About the job

Job summary

The Homeland Security and Technical Analysis team provides evidence-based advice and to inform the Ministry of Defence (MOD) on the development of novel techniques for undertaking test and evaluation (T&E) of defence and security capabilities. This to ensure that we can transform the current T&E enterprise in to one which is permanently innovative, adaptable, responsive and proactive to evaluate technology enabled military capability against rapidly emerging threats.

You will be immediately leading study teams, responsible for the development of innovative T&E capabilities to transform UK defence T&E and unlock the full potential of UK military capability.  As a result of delivering enhancements to T&E you will be helping to accelerate next generation technologies into the hands of our military personnel by ensuring we have the right capabilities to evaluate their performance and effectiveness, and ultimately saving lives.

 
Working in partnership with industry suppliers, you will be responsible for leading on aspects of T&E transformation taking research concepts and developing them in to technical and capability demonstrators.

Building upon you current T&E experience, this role includes opportunities to support your further development of own practical skills and experience in Test and Evaluation. We welcome applications from within and outside the Defence T&E community, but an appreciation of the role of T&E in assuring and accepting equipment/capabilities against technical and regulatory requirements is still necessary.

This role is a research based role, looking to develop new Test and Evaluation techniques. This role would not involve actively undertaking direct testing or evaluation of defence capabilities.

Dstl recognises the importance of diversity and inclusion as people from diverse backgrounds bring fresh ideas. We are committed to building an inclusive working environment in which each employee fulfils their potential and maximises their contribution.

We particularly welcome female and ethnic minority applicants and those from the LGBTQI community, as they are under-represented within Dstl at these levels.

Job description

In this role you will:

•    Work on 1-2 large projects concurrently, taking leadership of Work Packages and being responsible for the planning, design and delivery of them.
•    Work with our customers to understand their requirements & develop solutions.
•    Lead work packages, being responsible for your team’s research and providing advice and direction to junior team members and/or industrial partners and suppliers.
•    Coaching and mentoring junior team members.
•    Through routine engagement, provide timely & impartial, evidence-based advice to customers on progress and results. 
•    Develop your knowledge and understanding of defence and security challenges and issues and the role of T&E in addressing these.
•    Develop your understanding of new technologies, and the opportunities or risks they present to test and evaluation.

You will be expected to work with large multidisciplinary teams encompassing Dstl, MOD, industry and academia to deliver innovative, high quality and impactful advice and demonstrations directly to our customers in order to deliver the transformation in Defence T&E. 

Important Information

Our work in defence, security and intelligence requires our employees to be UK Nationals who are able to gain a high level of security clearance to undertake the projects we are involved in to protect us from security threats. For this reason, only UK Nationals will be able to apply for this role. If you are an international or dual-national candidate, and you think you have the skills we need, please consider applying to any of our government, security or defence partners.

This role will require full UK security clearance and you should have resided in the UK for the past 5 years. For some roles Developed Vetting will also be required, in this case you should have resided in the UK for the past 10 years.

Please see full job description at the bottom of the page

Person specification

We are looking for someone who has:

•    Experience of leading study teams, or working with external suppliers to deliver projects.
•    Experience of planning, leading and delivering research projects for customers.
•    Knowledge of practical or model-based evaluation techniques which can be used for product testing and assurance.
•    An understanding of how data collected from testing and trials (either live or synthetic) can be exploited through data and analytical techniques.

The following criteria are used as key performance indicators for the role:

•    Quality of analytical outputs, reports and presentations.
•    Customer satisfaction and feedback of the quality and nature of advice provided.
•    Maintaining an awareness of customer and stakeholder issues and challenges.
•    Evidence of exploiting work to maximise its impact.
•    Proactive approach to continued professional development
•    Build and maintain good internal and external relationships.  

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,970, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory contributes £9,712 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.

We want you to have your best chance of success in our recruitment process, so If at any stage of the application process you would like help or assistance please contact the Dstl Recruitment Team dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk and we will do all we can to support you.

Sifting will take place week commencing the 8th January 2024 with interviews to be arranged on the 19th January 2024. Candidates will be asked to deliver a 10 minute presentation as part of the interview.

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.

This job is not open to candidates who hold a dual nationality.

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.