DBS HRACS Deputy Head

Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?

Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence?

Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.

• Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
• Our Mission - Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability.

DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working.

Come and join the DBS community today!

DBS has recently undertaken a review of its operational locations in the North West, and have consolidated all activities in Norcross, Blackpool. A further move, to the new Government Hub at Talbot Gateway in Blackpool, is scheduled to take place in 2027.

DBS is part of The National Armaments Directorate (NAD) Group which is at the heart of delivering and sustaining the UK’s defence capability. Bringing together organisations responsible for developing, procuring, supporting and modernising Defence equipment, infrastructure and services, the Directorate works closely with industry, international partners and academia to ensure the Armed Forces have the capabilities they need to deter threats, protect the nation and succeed on operations. NAD drives innovation, operational readiness and value for money while supporting economic growth and strengthening the UK’s defence industrial base.

This role is within HR Advisory and Casework Services (HRACS).

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

• Provide strategic leadership for the management of high-profile, sensitive and seriously complex complaints, ensuring clear direction, effective prioritisation, robust risk management and alignment with Ministerial, Director General and Departmental priorities.
• Lead and oversee the handling of complex, multi-stranded complaints and casework, ensuring proportionate, timely and defensible outcomes that take account of legal, policy, operational, reputational and people impacts.
• Act as a senior adviser to MOD senior leaders, Departmental influencers and decision makers, providing expert advice on complex complaints, conduct issues and casework matters to support consistent decision making across workforce types.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with senior customers and stakeholders across all Defence quads, wider government, external suppliers and relevant partner organisations, representing the Department confidently in sensitive and high-profile forums.
• Provide high-quality verbal and written advice, briefings, summaries, reports and analysis on complex cases and systemic issues, clearly setting out strategic, tactical, operational and technical options, risks, benefits and recommended approaches.
• Improve the lived experience of employees by strengthening the consistency, quality and effectiveness of complaints handling, HR policy implementation and casework management across the Department.
• Identify and address MOD-wide complaints through continuous improvement approaches, using insight, lessons learned and evidence to improve service delivery and manager capability.
• Analyse legal, operational, policy and workforce data to evidence risks, themes, solutions and improvement opportunities, ensuring strategic developments and pan-government priorities are reflected in MOD services.

Work collaboratively with the senior leadership team and policy colleagues to ensure end-to-end complaint, conduct and casework arrangements remain coherent, aligned to the overall team vision and responsive to emerging Departmental priorities.

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.

Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles Framework to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience.

Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include full qualification details and previous skills and experience.

Personal Statement:

Candidates will be required to provide a statement of suitability (1000 words max).

At sift, candidates will be assessed against their CV and Statement of suitability and the following

• Managing a Quality Service
• Leadership

At interview, candidates will be assessed against the following:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving

Applications will be sifted on all Success Profile elements, but in the event of a high number of applications, the sift will be conducted on the following success profile elements:

Primary: Behaviour - Managing a Quality Service

Secondary: Career - Personal Statement

In the rare case where individuals have exact matching scores, the order of merit will be determined based on the behaviour scores at interview in the following order:

1 - Behaviour - Managing a Quality Service

2 - Career - Personal Statement

3 - Behaviour - Leadership

4 - Behaviour - Changing and Improving

5 - Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing

6 - Career - CV

If candidate scores are still exact, the merit order will then be determined on the sift score in the following order:

1 - Career - Personal Statement

2 - Behaviour - Managing a Quality Service

3 - Behaviour - Leadership

4 - Career - CV

Sift start date: Early October

Interviews are currently taking place via the following method: Face to face

Interview start date: Mid October

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.