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.

This is an exciting time to join 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.

We employ around 450 scientific, policy and support staff in various locations, including York, Bootle, Bristol, Bedford, Edinburgh and London. HSE has now adopted hybrid working which will allow us all to work both in the office and at home and we will provide you with the necessary equipment to support you when working from home. However, please note that these posts are office based roles and they are not a remote location based or home worker post; as such, successful candidates will need to be in a position to attend the office from appointment date onwards and will be required to attend the office regularly and potentially at short notice. Successful candidates will also be expected to undertake some face to face training upon joining HSE and this will be office based.

There may also be the need for occasional travel to one of our offices. 

Job description

To help us meet these challenges, we require ambitious Senior Regulatory Chemists to join us.

In this role you will focus on the evaluation of data on the physical and chemical properties, the analytical methods and residues of pesticides and biocides active substances and products. This will include the assessment of  data in order to carry out consumer dietary exposure assessments and set MRLs (Maximum Residue Levels).

As a Senior Regulatory Chemist, you will manage, mentor and support members of the team, provide peer review of work, lead on specific technical aspects, and provide advice to specialist and policy colleagues and wider stakeholders. There will also be opportunities for you to lead for HSE on national and global activities, to ensure we keep pace with new and emerging issues.

You will also have opportunities to provide training at external commercial events organised by CRD.

Responsibilities

• Understand and apply the relevant regulations, guidance, and models in relation to complex and challenging situations to make important decisions on the approval/authorisation and risk assessment of pesticides and biocides.
• Manage and develop a team, including motivating staff, identifying training needs and taking a leading role in building capability.
• Motivate and lead the team to identify requirements, plan work and manage delivery to quality, time, and cost
• You will be one of a number of Senior Scientists responsible for delivering business plans.
• Provide guidance and deliver training to internal and external stakeholders on various aspects of the regulations
• Represent HSE, including presentation of your conclusions to a variety of internal and external stakeholders, e.g., expert groups and other government departments
• Lead key projects and/or work areas, monitoring and reporting on progress and delivery of projects to deadline and legislative targets
  

Please note this is not an exhaustive list and there may be other tasks/responsibilities that will be required as part of these roles.

Person specification

Essential skills and experience

• Experience of the evaluation of physical and chemical properties and analytical methods relating to active substances and products.
• Experience of assessing the occurrence of residues data in food or feed and undertaking consumer dietary risk assessments of chemicals or other contaminants.
• Knowledge and experience of chemicals, biocides, or pesticides legislation.
• Comprehensive analytical skills with the ability to explain complex technical information in a clear, concise, and timely way.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, enabling you to collaborate effectively and engagingly with others.
• Experience of leading or mentoring staff, developing yourself and others, and delivering to time, cost, and quality criteria
• Initiative and decisiveness, supporting your ability to make effective decisions, while being open to challenge and involving others
• Experience in building and maintaining strong, positive working relationships both internally and externally.
• Outstanding organisational skills in managing a varied workload to demanding deadlines.

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.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,788, Health and Safety Executive contributes £11,012 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 we will assess your technical skills/knowledge/experience. You will be required to provide evidence of your experience against the technical areas specified within this advert (250 words each).

In addition to the technical question responses, you will also complete a CV (job history, key responsibilities and membership of any professional bodies/societies) and Personal Statement of up to 750 words in which you should provide additional evidence to explain how your experience meets the person specification for the role.

Your CV will be used for information only and will not be scored. 

Application Guidance
Please access the following link for guidance on how to apply and how to complete a Personal Statement About the application process , Civil Service Careers (civil-service-careers.gov.uk)

Sift Information
The sift is due to take place week commencing 15th April 2024. You will be assessed on your Personal Statement and the two Technical Skills.

Interview Information
The Interviews will take place via Microsoft Teams, if you are successful at sift and reach interview stage you will be sent a video link in advance of your interview. You will be assessed against the Behaviours listed in the advert combined with your experience. The interviews are scheduled to take place week commencing 22nd and 29th April 2024.

Please note that dependent on numbers of applications received 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 will be held for the period of up to 12 months.

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 Childcare Choices , 30 Hours Childcare, Tax-Free Childcare and More , Help with Costs , GOV.UK

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

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.

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.