Health, Safety & Environment Principal (Energetics)

At Dstl, we're looking for an experienced Health, Safety & Environment Principal (Energetics) to provide strategic leadership for safety across our high-hazard energetics activities. You'll play a vital role in ensuring our work is delivered safely, compliantly, and effectively, enabling cutting-edge science and technology that supports UK defence and security.

As a recognised expert in energetics safety, you'll provide trusted advice to senior leaders, shape safety strategy, champion a positive safety culture, and lead a specialist team of safety professionals. You'll work across Dstl and with external partners to drive continuous improvement, influence best practice, and ensure the highest safety standards are maintained.

Dstl recognises the importance of diversity and inclusion as people from diverse backgrounds bring fresh ideas. We are committed to building an inclusive working environment in which each employee fulfils their potential and maximises their contribution.

What you'll do

• Provide expert leadership and assurance for energetics safety across Dstl.
• Influence strategic safety direction and policy development.
• Lead and mentor a team of safety specialists.
• Promote a positive, proactive, and learning-focused safety culture.
• Support incident investigations, root cause analysis, and continuous improvement activities.
• Develop safety capability, awareness, training, and standards across high-hazard environments.
• Collaborate with industry, academia, government, and regulatory stakeholders to share and adopt best practice.

As a leader at Dstl your focus is to create a safe, secure, sustainable and efficient organisation that supports both our mission and our people. To ensure that our operating model is agile to support one defence, and position Dstl as an organisation that can support with decision making, focus on the solutions that can make the biggest difference to the customer, reaching out to the ecosystem if required and have more impact for defence and security.

As a Dstl Leader you will:-

• Confidently lead, with the ability to adapt quickly to changing direction and priorities. Positively, motivating, inspiring, encouraging and influencing others through effective communication and engagement.
• Maintain and Manage strong, effective relationships with peers, role modelling Enterprise Leadership to deliver the One Dstl vision ensuring collaboration on delivery outcomes and strategic direction.
• Create a positive working environment, aligned with Dstl Principles and Civil Service Behaviours, which supports diversity and inclusion, and enables people to excel.
• Consistently demonstrate and role model Dstl’s leadership behaviours to ensure our Dstl culture is maintained at all levels.
• Foster an inclusive working environment where open communication and psychological safety are prioritised to encourage constructive feedback and continuous improvement.
• Ensure that all team members understand and meet their defined accountabilities, regularly reviewing performance and providing necessary support and training to uphold Dstl’s standards, culture and values which aligns with the Civil Service Code and values .
• Actively endorse the Civil Service Line Management Standards to improve Line Management skills across the organisation.

• NEBOSH National Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety Level 6 or equivalent
• Recognised Root Cause Analysis training (Human Factors)
• NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Process Safety Management

Open to UK nationals only.

This job is not open to candidates who hold a dual nationality.

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

We want you to have your best chance of success in our recruitment process, so If at any stage of the application process you would like help or assistance please contact the Dstl Recruitment Team dstlrecruitment@dstl.gov.uk and we will do all we can to support you.

Sifting will take place week commencing the 19th October with interviews to be arranged from the 16th November, interviews will consist of a combined behaviour & technical interview to include a 10 minute presentation entitled "What is your view of Dstl's Environmental Challenges, and what would you do to address them?”

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