About the job

Job summary

The Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA) is a part of the Ministry of Defence responsible for the procurement, in-service support, and disposal of the UK’s nuclear submarines. Our work is of unparalleled strategic importance nationally and internationally, ensuring the security of the UK’s continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent, and delivering some of the most technically complex programmes in defence.

Here you’ll find a community to belong to – whether that’s alongside project teams with a shared vision or as part of an employee network of like-minded individuals. We believe that, by celebrating different backgrounds and perspectives, together we’ll achieve the extraordinary.

Discover more about our work:

We offer 25+ days’ holiday, flexible and hybrid working, enhanced parental leave schemes, shopping discounts, and an exceptional employer pension contribution of around 27%, to help work work for you.

For security reasons this role is open to sole UK nationals only. A ‘sole UK national’ refers to an individual who holds citizenship solely in the UK, without dual citizenship or nationality from another country. We’re unable to offer visa sponsorship.

This role requires you to have lived in the UK for the last 5 years and obtain Security Check (SC) security clearance. Clearance must be obtained without any caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role you have been recruited for. If it isn’t obtained, or is obtained but with caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role, any conditional offer made to you will be withdrawn. Obtaining SC security clearance can be a lengthy process, and we reserve the right to withdraw any conditional offer made if the necessary security clearance isn’t obtained within 12 months.

Job description

Are you interested in working on the UK’s Submarine Projects? Do you want to support our armed forces in current and future operations? If so, the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA) has an exciting opportunity for a Quality Assurance Engineer to be based our site in Barrow-in-Furness.

Working in our Principal Naval Overseers (PNO) you will join a team of predominantly 50 engineers, who provide independent assurance to their project team clients (Dreadnought Alliance and Submarine Production - Astute Class), ensuring that submarine build activities meet the necessary requirements of the contract. The PNO undertake risk-based surveillance of vessels during build and provide waterfront and build support/advice to delivery teams. The PNO team also ensure that Project and Engineering Risks and Opportunities are identified within the build environment and are effectively mitigated and/or realised.

As a Quality Assurance Engineer working within our PNO team, you will work alongside other specialists within the PNO team, which consists of both civilians and Royal Navy personnel. You will be expected to advise on engineering quality assurance matters and help resolve complex engineering and process issues. Part of your role is to define quality assurance requirements, manage solution development and ensure compliance with the customers’ requirements, both in design and the as build product. You will be an integral interface to our supply base, ensuring solutions meet the needs and requirements of the armed forces.

We are keen to speak to and support those candidates that are motivated and driven to progress their careers, with the successful candidates expected to upskill and develop their knowledge.

We champion regular in-person attendance to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance, as this is an overseer role, there is an expectation to be on site to be able to fulfil this.

External and internal candidates may be entitled to relocation expenses for this position. This will depend on the outcome of an eligibility check by Defence Business Services (DBS).

What you’ll be doing

• Conduct Government Quality Assurance Surveillance activities across the submarine build
• Lead on oversight of quality investigations, ensuring PNO quality and technical considerations are appropriately represented and adequately addressed.
• Developing QA surveillance and assurance plans in response to supplier, supply chain and technical risk.
• Conducting and managing the delivery of QA surveillance in support of risk management, supplier oversight/assurance, verification, validation, and acceptance for submarine build programmes
• Providing expert advice and guidance to delivery teams concerning technical and supplier risk
• Contributing to and providing oversight of Quality investigations, root cause analysis, internal process performance improvement activities and supplier escalations/interventions
• Implementing and contributing to MoD Quality Assurance policy

Person specification

Person specification
To be successful with your application, you'll need to show that you meet the following essential criteria:

• Professionally Registered status or has demonstrated equivalent knowledge, skills and experience.
• You will be a member of a relevant Professional Engineering/Science Institute or equivalent body, or have the ability to obtain within 12 months of taking up the post
• You will hold a minimum of Level 4 (e.g. HNC) qualification in a relevant Engineering or Science discipline OR will demonstrate equivalent relevant work experience
• You will have a proven track record of operating within an engineering/quality assurance engineering capacity within a relevant environment
• You will be a motivated and forward-thinking individual who is as confident engaging in isolation as you are as part of a team

In addition to the responsibilities above, the following technical competences and behaviours will be assessed at interview:

• MQ1 Acquisition Assurance
• EFCF 5 Technical Risk Management Supervised Practitioner
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £36,100, Ministry of Defence contributes £9,747 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

Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:

1. Pre-sift - We will check that you meet any essential or eligibility criteria that are listed in the Person Specification section of this advert. On your CV, please clearly show how you meet the essential criteria.
2. Sift - Your CV will be assessed against the following categories, using a simple numerical scoring system: Key Achievements; Relevant Experience; Applied Knowledge and Skills

Please follow our guidance on CV writing for best chance of success.

3. Interview - If you're invited to interview, you'll be assessed against the Sift categories listed above, as well as the Technical Competences and Behaviours listed in the Person Specification section of this advert.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

Offering at a lower level
If you’re not successful at interview, we may offer you a role at a lower level if this is a match for your skills and experience. If this applies to your application, you’ll be scored against criteria for the lower-level role and offers will be made in merit order. If you accept this position, you’ll be able to take advantage of opportunities to develop your career as part of our team.

Security

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.