Approvals Secretariat Officer

Do you want to work on one of the most exciting transformation projects in the public sector?

The Defence Housing Service (DHS) is being created through the Armed Forces Bill to deliver a step-change in housing for the UK’s Armed Forces and their families following the publication of the Defence Housing Strategy on 3 November 2025, which marked the most significant change to Armed Forces housing in over 50 years. DHS will bring a dedicated focus to improving the homes, communities and lived experience of Service personnel, placing families firmly at the heart of everything it does.

This is one of the most ambitious housing transformation programmes in the UK today. Backed by a £9.2 billion investment, DHS will modernise tens of thousands of homes, introduce a more proactive and customer-focused approach to maintenance, and unlock new opportunities to develop housing on Defence land. DHS will have the focus and agility to deliver change at pace, combining public service values with greater flexibility to build the skills, systems and partnerships needed for the future.

This is a rare opportunity to be part of shaping its culture, influencing how it works, and helping deliver lasting improvements for Service families across the UK.

The Defence Housing team is currently part of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), who respond to the evolving needs of our military personnel, and the ways in which they live, work, train and deploy. We are proud to be the expert partner Defence needs for all their infrastructure requirements. From large scale infrastructure projects such as runways for the F35 fighter jets to net carbon-zero accommodation for our Service families, our activities focus relentlessly on our customers, and our outputs are unique in the UK and across the globe! DIO , What we deliver every day.

The future delivery model for this team is currently under review and may change as part of potential organisational developments. This could include the team or function transferring to a different employer or organisational structure in the future. Should activities transfer out of the Ministry of Defence existing employees transferring with those activities will maintain the same or substantially the same terms and conditions of employment.

As the Approvals Secretariat (Officer/Lead) you'll play a key role in supporting the Defence Housing Service (DHS) approvals framework, working with stakeholders across the organisation to coordinate and overseeing the project approvals process for the housing infrastructure portfolio.

You will maintain a strong control environment, provide secretariat support to governance forums, and ensure senior leaders have the information required to make informed and timely decisions. Working collaboratively with colleagues across DHS, you will also identify opportunities to improve processes, drive consistency, and support the delivery of strategic housing objectives.

Although located within the finance function, this role is not budget or finance focused and does not require a financial background. Instead, it focuses on governance, process management, stakeholder engagement, and the provision of advice and guidance to ensure submissions meet organisational requirements and progress efficiently through the appropriate approval routes.

What you'll be doing

• Being open to new ideas and challenges, sharing knowledge and experience, encouraging others through building a supportive team environment.
• Supporting development and embedding the use of standardised processes to deliver a consistent output to customers.
• Working within set parameters, dealing with, and taking decisions on day-to-day issues. Referring to senior staff on matters of policy or complex issues.
• Overseeing and managing the Assurance process for business cases ahead of submission for endorsement and approval.
• Developing and maintaining effective training and guidance materials, and work proactively with the business to deliver effective training courses on project approvals and business case content.
• Building trusted relationships across Finance, Commercial, PMO, Delivery, and Sponsor teams.
• Working with colleagues to oversee the forward work plan for DHS Approvals, acting as a focal point for relevant project/programme approval requirements.
• Ensuring that emerging requirements and policy are understood and adopted across the organisation, acting as a conduit with DHS Project Teams and Delivery Areas to ensure a clear, aligned and compliant approach.
• Developing performance reporting and analysis activities regarding approvals and corporate activities, supporting visibility and awareness within the wider enterprise.
• Managing regular internal assurance and compliance reviews in respect of approvals and acting as a key point of contact for relevant audits or inspections delivered through DHS or wider MOD.

Whilst this role is advertised as a full-time position of 37 hours per week, we recognise the benefits of flexible working and are open to discussing part-time hours, job share arrangements, or other flexible working patterns with suitable candidates. Regular in-person attendance is required (this is expected to be approximately 60% of your working week) to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance and business need. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourselves with the site, the team, and your role.

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)

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

Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:

At sift stage, applicants will be required to provide:

• A CV in the Job History section, ensuring it clearly demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. We encourage you to use specific evidence from your experience to illustrate your suitability for the role.
• A personal statement (no more than 500 words) providing specific examples of how you meet the top two most critical criteria for the role. Further guidance is given within the Personal Statement section of the application.

Applications will be assessed against the essential criteria, with each criterion scored on a scale of 1 to 7. An overall score will then be calculated using the average of all criterion scores. To progress beyond the sift stage, applicants must achieve a minimum score of 4 on every essential criterion. This means that even if your overall average score is 4 or higher, you will not progress if you score below 4 on any individual essential criterion.

Please note that, in the event of a high volume of applications, the selection panel reserves the right to increase the overall pass mark.

At interview, you will be assessed against the following behaviours

• Behaviour 1: Managing a quality service
• Behaviour 2: Leadership
• Behaviour 3: Communicating and influencing
• Behaviour 4: Changing and improving
• Behaviour 5: Making effective decisions

In the event of a tie at interview, candidates will be ranked according to their scores in the assessed behaviours, in the order listed below.

• Behaviour 1: Managing a quality service
• Behaviour 2: Leadership
• Behaviour 3: Communication and influencing

If invited to interview, it will be conducted via Microsoft Teams with cameras on.

We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates or locations for interviews.

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