Defence Safety Authority, Defence Land Safety Regulator - Op Assure Energy SEO

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), the Energy Assurance Lead will provide independent Third Line of Defence assurance that Defence energy activities are compliant with legislation, Defence regulation and policy. Working within the Operating Assurance function, the post-holder will lead a small team delivering assurance across energy, associated systems and infrastructure, while supporting regulatory recommendations relating to licensing and certification arrangements where required.

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 energy activity across Defence.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic leadership

• Lead, manage and develop the energy assurance team within DLSR, providing clear direction and fostering a high-performing, inclusive and professional team.
• Develop DLSR’s future energy assurance capability, ensuring Defence remains prepared for evolving operational energy requirements.
• Promote continuous improvement, innovation and professional development across the team.

Energy assurance and regulation

• Lead independent, intelligence-led, risk-based, Third Line of Defence assurance activity across Defence energy and operational energy infrastructure.
• Develop and deliver assurance programmes based on organisational risk, operational priorities and emerging technologies.
• Assess compliance with legislation, Defence regulations, policy and recognised industry standards.
• Recommend proportionate enforcement action where significant safety or environmental risks are identified.
• Support licensing, certification and regulatory governance across Defence energy activities.

Health, safety and environmental protection

• Act as the senior specialist for health, safety and environmental protection across energy assurance activity.
• Promote continual improvement in safety, environmental management and organisational learning.
• Lead or support investigations into significant incidents, identifying root causes and ensuring lessons are embedded across Defence.

Stakeholder engagement

• Develop strong collaborative relationships with Front Line Commands, the National Armaments Director Group, the Operational Energy Authority and wider Defence organisations.
• Engage with statutory regulators, industry bodies, professional institutions and government departments to ensure Defence remains aligned with national legislation and industry best practice.
• Represent Defence at senior working groups, steering committees and technical forums.

Continuous improvement and future energy

• Conduct horizon scanning to identify emerging risks, legislative change and future energy developments.
• Support Defence’s transition to hydrogen, sustainable fuels, electrification and alternative operational energy technologies.

Contribute to the Annual Assurance Report and strategic risk assessments, providing senior Defence leaders with evidence-based assurance and recommendations

A core requirement of this role is the ability to access remote Defence training areas, both in the UK and overseas, which are not served by public transport. As such, a valid driving licence is essential, and the nature of the responsibilities makes part-time or job-share arrangements impractical.

Recognised industry standard training in DSEAR and ATEX regulations

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.

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.

Behaviours

As part of the application process, you will be required to submit a different example of when you have demonstrated each of the Civil Service Behaviours below. Your examples must be no more than 250 words for each.

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

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; and one behaviour (Leadership)

Interview stage:

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

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

Interviews

In person on sight in ABW (N)

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.