Adventurous Training and High Risk Sport Auditor - Defence Land Safety Regulator

Your Role:

Are you looking for a high-reaching and exciting role that can make a real difference? Do you have the passion and dedication to be part of an ambitious organisation at the forefront of supporting the Ministry of Defence to ensure the safety of personnel and protection of the environment? If so, then we would like to hear from you!

The Organisation:

The Defence Safety Authority (DSA) is responsible for the regulation of Defence health, safety, and environmental protection. Its purpose is to provide independent, evidence-based assurance to the Secretary of State for Defence (SoS), that their policy on safety in Defence is being promoted and implemented within the course of Defence activities. The DSA hosts Defence safety regulators across all operating environments, also incorporating the Defence Accident Investigation Branch, and a HQ within a single independent organisation, led by a 3 Star military officer. Through our independence, the DSA, as the third line of defence, provide an objective evaluation of how effectively a Defence organisation assesses and manages its risks. This includes an evaluation of the design and effectiveness of the operation of the ’first and second lines of defence.

Our Department:

As part of the Defence Land Safety Regulator (DLSR) Operating Assurance function, the Adventurous Training (AT) and High-Risk Sport (HRS) Assurance domain, delivers third Line of Defence (3LoD) assurance for safety and environmental protection of Defence AT and HRS activities. It provides recommendations on licensing for Defence activities and enforces compliance with legislation and regulations, working with external regulators when necessary.

The role also supports DLSR’s wider assurance approach by maintaining awareness of legislative, regulatory and industry developments, assessing associated risks and assurance requirements, and engaging with external regulators and industry partners to promote safe and sustainable AT and HRS activity across Defence.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

As a growing organisation we have a fantastic opportunity for dedicated individuals to join us. This role will offer you the opportunity to work within the Defence Land Safety Regulator (DLSR) which independently regulates safety and environmental protection of adventurous training and high-risk sport. The work undertaken by the DLSR team is interesting and exciting, no two days will be the same and you will be encouraged to immerse yourself in a mixture of wide-ranging tasks, using your natural curiosity, communication and analytical skills to engage with partners across Defence.

Core Responsibilities:

The DSA DLSR Op Assure Adventurous Training (AT) and High-Risk Sport (HRS) Higher Executive Officer (HEO) will support the delivery of risk-based, efficient, and effective Third Line of Defence assurance for Defence Adventurous Training and High-Risk Sport activities. This includes overseeing regulatory outputs within the remit of the Head DLSR as the Defence Regulator and driving continuous improvement in DLSR effectiveness.

Core Responsibilities:

• Support the delivery of independent, intelligence-led, risk-based, Third Line of Defence assurance activity across Defence Organisations’ AT and HRS activities.
• Manage enforcement actions for breaches of legislation, Defence regulations, or safety policies to mitigate risks to Defence personnel, capability, and the environment.
• Develop and deliver assurance programmes based on organisational risk, operational priorities and emerging risk pictures.
• Provide subject matter expertise and technical guidance on AT and HRS, including requirements for 1st and 2nd line of defence activities across Defence Organisations.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders across Defence Organisations, gathering evidence of regulatory compliance and contributing to the DLSR intelligence picture.
• Represent DLSR at workshops, seminars, and conferences to engage with the Defence community and promote best practices.
• Assisting in the conduct of horizon scanning, monitoring legislation, policy, and guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and other government departments to ensure alignment of Defence AT and HRS governance.
• Support the continued integration of intelligence, including data driven analysis to inform Defences risk picture in the AT and HRS domain.
• Support the production of the DLSR annual assurance report, ensuring AT and HRS activities are accurately represented.
• Consult with other DSA Regulators to ensure coherence in assurance approaches for pan-domain capabilities.
• Support the management of AT contacts including external contractors and the associated budget.
• To support the AT/Sport SEO and the wider AT/Sport domain within the Op Assure Team, co-ordinating delivery of outputs, as well as broader coordination across DLSR to support Hd DLSR in the delivery of objectives and priorities.
• Promote continuous improvement, innovation and professional development across the team.

DLSR-Specific Responsibilities:

• Contribute to DSA-wide activities addressing emergent Defence Health, Safety, and Environmental Protection (HS&EP) risks.
• Represent DLSR in meetings with statutory bodies and industry to ensure technical guidance and regulations keep pace with new capability developments in AT and HRS.
• Advocate for the adoption of effective safety and environmental practices from other domains and organisations.
• Assist in responding to Parliamentary Questions (PQs) and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
• Support Defence Accident Investigation Branch (DAIB) investigations into serious incidents as directed by Hd DLSR.

Additional Duties:

• When capacity allows, contribute to short-term collaborative tasks and projects to support high-priority DLSR/DSA outputs.
• Act as a champion for continuous improvement, identifying opportunities to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of assurance processes.

A minimum of two nationally recognised outdoor, or Joint Service Adventurous Training, leadership or instructional qualifications.

Open to UK nationals only.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.

CV:

Candidates will be required to provide a CV to provide details of: job history; qualification details; previous skills and experience.

Personal Statement:

Candidates will be required to provide a personal statement of no more than 500 words explaining how their skills and experience meet the requirements of this role.

Candidates will then be selected for interview based upon the evidence submitted.

Behaviours

As part of the application process, you will be required to submit an example of when you have demonstrated the Civil Service Behaviour below. Your example must be no more than 250 words.

• Leadership

Please use the ‘STAR’ technique when writing your examples to enable you to provide a meaningful and complete example for assessment. For those not familiar with STAR, it is an acronym that stands for:

• Situation
• Task
• Action
• Result.

It is suggested that you make full use of the 250 word-allowance available, ensuring you provide full details of your own actions and how you have fully demonstrated all aspects of the Behaviour at the level of the role applied for. As a guide, approximately 70% of the word-allowance should be used to describe your actions.

Application stage:

CV; Experience, Personal Statement and one behaviour (Leadership)

Sift Within 10 days of the advert closure date, the sift will be conducted. If there is a high volume of applications, then an initial sift may be held on the previous skills and experience and your CV. The personal statement will be assessed if you progress to full sift.

Interview stage:

Experience and all four behaviours (using a different example for leadership)

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions

Interviews

Interviews will take place inn person on site in ABW (N)

Reserve List

12 months

Further information:

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.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

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