About the job

Job summary

Diverse Perspectives and experiences are critical to our success, and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role. We look forward to receiving your application.

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.

At the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), our mission is to ensure everyone comes home safe and well from their job. We take great pride in preventing work-related deaths, injuries, and illnesses by inspecting workplaces, investigating incidents, and campaigning for better health & safety practices. As a Senior Work Psychologist within our Risk and Human Factors Group, you'll play a vital role in fulfilling our key strategic objectives for the next decade.

You'll work alongside a team of dedicated psychologists, ergonomists, human factors practitioners, and other experts to support the move towards net zero while maintaining Great Britain's record as one of the safest countries to work in. This is a unique opportunity to apply your knowledge and experience to a wide variety of industrial sectors, developing and leading contributions to valuable HSE and industry projects, incident investigations, and training delivery. You'll also engage at different levels with scientific peers, regulatory and policy colleagues, colleagues across government, and external organisations.

This role will give you the chance to collaborate with technical experts from numerous other disciplines, allowing you to broaden your skills and knowledge in a diverse and stimulating environment.

We're seeking an enthusiastic and experienced practitioner who is passionate about making a difference and improving the lives of people in their workplaces in the UK and occasionally internationally.

Job description

Following a period of supported on-boarding your role will involve:

• Leading technical contributions to projects related to workplace stress and mental health, and safety leadership and demonstrating high professional standards in science and application of research methods, including constructively challenging existing approaches. This may involve taking on a role as a technical lead on a topic from within the discipline.
• Leading technical contributions to support regulatory colleagues (following a period of training and support). This may involve acting as an expert witness.
• Providing expert advice to a range of internal and external stakeholders on key workplace issues including:

• • Management of work-related stress and mental health at work;
  • Safety leadership
  • Job design
  • Design of work environments
  • Organisational development and change

• Actively leading the development of research and consultancy work with industry by engaging with potential customers, providing technical input to proposals and presenting technical solutions to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Delivering presentations at conferences and events.
• Design and facilitate workshops to support colleagues and industry stakeholders.
• Delivering training courses in your areas of technical expertise on open and in-company courses.
• Writing high quality, reports that are suitable to be made available to the public (when appropriate), used by policy colleagues, shared with industry or as evidence in legal proceedings.

Some overnight travelling is expected but you will be mostly based in HSE’s Science and Research Centre in Buxton.

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 with regular (approx. 3 days per week) attendance at our purpose-built centre in Buxton, Derbyshire. 

Part time working hours are available for this role. We can accept part time applicants who can commit to working a minimum of 28 hours per week.

Person specification

Essential experience and skills criteria: 

We are looking for candidates who can demonstrate:

• A good theoretical knowledge of occupational/work psychology.
• Strong skills and competence in psychology/human factors related research methods, including practical experience of facilitating focus groups and interviews in different settings.
• Experience of designing, planning and delivering high quality projects safely to time and cost.
• The ability to work well both independently and as part of a team.
• Strong communication skills, experience of writing clear concise reports and the ability to interact productively with a diverse range of stakeholders. This will include public speaking engagements such as delivering conference presentations, training courses, in court, etc.
• We are looking for specialists who can, under challenge, identify underlying core issues, and engage at different levels with colleagues, site / technical staff and at senior levels within an organisation. You will be focused and able to influence those organisations to bring about improvements.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £40,788, Health and Safety Executive contributes £11,053 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 

Within your application form you will be asked to provide a CV and Personal Statement. Within your CV you should provide evidence that concisely outlines your career history, skills, experience and qualifications together with your Personal Statement.  Your Personal Statement (no more than 500 words) should highlight your professional experience in meeting the Essential experience and skills specifications for this role, emphasising where your experience overlaps with the job description.

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 Sift you will be assessed on your CV and your Personal Statement. 

The Sift will take place from the 20th of February 2024.

Interview information

At interview, you will be assessed against the Behaviours and Technical skills detailed within the job advert.

Interviews will take place w/c 4th of March 2024.

Further Information 

Please note that a Reserve List will be held for the period of up to 12 months.

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.

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.