our thorough selection process ensures that you and every other candidate receive equal and fair treatment.

With a world-class reputation for safeguarding the health and safety of people at work, HSE is adapting and evolving to meet the new challenges ahead. This is an exciting time to join the Chemical Regulations Division (CRD) with opportunities to develop and shape our regulatory schemes for the future. Our primary role is to deliver regulatory schemes intended to protect the health of people and the environment, balancing the economic and social benefits that chemicals offer to society and helping to ensure the safe and sustainable use of chemicals. We also have a role through guidance, partnership working and leadership to raise awareness and promote behaviour change to help improve the control of hazardous substances in the workplace.

To help us meet these challenges, we require an experienced scientist to provide both strategic and technical leadership to our team of specialist ecotoxicologists. As team leader they will have oversight of all the ecotoxicology assessments made in support of our regulatory commitments for plant protection products and biocides. This includes detailed analysis of environmental hazard data provided by businesses to support the placing of active substances and finished products on the market.

Job description

As leader of the Ecotoxicology team in CRD, you will provide management and technical oversight of the work of approximately 24 specialist scientists. You will be a senior leader in a wider scientific community in CRD that is delivering HSE’s objectives in support of the UK regulation of biocides and plant protection products. This is part of GB’s independent chemicals regulatory framework, enabling decision-making that best reflects the needs of GB, while maintaining some of the highest standards in the world.

You will be a recognised, appropriately qualified scientist who has sufficient knowledge of ecotoxicology data assessment to support your team members at a technical level and act as decision maker when needed. You will be comfortable in a multidisciplinary environment that includes other environmental scientists and chemists, project or assessment managers, and policy colleagues.

You will contribute directly to the technical assessment work yourself.

This is desk-based work. However, you will be encouraged to develop networks within the wider professional community of environmental scientists.

You will report to the Head of CRD Unit 4, a multi-disciplinary group comprising about 125 scientists who assess technical data in support of our regulatory programmes on plant protection products, biocides and general chemicals.     

Part-time working is available for this role, however the minimum number of hours we could accommodate is 30 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.

Person specification

Essential Skills and Criteria:

You will have:

• Excellent leadership and management skills with experience of successful operational delivery, balancing competing demands in a fast-paced, regulatory team environment.
• Experience of managing a team, supporting wellbeing, recognising achievement and managing performance.
• Knowledge and experience of biocides and/or plant protection products legislation and experience of working in a regulatory environment. For example, experience of working to deliver decisions with significant interaction and challenge from applicants and stakeholders.
• Extensive experience evaluating the risks posed to non-target organisms from use of plant protection products and/or biocidal products. This should include experience assessing the endocrine disrupting properties of pesticide and/or biocide substances with respect to wildlife.
• Ability to work collaboratively with others and to promote effective collaboration and team working within your team and with other HSE colleagues/disciplines.
• A commitment to a continuous learning culture, for yourself and your team, reacting positively to change and with experience of taking forward change activities, being alert to emerging issues, and supporting others through a change programme.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, enabling you to work effectively and engage with staff and colleagues, irrespective of discipline or grade.

Responsibilities

You will:

• Lead and manage the Ecotoxicology Team (currently 24 staff), inspiring its people, and developing their capability as well as driving a culture of teamwork, high performance and continuous improvement.
• Support the health, safety and wellbeing of your staff.
• Manage performance, absence and development in line with HSE’s policies and procedures.
• Lead on the scientific assessments undertaken by CRD’s Ecotoxicology team. This will include peer-review and final clearance of ecotoxicology assessments, ensuring they meet the expected excellence standards.
• Work well with other teams and their Team Leaders, and with CRD’s Senior Leadership Team, to maximise the operational efficiency and effectiveness of CRD.
• Contribute to change and transformation in CRD, especially in the context of our Biocides and Pesticides Transformation Programme.
• Work with the Divisional Learning and Development Manager and CRD's Through-Grading Panel to ensure joined-up approaches to regulatory scientists' progressive technical and behavioural development.
• Represent HSE, including presentation of your conclusions to a variety of internal and external stakeholders, including independent scientists and duty holders.
• Provide guidance and deliver training to internal and occasionally external stakeholders.   

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £55,251, Health and Safety Executive contributes £14,917 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 information

As part of your application, you will complete a CV and Personal Statement (up to 500 words) which demonstrates how you meet the essential skills and criteria of the job advert.

You will also be required to provide evidence of your experience against the two technical areas listed within the advert (250 words each).

Application Guidance

Please access the following link for guidance on how to apply and how to complete a personal statement https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/how-to-apply/  

Sift information

At the sift stage, you will be assessed on your technical skills and Personal Statement. 

Please note - your CV will be used for information purposes only and will not be scored. 

The sift will take place from Tuesday 2nd April 2024.

Interview Information 

If you are successful following the sift, you will be invited to interview where you will be assessed against the three behaviours listed in the advert. We will also assess you on your experience for the role. 

The interviews are due to take place from the 15th April 2024. Interviews will be held via MS Teams.

Please note that dependent on numbers of applications received and assessor availability these dates could be subject to change.

AI Tools & Platforms

During the application process candidates are allowed to utilise AI (artificial intelligence) platforms and Tools to support them in writing their Behaviours, CV’s and Personal Statements. However, all information submitted must be factually accurate. This includes presenting the ideas and experience of others, or those generated by artificial intelligence, as your own. All presented information will be assessed at the Interview Stage.

Further Information

Please note that a reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months.

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.

Sponsorship

This role is not open to application from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and require sponsorship your application will be rejected, and any provisional offers of employment will be withdrawn. 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. Determine your eligibility at here HSE is proud to be a part of the Disability Confidence Scheme (DCS). As a Disability Confident employer, we positively welcome applications from disabled people. We are committed to making workplace adjustments to ensure anyone can participate in the recruitment and selection process. We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for all disabled applicants who provide evidence of meeting the minimum requirements necessary for the post. If, during the application or interview process, you require any assistance due to a disability or a medical condition, please contact us at the email address below to discuss how we can support you.

If successful in securing your role, HSE can provide suitable workplace adjustments to support you throughout your career with HSE. 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

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.